Where do you find the best fishing on a river? Best hunting for specific animals? Best bird-watching. Looking for stories that features someone whose knowledge of a river makes people want to hire him/her as a guide (or whatever other job description is fitting). I looked under the title "River Rat" but that didn't seem to produce what I'm looking for.
If all rivers were the same, there would be no need for a guide. All rivers are most definitely 'not' the same. There are some more ubiquitous points to them, but not the ones you've mentioned.
Wes Boyd's series of stories around rafting in the Grand Canyon work for ya?
I believe one of the Druid stories from Lazlo Zalezac had a major character who was a guide.
And of course, any number of post-apoc stories were written where the MC was a hunting/fishing guide who lived in the mountains with a fully stocked armory and was in all respects a prepper...
