Blumenthal floats into business

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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