Advice and Tips for future GUIDE?

[Scott F]

I have a friend who is a school teacher that guides during the summer doing kayak trips, wading trips and teaching guys how to river fish. He's been doing it for quite a while. To get your name out there, contact EVERY fishing club, (not just tournament clubs) in Kansas that you can find. Every club that I know that has regular meetings are always looking for guest speakers. You give talks about river and kayak fishing and promote your guide service. Do it for free if you can. Get a booth at the small outdoor shows. Write articles for outdoor publications.  You'll need to spend a lot of time talking to get some time on the water.

One question. While guiding, will you be fishing too?

[SoFloBassFiend]

4 hours ago, BIGDFISHERMAN said:

Appreciate all of the responses and comments so far. I'm kind of surprised to be getting this much response. Some good ideas and information that I had not though of has come up which is awesome. 

Check this out. Posted on Facebook by one of the most productive successful guides in all of south Florida. 

http://charterfishingbusiness.com/

[SchlottyD]

4 hours ago, Scott F said:

I have a friend who is a school teacher that guides during the summer doing kayak trips, wading trips and teaching guys how to river fish. He's been doing it for quite a while. To get your name out there, contact EVERY fishing club, (not just tournament clubs) in Kansas that you can find. Every club that I know that has regular meetings are always looking for guest speakers. You give talks about river and kayak fishing and promote your guide service. Do it for free if you can. Get a booth at the small outdoor shows. Write articles for outdoor publications.  You'll need to spend a lot of time talking to get some time on the water.

One question. While guiding, will you be fishing too?

Good advice. As for me fishing while guiding that would depend entirely on the customer and the situation. My priority would be to get them on the fish and catching because it would satisfy me more to see a client catching fish and having a good time. I would hopefully know the pattern and some of the favored lures/baits leading up to the trip and not have to fish during to figure that out.

[Bluebasser86]

16 hours ago, clh121787 said:

 I can't imagine Kansas coming to mind when anglers are thinking of a destination to go fishing.

It doesn't. I've always had the open invitation to anybody on the board to come to Kansas and fish with me. So far I've had zero people that weren't from Kansas or Missouri take me up on the offer. That's to fish out of a bass boat and not having to pay guide fees. 

[clh121787]

11 hours ago, BIGDFISHERMAN said:

Appreciate all of the responses and comments so far. I'm kind of surprised to be getting this much response. Some good ideas and information that I had not though of has come up which is awesome. 

I'm pulling for you man. You've got a passion for the sport I love and sharing that with others is awesome. Btw. I hope Ill soon have the opportunity to fish Kansas. It's flying under the radar as a bass state

[clh121787]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

It doesn't. I've always had the open invitation to anybody on the board to come to Kansas and fish with me. So far I've had zero people that weren't from Kansas or Missouri take me up on the offer. That's to fish out of a bass boat and not having to pay guide fees. 

I love it! Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers or discredit Kansas' bass potential. Just don't here much about it. And I think I'll take you up on that offer. That's extremely generous. Top shelf. 

[Bluebasser86]

24 minutes ago, clh121787 said:

I love it! Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers or discredit Kansas' bass potential. Just don't here much about it. And I think I'll take you up on that offer. That's extremely generous. Top shelf. 

I keep thinking with the 2 power plant lakes that I have close by and fish almost weekly during the winter time that some northern guys will get bit by cabin fever bad enough to do it but it hasn't happened yet. I went Thursday and caught a bunch of hybrids and white bass along with a couple largemouth. This was my second largemouth of the new year.

 

[ClackerBuzz]

On 1/8/2016 at 10:11 AM, clh121787 said:

I wouldn't advise guiding as a primary source of income. Or leaving a steady job to guide. I think it would be hard breaking into the industry at some of the top lakes in the country. Much less Kansas. I can't imagine Kansas coming to mind when anglers are thinking of a destination to go fishing.

^can I up vote this 100x's?:)

I've been an entrepreneur for many years and while it's not exciting, the best way to succeed is to have a primary source of income while you build your business. side note: starting a business b/c you're unemployed is a surefire recipe for disaster. 

Ask a man the number one thing he needs to become a successful business owner and he'll always answer the same:  start up capital.

Ask a man who's already in business the number one thing he needs and he'll always answer the same: customers.

I always ask enthusiastic entrepreneurs how many customers they have.  they usually answer 'none'. when I ask why they say they need money to get customers. i tell them to keep their day job and see how many customers they can fill their weekends with.  that's a challenge most don't like

[Sam]

Big D, just catch them on every trip to keep your reputation at a high level and to make your customers happy.

Only problem is that bass are moody creatures. One day you clobber them; the next week you don't.

As a guide, you have to clobber them all the time.

Good luck and be safe.

[frogflogger]

First, there are some successful guides in Kansas - it is a great multi species location

Second - being a good fisherman is important but being good with people is paramount.

you want folks to have a good experience - do that and you'll do okay.

Third - respect your clients - good fishermen or not they are your bread and butter and they don't have to hire you.

From a retired fishing guide

[thomas15]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 8:13 AM, 68camaro said:

I used two guides several months ago in Florida. Both were impressed I knew how to use a bait caster and even a spinning reel correctly. Each guide told me that most of their clients really don't know how to fish so they spend a lot of time working with them and their gear.  If you are in kayak and your client gets hooked up, tangled, creates a birds nest or twists line on rod tip, I think it would be time consuming and pain to get to him and fix problem. If two clients are with you multiply by two. 

I think that if someone knows how to fish they will probably want bass boat guide. If they want to fish out of yak they probably know how and need of guide goes down. 

I think you are limiting yourself by focusing on kayak fishing only, but hey give it a shot and make adjustments to your plan as need. Good luck and I wish you the best .

 

 

There is a guide service at my home lake. I think they run two boats basically like a party boat. The boats are pontoon boats and from what I can see their customers are basically tourist from the NYC/ Philadelphia area, not serious fisherman. They fish live bait and the customers many times keep their fish. The boats are big and stable and they can supply rods/tackle if necessary. They can fit a bunch of people on them. I see them doing 1/2 day trips where they drop one party off at noon and take another out right away. A local pizza place delivers lunch and they eat at the ramp area which is a state park. The boats are from what I can see are maintained properly but not high end either.

Some of the locals are not happy with this company as they remove a lot of fish from the lake which is <1000 acres. But it is as they say all legal.

There is also at least 1 if not more kayak schools using the lake. They don't fish from the yak though. They are just taught how to use the boat and there is generally quite a bit of them in each group. We are not far from the Lehigh River which also has whitewater so the school probably gets a lot of people that want to kayak whitewater but need the skills first.

[BaitMonkey1984]

On January 8, 2016 at 3:24 PM, bkohlman said:

The biggest thing I have noticed about guides is that the best ones will make sure their clients are having a good time regardless if you are catching fish or not. 

The most important skills you must possess are the ability to boat and navigate safely, find fish, and tackle prep/rigging. Your job is to put clients on fish and get those fish to the deck of the boat. However, most people are not die hard angels like those here on this forum. Therefore, you need to make sure your clients have a blast. Even if your catching fish, that may not in and of itself make the trip a success. Some may want to be educated. some may want to laugh. I mean a day on the water when the fish don't bite would be more than ok If I had G Man cracking jokes all day. You need to find fish and find out what your individual client wants. Be multi-faceted and you will be a success- best of luck. And o yea, one piece of advice- do exactly what your doing by posting this question- ASK. People usually tell you what they want when their money is on the line. 

[SchlottyD]

On Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 1:54 PM, thomas15 said:

There is a guide service at my home lake. I think they run two boats basically like a party boat. The boats are pontoon boats and from what I can see their customers are basically tourist from the NYC/ Philadelphia area, not serious fisherman. They fish live bait and the customers many times keep their fish. The boats are big and stable and they can supply rods/tackle if necessary. They can fit a bunch of people on them. I see them doing 1/2 day trips where they drop one party off at noon and take another out right away. A local pizza place delivers lunch and they eat at the ramp area which is a state park. The boats are from what I can see are maintained properly but not high end either.

Some of the locals are not happy with this company as they remove a lot of fish from the lake which is <1000 acres. But it is as they say all legal.

There is also at least 1 if not more kayak schools using the lake. They don't fish from the yak though. They are just taught how to use the boat and there is generally quite a bit of them in each group. We are not far from the Lehigh River which also has whitewater so the school probably gets a lot of people that want to kayak whitewater but need the skills first.

This type of operation would get you run out of town where I'm from. That is why I will encourage catch and release and would limit myself to a few people per trip. A pontoon boat full of tourists would be madness.