May the Weight of the Cooler be the Heaviest Thing on Your Mind

We've got a 12-month guide season grind here in the Texas Hill Country, and burnout’s not really an option. The best antidote I’ve found as we end summer and ramp into fall is to assemble the team, hitch up the boats, and head off in some random direction that ends at a put-in. These floats follow a simple equation: one-third guides’ day off, one-third mental-health partydown, and one-third deep dive into serious experimentation. It’s when the weird flies, emerging techniques, big laughs, and even stranger theories come out. When we're this deep down the backcountry rabbit hole and a fly pattern hooks more than three fish, it gets benched and something even wilder is tied on just to see what’ll eat it. But this is bigger than just fishing. It’s about chilling with buds and relighting each other's stoke. It’s also time to reacquaint ourselves with that sweet nectar of Lone Star lager, and rest assured, more than one coldie’s been crushed from my rower's seat.

—All Water Guides owner Capt. Alvin Dedeaux, two-time Guide of the Year finalist, Outfitter of the Year finalist, and a chill gentleman with some seriously sound logic