John Blumenthal is a familiar
face in the Platte Valley,
having grown up out at Brush
Creek Ranch as a fifth generation
Platte Valley resident.
His great-great-great grandfather
was J.W. Hugus, one of
Saratoga's founding fathers.
Blumenthal returned to
the Platte River Valley following
a tour as a Marine in
Afghanistan and promptly
got back to work by starting
his own contracting company
last March.
"We just fell into it," Blumenthal
said, when asked
how he and business partner
Eric Padgett got the idea for
Brown N Gold Contracting
which specializes in Landscaping
and snow removal.
While Johnny may be good
at home improvements and
janitorial services, his real
love is fishing.
Blumenthal began guiding
the river trails since before
he was a teenager and after
working for an outfitter in
Alaska last summer he returned
with the idea that he
could do it better.
I loved (Alaska), but I think
(The Platte River Valley) is
just as awesome, and has
some great fishing to offer,"
Blumenthal said of his newest
venture, Drift LLC.
Drift is Blumenthal's fish
and river guide business that
he and his other business
partner Paul Newman - not
the late actor and purveyor of
salad dressing, Blumenthal
joked - have started up as
a way to bring new people to
the Platte River Valley who
might not otherwise visit.
"The premise of Drift is it
is tough to get somebody to
come a long distance to commit
to a fishing trip when they
honestly know that it's a freestone
river ... Mother nature
can drop three inches of rain
in Walden Colo., and we can't
fish the next day because it's
full of mud," Blumenthal said.
To combat the possibility of
a customer's fishing trip getting
rained out, Blumenthal's
plan is to float the whole river
so, "If mother nature does
decide to unleash some fury
up ahead of us, we'll just go
up to Miracle Mile and still
have a great day of fishing."
Blumenthal feels his strategy
will give his clients the
best possible chance of a great
day of fishing or floating.
"That way we can still tell
you you're going to have a
great day of fishing no matter
what. To offer that kind of
consistency gives us more of
an ability to bring people into
the Valley and that's what
we're really trying to do,"
Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal and Newman
plan to charge $450 a day
for guiding fishermen and
will offer scenic float trips for
$300 for up to four people at
a time. Drift LLC is currently
equipped with two hardside
boats, a couple skiffs and two
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