Cool Job : City Smart / How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California

* Rich Tauber, 37

Job: Fishing guide, host of cable fishing show.

Expertise: Fishing, fishing and more fishing.

Locale: Streams filled with bass.

Hours: When they’re biting.

Earnings: Between $100,000 and $150,000 a year.

What I do: “When I was 11 years old, a fishing guide named Ed Ando taught me how to fish. My dad’s not a great outdoorsman so he hired Ando to teach us. I have a younger brother and Ando took us out on Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County.

“Initially, I wanted to win a few bass tournaments and make enough money to get by. To become a pro angler you have to fish in competitions all over the country. Then I started winning and endorsement deals came, and then the show and the guide business. . . . I never really wanted to get a real job.

“When I take people out I spend nine hours with them on the water. Some people want to learn the basics and others want to learn more advanced techniques. Others just want to fish.

“We use lures instead of bait and the boat is always moving to different spots in the lake. I usually go to four different streams in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“You have an uncontrollable variable, a part of wildlife, the fish. If everyone could figure it out, it wouldn’t be any fun. I’ve been fishing for 20 years now and it’s the only job I’ve ever had.”

Why I do it: “I don’t know if it’s because I am a Scorpio and that’s a water sign or what, but I have always been attracted to water.”