Guides and Guiding

[Mobasser]

I've been bass fishing for a long time. In all my years, I've never hired a guide, nor have I ever guided other fisherman. An older friend has been tossing the idea around of starting a guide service on some local lakes. He's a good man, and honest, but I'm not sure he's really good enough to make it as a fishing guide. For those that have guided, has your business been successful? Have your clients been happy with your service? Do you get repeat clients? And for those that have hired a guide, have you been satisfied with the results? Have you given him 

 repeat business? How does the process work? My own opinion? From what Ive learned, being a fishing guide is a tough job.  If you've had experience as a guide, or in hiring one, please fill me in on your experience with this. I don't want my old friend to jump in to something he's not ready for. Thanks for any info on the guide business from both sides.

 

[JediAmoeba]

37 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I've been bass fishing for a long time. In all my years, I've never hired a guide, nor have I ever guided other fisherman. An older friend has been tossing the idea around of starting a guide service on some local lakes. He's a good man, and honest, but I'm not sure he's really good enough to make it as a fishing guide. For those that have guided, has your business been successful? Have your clients been happy with your service? Do you get repeat clients? And for those that have hired a guide, have you been satisfied with the results? Have you given him 

 repeat business? How does the process work? My own opinion? From what Ive learned, being a fishing guide is a tough job.  If you've had experience as a guide, or in hiring one, please fill me in on your experience with this. I don't want my old friend to jump in to something he's not ready for. Thanks for any info on the guide business from both sides.

 

When I was younger my father and grandfather hired a guide in Canada to catch Walleye and Pike.  In 8 hours on the water we caught 1 dink... at the time I thought that was a colossal waste - but now looking back and remembering the conversations it wasn't a waste if time at all because the guide imparted wisdom about the waters that would take a long time to scout by yourself.  

 

I don't necessarily think being a guide is being the best fisherman but being able to communicate the behaviour of the fish, the way the fish migrate in the target body of water and more importantly where the forage baits are located.  You need to be able to successfully put newbies and veterans on fish and make sure you entertain them.  They are paying not just to catch fish but your company.

 

I think the difference between a good guide and a bad one is exactly the difference between a good teacher and a poor one.  When the person leaves they should have a lasting and memorable experience imprinted in their mind.

[Scott F]

In my opinion, you don’t have to be a great fisherman to be a good guide. If he knows the waters he’s guiding well enough to put clients on fish through the seasons, and he has the patience to teach newbies how to fish, he can be a good guide. But that’s only half of it. A guide has to be a people person. He has to put up with guests who know nothing about fishing and have never held a rod in their life and guys who think they know everything. If he goes into it thinking he’ll be able to fish everyday while getting paid, he might be in for a surprise. It might not be the norm everywhere, but in my experience, guides never fish while they are guiding. They may pick up a rod to demonstrate a technique, but that’s it. I know I pay the guide so I can catch fish not him. Guiding is a job. Day after day watching other people fish in all kinds of weather can be a grind.  If he’s trying to make a living, pay his bills, put a kid through college and save for retirement, he probably will have a difficult time. If he’s trying to make a few extra bucks to make his boat payments, it is doable. I know guides who are great fishermen but have zero personality. They don’t get a lot of repeat business. Friendly guys who are fun to be around will do much better. 

[Dwight Hottle]

 

8 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

When I was younger my father and grandfather hired a guide in Canada to catch Walleye and Pike.  In 8 hours on the water we caught 1 dink... at the time I thought that was a colossal waste - but now looking back and remembering the conversations it wasn't a waste if time at all because the guide imparted wisdom about the waters that would take a long time to scout by yourself.  

 

I don't necessarily think being a guide is being the best fisherman but being able to communicate the behaviour of the fish, the way the fish migrate in the target body of water and more importantly where the forage baits are located.  You need to be able to successfully put newbies and veterans on fish and make sure you entertain them.  They are paying not just to catch fish but your company.

 

I think the difference between a good guide and a bad one is exactly the difference between a good teacher and a poor one.  When the person leaves they should have a lasting and memorable experience imprinted in their mind.

X2

Fishing guides don't go into business to become rich because it never happens. Good guides do provide teaching skills, companionship for those not wanting to fish alone, equipment & a fishing platform, local water knowledge & usually are great story tellers. Some fish with their clients while some do not. A good guide can make a bad fishing day into a worthwhile experience. The most successful guides are always found on the best fisheries.  

[gim]

34 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

When the person leaves they should have a lasting and memorable experience imprinted in their mind.

 

This!  I have only been on a fishing trip that was guided twice in my life, both being saltwater in Florida (Tampa and Key West).  I had a fantastic experience with both and learned so much that I would have never gained knowledge of otherwise.  Granted, we caught a good amount of fish on every trip, and that certainly helped, but the experience is priceless.  Both of them left such a good impression on me that when I go again, I intend to use the same guide service.

[Smokinal]

35 minutes ago, Scott F said:

In my opinion, you don’t have to be a great fisherman to be a good guide. If he knows the waters he’s guiding well enough to put clients on fish through the seasons, and he has the patience to teach newbies how to fish, he can be a good guide. But that’s only half of it. A guide has to be a people person. He has to put up with guests who know nothing about fishing and have never held a rod in their life and guys who think they know everything. I know guides who are great fishermen but have zero personality. They don’t get a lot of repeat business. Friendly guys who are fun to be around will do much better. 

Very well said Scott!

My buddy and I took a 5 day guided trip to Falcon years ago; just after that breakout BASS tourney there that really put that place on the map. Anyway, we hired a local top gun guide @$400/day and we were both very disappointed.

Not much of a people person; would always fish and cast first at almost every spot; we felt we were paying him to let us go fishing with him. 

I have a good friend up here who is a guide and he's flooded with clients.  He's a friendly, calm, knowledgeable guy who knows customer service.

He has said most of his clients don't really care if they catch fish they just like getting out.

[TnRiver46]

Being a guide is good if you don't like money 

[roadwarrior]

I have been fishing with Tim "Hotdawg" Curtis for more than two decades.

He is the best of the best!

https://www.hotdawgguideservice.com/

 

[Mobasser]

5 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

I have been fishing with Tim "Hotdawg" Curtis for more than two decades.

He is the best of the best!

https://www.hotdawgguideservice.com/

 

Yes. I like his motto. " We don't go fishing, we go catching".

[plawren53202]

I've hired a guide twice, ironically didn't hardly catch any either time.  Both times were for saltwater, once flyfishing in the mangroves near Cancun and once for wahoo in Aruba.  But even though we didn't do well either time, the Cancun trip was outstanding and worth every penny, and the Aruba trip was a complete waste of money--because of the person doing the guiding.

 

On my Cancun trip, the guy who took us was working his butt off to put us on some fish.  We were trying to sight cast to juvenile tarpon back in the mangroves and he poled us all over that mangrove.  After a while when it became obvious they weren't biting that day, he took us to some different water to fish for sea trout.  Caught a couple but still not tearing them up.  But he worked hard every moment we were on the water.  Plus, just a super good guy and great conversation all day.  By far the most memorable part of the trip was at the end, for lunch he took us to a very local, waaaaay off the beaten path seafood shack.  We got to see actual local culture, much different than most people's experience of Cancun.  And the guy went considerably over our "clock" for the trip.  

 

On the Aruba trip, the crew just seemed like they'd rather be a 1000 other places the whole day.  After trolling for wahoo for a while, with only one bite and none caught, they made what seemed like a very token effort to try for barracuda or more inshore species.  Very little conversation the entire time.  At the end of our four or five hours, on the dot they just kind of unceremoniously dumped us back at the pier with a halfhearted "sorry you didn't catch anything." 

 

Not catching hardly any on either trip, it really illustrated well that the success of the guide is not really in the catching.

[Sam]

I have fished with a number of guides. Some good and some bad. But I did learn from each.

 

Guiding is a difficult occupation as your success is based on too many variables that are out of your control.

 

The public is hard to deal with when things don't go well and they will blame you. The public does not care about cold fronts, dirty water, waves, wind, other fishermen, other boaters, time of the day, time of the year, what baits to throw, how strong is the line, how you did the last trip out, and the size of the fish caught.

 

Best guided trip I had in years was with a guy who just got divorced, enjoyed his booze, dressed like a homeless person, and had a small boat. However he knew where the fish were, his equipment was excellent and my wife caught her first redfish, speckled trout, drum, and sheepshead down in the Biloxi marsh in southeast Louisiana.

 

Worst guided trip I had was with a nice old man who said he knew Buggs Island but he knew only a part of it and we did not get a bite all day. I blamed him as I paid him good money to put me on the bass and he failed to do so.

 

No way you could get me to be a guide. All the best if you wish to do guiding but be ready for damaged rods, backlashes, hooks and baits flying all over the place, people yelling at you, bad weather, people not showing up for the trip, people wanting their money back, and no telling what else they will blame on you.

 

Let us know what you do and some stories, too.

 

 

[soflabasser]

I am not a guide but I have helped my family and friends catch new PB's and other nice fish. It is a fun experience but I rather not guide for money and instead I prefer fishing with those that I enjoy their company. 

[roadwarrior]

A couple of years ago I put 12 guys on their Personal Best.

That was my most rewarding year EVER!

 

[WRB]

Bass fishing guides are usually local "pro" bass anglers trying to supplement there fishing expenses, are few are business men who truly like to take out anglers to fish.

I know serveral guides who I wouldn't recommend to catch a cold and a few who are dedicated to teaching thier clients how to catch bass.

The problem I have with any guides is they don't dedicate themselves to pay back the free resource they exploit. Our state doesn't require habitate development by volunteering  time and resources to enhance the habitate. 

Bass fishing guides need to have their clients catching bass and in our lakes they resort to using live bait if the bite is tough. Netting live Threadfin Shad starts during post spawn every year, using live crawdads during pre spawn stresses the big bass population but adds tips to the guides fees. 

I understand the need to catch bass for clients but there is also a need to pay it back. 

Tom

[the reel ess]

I have hired a total of two guides in my life. The first was a striper/hybrid guide on Lake Hartwell, SC in my early 20s. He put us on fish and wanted us to limit so he could go home. If we weren't sitting right on top of a rod in the holder when it clicked he would grab it and set the hook for us, then hand us the rod. He hardly spoke except to say things like "Well, they say they don't, but they do" when asked something about fish patterns. We brought home those fish, took pics,cleaned and ate them (all but forbidden from Hartwell nowadays due to mercury) but we didn't learn much we could use at home. Fast forward to this past December. I went on 2 6-hour trips with a So FL guide and got a masters level course in largemouth fishing. The guide told me I knew more than most folks he guided so he was going to run the run the trolling motor, give advice, answer questions and fish other baits to try to nail down what they wanted. he had me change baits every time the bite slowed, not when it stopped. he also was changing baits all day and rigging rods with what he thought I should try so i didn't have to stop to change baits. He showed me more about flipping in a few hours than I'd ever seen in any video and the bites were there, so it was awesome practice. He was friendly, engaging, instructional and interested in my success. He even told me of easily accessible public locations. He said he doesn't do that as a rule, but I did pay and tip him for (2) days. A guide needs to make his clients as comfortable and knowledgeable as he can in the short time they're with him because they paid him a bunch of $$$ to learn.

[Catt]

In this dumb Cajun's opinion a guide better be able to put clients on fish consistently.

 

It's also my opinion guiding is harder than tournament fishing for the simple fact ya gotta be on fish 24/7/365. Tournament anglers have to worry about a pattern holding up for 3-4 days.

 

The #1 question asked about a guide is did y'all catch, it's hard to teach someone how to fish when ya ain't catching!

[WRB]

A good friend and neighbor of my wife's family in Canada was a fishing and hunting guide. In Canada the guide is both a cook for shore lunches that is a big part of a day's outing meaning he prepared the meal and ate some of the fish caught. Getting skunked wasn't a consideration. The exception was when he was guiding musky clients, then the shore lunch was bacon, eggs and biscuits usually without fresh fish.

We hired a deck hand ( guide ) in Cabo every year and he was a good cook and knew where to look for Marlin and tuna, incredible fishing skills.

I was referring to fresh water local bass guides in my 1st post and didn't want to leave the impression it's easy to be a guide but a lot easier then catching and cooking shore lunches. I couldn't be a professional guide because working with the public is stressful and not always fun. My experiences working at boat landings taught me the public has many faces, some are happy, some are ugly and a guide needs to be able to work for both all the time. I like to choose who I fish with.

Tom

[Mobasser]

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

A good friend and neighbor of my wife's family in Canada was a fishing and hunting guide. In Canada the guide is both a cook for shore lunches that is a big part of a day's outing meaning he prepared the meal and ate some of the fish caught. Getting skunked wasn't a consideration. The exception was when he was guiding musky clients, then the shore lunch was bacon, eggs and biscuits usually without fresh fish.

We hired a deck hand ( guide ) in Cabo every year and he was a good cook and knew where to look for Marlin and tuna, incredible fishing skills.

I was referring to fresh water local bass guides in my 1st post and didn't want to leave the impression it's easy to be a guide but a lot easier then catching and cooking shore lunches. I couldn't be a professional guide because working with the public is stressful and not always fun. My experiences working at boat landings taught me the public has many faces, some are happy, some are ugly and a guide needs to be able to work for both all the time. I like to choose who I fish with.

Tom

I agree Tom. Working with the public would not always be easy or fun.

[flatcreek]

There’s and old guide saying.”I ain’t making any money but I’m fishing nearly bout everyday”

[TnRiver46]

8 minutes ago, flatcreek said:

There’s and old guide saying.”I ain’t making any money but I’m fishing nearly bout everyday”

I would say around 50% of clients get quite upset when the guide makes a cast. I've had more than a few tell me they wouldn't pay if I fished . A more accurate description is "adult babysitting"

[Mobasser]

As Catt pointed out above, many bass pros have guided on the side too. It may actually be harder for them, because once they've done well in tournaments, they have a reputation to uphold. Even the best guys have a bad day, as we all know...

[flatcreek]

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I would say around 50% of clients get quite upset when the guide makes a cast. I've had more than a few tell me they wouldn't pay if I fished 

I expect they would get upset, but I know some guides that go back out and fish until past dark after their trips.

[Mobasser]

33 minutes ago, WRB said:

A good friend and neighbor of my wife's family in Canada was a fishing and hunting guide. In Canada the guide is both a cook for shore lunches that is a big part of a day's outing meaning he prepared the meal and ate some of the fish caught. Getting skunked wasn't a consideration. The exception was when he was guiding musky clients, then the shore lunch was bacon, eggs and biscuits usually without fresh fish.

We hired a deck hand ( guide ) in Cabo every year and he was a good cook and knew where to look for Marlin and tuna, incredible fishing skills.

I was referring to fresh water local bass guides in my 1st post and didn't want to leave the impression it's easy to be a guide but a lot easier then catching and cooking shore lunches. I couldn't be a professional guide because working with the public is stressful and not always fun. My experiences working at boat landings taught me the public has many faces, some are happy, some are ugly and a guide needs to be able to work for both all the time. I like to choose who I fish with.

Tom

I wouldn't complain about bacon, eggs, an biscuits. One of my all time favourites!

[jbsoonerfan]

I have been on 2 guided trips for Largemouth. Both times were on big bass lakes in Oklahoma and Texas. I didn't expect to go catch a DD fish on these trips but I did expect to learn a little bit about the lakes, where fish were different times of the year, how the body of water warms and cools, seasonal patterns, etc. Instead my buddy and I fished off the back deck for the majority of the day while the guides ran the TM and threw at all the spots before we could. Both times the guides caught more than both of us combined. These guys both had attitudes like they were big shot bass guys who were simply giving us the pleasure of getting to fish with them and out of their fancy boat. I have been back to both lakes and caught more each time fishing by myself. I would NEVER hire a guide for Largemouth again.

 

Now, I have also been on 2 guided Striper trips. Both times the guides worked on finding fish, showing us what to look for on the graph, how to watch the birds to find fish and where they were depending on time of year. Neither of them ever landed a fish. They would bait our hooks (which each of us could have done, but they both said that's what they were getting paid to do) net our fish, and put them in the cooler so we could get back to fishing. We caught our limit both times well before the "day" was up but each time they let us keep fishing as long as we were still catching with the understanding that they had to be thrown back. They cleaned the fish and bagged them up for us after the trip and made sure we got them however we wanted. These guys acted like they were glad to have us on the boat and they would do all that they could to see that we were happy. I would DEFINITELY go on a guided Striper trip again.

 

I would also say it is much easier to go find schooling Striper (especially if you are working with other guides to locate them) than it is to go find Largemouth on a consistent basis so that has something to do with it. However, I don't get a good impression from someone when they are being paid by me so they can just enjoy a day of fishing while having someone on their boat. You should treat it as a job, not a hobby.

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, flatcreek said:

I expect they would get upset, but I know some guides that go back out and fish until past dark after their trips.

That sounds nice but they must live alone and not have a trip the next morning. Usually post trip is go to the grocery buy more drinks more ice make more sandwiches and clean the boat out. Not to mention family time