Skip to Main

Hometown Tourist: True North Trout Guide Service

There are immense beautiful resources in Northern Michigan.

Part of visiting or living year-round is enjoying the bounty of nature we have, and fly fishing is an ever growing way to do that.

In this week’s Hometown Tourist David Lyden and Erin Malone take you on a trip to meet a very knowledgeable fly fishing guide who loves to create an experience.

“I’m a trout-centered fishing guide,” said Brian Kozminski. “I get to engage people with the outdoors. I get to, hopefully, connect people who don’t get an outdoor experience very often, either with a beautiful outdoor scenery or touching a fish.”

Brian runs and is a knowledgeable and passionate guide to create lasting casting memories on northern river systems.

And his passion for it comes from a deeply personal place.

“I didn’t get as involved or as serious until my thirties when I quit drinking and replaced my alcohol tendencies with fly fishing,” explained Brian. “Fly fishing kind of saved me, it was my serenity.”

Brian has so much knowledge to pass on, from bugs to the ecosystem of the river itself, and he does it gourmet style: bringing local high end fare to enjoy on the river.

“You have a heightened awareness. You can have a hotdog on the river and it will be the best hotdog you’ve ever had in your life. It’s beautiful, everything tastes better when you’re outside,” said Brian.

No matter if you catch a fish or not, the experience will reel you in by teaching you about how to fly fish.”

“I try to include a little bit of a bug lesson and pick up a rock or some logs and show them the mayflies and the stone flies,” explained Brian.

And most likely you’ll see all sorts of wildlife like we did.

At the end of the day, Brian wants to teach about this beautiful place and help those to find the serenity he has, including partaking in a program that takes foster kids fly fishing.

“Mayfly Project is taking out foster kids on the river so that they get a moment or an afternoon without counselors or social workers asking them a bunch of questions,” explained Brian.

A trip is not just about catching fish, but creating memories.

“There’s a lasting memory that happens. You know, some of my early memories of fishing with my dad, they’re with me forever and you can’t you can’t replace that.”