How do I become a guide?

[Peter E.]

Hey Ya'll,

      Now I don't want anyone to take this as advertising but :-/, I'm trying to start a guide service to help pay for college :-?. I want to Guide for spots and LM on fast moving creeks in my area. I feel that I am the best in my area at fishing these areas. I hate to brag but I am going to put my money where my mouth is . I would love any advice that ya'll would have or info on what you expect from a guide. I am afraid that I am dead serious in this matter but any good natured ribbing is welcome . If any of our members are guides in Alabama then I need to know what all is required by law to do this.

                                                thanks,

                                                      Peter

[roadwarrior]

Go to page two in this section, "Renting a Guide"

[Peter E.]

I read that and it gave me a better idea of what I should do.

thanks though,

Peter

[roadwarrior]

My main fishing buddy recently started doing a little guiding. He is pretty well known on the Tennessee River, but most importantly he has a lot of friends that are guides. They ask him to come aboard and help them with overflow. He has a new Bay Ranger, furnishes G.Loomis and St. Croix rods, Shimano Stella reels, Yo-Zuri Hybrid line and Gamakatsu hooks. He quarantees his clients will catch fish or no charge. He guides for striper and smallmouth only and fishes live bait. His charge is $300 plus bait if his clients fish store bought shiners vs. wild yellowtail. He fishes sun-up to black dark or however long his clients want. There are no half day price breaks. Tips generally range from $100-$200.

The key to getting started for him has been referrels, but once they fish his rig, they're hooked. Plus, he just guides because he likes to, he doesn't need the money, he owns River City Masonary. So far he only guides during the week because I fish Saturday!

[Guest avid]

Does being a guide mean you have be nice to idiots? >  :-*

[L.D.]

You betcha!

L.D.

[Marty]

This is the site of an Alabama guide who I'm familiar with from another forum. He may be willing to give you some advice.

http://www.anglingalabama.com/

[George Welcome]

1. Have enough fishing experience to actually be able to help others - more fail for the lack of fishing experience than for any other reason.

2. Have proper licensing based on State and Federal requirements - State requirements can be answered by your Fish and Game. Federal requires an OUPV, (6-pak) license for any federally navigable water.

3. Insurance: Commercial insurance is required no matter where you are guiding. Standard insurance does no cover any commercial activity with your boat.

4. The hours are long: the only reason for going into this guide thing is for the love of doing it. Your reason, (to make money), is the number one reason for failure in this business. Burn out occurs rapidly and most fall by the wayside.

Guiding is not just providing a boat to get to areas of water that everyone knows about. It involves dealing with people and giving insight into what has taken years to learn. Filling the boat needs and the licensing is easy - Truly having the fishing experience to enter a tournament every trip is not so easy. Yes, I said a tournament, and it is one you must win. There is no second or third place in this business. You either produce or you lose.

[Fisher of Men]

Yes, I said a tournament, and it is one you must win. There is no second or third place in this business. You either produce or you lose.

That's a great perpsective. When you think of it that way, guiding can be very stressful. One thought I've had is this (and I've done this before several times):

Imagine it like taking someone else's inexperienced children fishing. I can imagine that a beginner angler might be the same way, only worse, because they're grown and think they know more than they do. I can imagine tying their lures on, teaching them how and where to cast, untangling lines, unhanging lures, removing fish, etc. I have to agree. There's bound to be better ways to make money than this. You would definitely have to want to serve other people and teach them about fishing to be a guide. Money alone shouldn't be the motivating factor.

[Peter E.]

Thanks fella's,

      I really appreciate the advice and i understand that money cannot be the reason one goes into such endeavors. I have a love of the sport and i want to share this amazing and little known ecosystem. So many people drive over thse creeks and never pay them a second thought. I am aware that it takes patience and I will say that i truly love teaching and sharing my knowledge, this is why I am studying to be a teacher (history as a matter of fact) and this said you can tell I'm not a person that puts high  emphisis on money. I know I am capable of producing in these areas, and lord willing, i will be able to post some pictures of my first guideing trip.

thanks again for your wisdom and pateince,

Peter

[stratoscaster]

Goodluck!

[Peter E.]

Any suggestions on advertising? :-/

Peter

[Peter E.]

Thanks Bud,

Peter

[L.D.]

1) Get yourself a first class web site made and change the content often so the same people will come back to read what you have. Client photo's are more important than yours. Repete clients like to see themselves on line. Newsletters that are contantly updated are also important. And put all info on the site includeing your rates. Make the people want to book right on the spot by e-mail instead of having to wait to call you for more info. Check mine out at www.ldguideservice.com

2) the old broshure works to some extent at outdoor shows, also put them in tackle stores if they will let you

3) You've go to prove yourself that you can get the client fish. Gaurentee that they will catch a fish or they don't pay for the trip, or it can be rescheduled. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be guideing( I've been skunked twice in 25 years, and that was in floods) Clients will take a chance on a guide when they have nothing to loose. When you proove yourself to them, they will be back and bring friends.

4) After you start and need some advise, just PM me and we'll chat.

L.D.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Local shops are always a great way to get business.

Having long term established relationships on a personal and business level coming into the game is a must.

Like L.D. said, most of his business is word of mouth which backs acstechs advice that if you don't produce, you don't succeed. Most of the respected names in fishing for a certain locale would either recommend or not recommend someone and the chances of that someone being you depends on how these locals view you.

******************************************************

Also check with locally produced fishing papers. Ours is called "The Fisherman"

I think one of the biggest requirements is choosing a body of water that attracts anglers. When I was looking for a guide for fork, I didn't type "spotted bass guide" in google, it was "lake Fork guides". Does your body of water attract possible customers?

When L.D. mentioned the web site, the above point hits it on the head. Lake Fork guide Ritchie WHite is the first hit on google under lake fork guides. His web site is the best one we saw and there were 2 of us inspecting them ALL! After further research, we learned that he backs up his game. Guess who we booked. Great point L.D.

Good Luck and keep us posted along the way so we can refer back to you when this comes up in the future. Perhaps we could write an article of your story with clips from the board along your journey and file it in the articles section above.

[VekolBass]

I'm not an expert by any means on the subject of fishing guides, but I've daydreamed about doing this too. I do have quite a bit of experience in sales and marketing however--as well as working with start-up operations. As the other guys have stated, your biggest problem is going to be attracting enough customers to make the house payment and eat for several years. This is the way most businesses of any kind fail, not enough start up capital to get through those first few years while you're trying to obtain that loyal customer base.

My observation is that most guides overcome this in one of two ways: First, become known in your area as a good fisherman. This is generally done by being successful in local tournaments. If your successful enough, you may be able to parlay that into a successful client base very quickly. But probably not. The second way is to be successful enough to get noticed by another established guide service, who will hire you as an associate guide. There you can learn the ins and outs of the business at someone else's expense. The catch here would be that the established guiding services in all likelihood will demand that you sign a non-compete contract, prohibiting you from working as a guide for a specified period of time after you leave their employ. It will also prohit you from contacting any of their clients. This is only fair. The legality and effectiveness of such contracts varies from state to state and industry to industry--but you can find yourself with a lot of legal complications real quick if you try to bust out of one. IF your personal situation permits it, hire on with an outfit in one state--then open your business in a different state of your choosing. You probably won't be able to contact your previous clients, but you'll have a resume.

One other piece of advice. I know you said and some others advised that it isn't about the money--but it is. Your creditors don't give a hoot about your love for the outdoors, nor does the grocery store or the doctor if you or a family member gets ill. They want their money. So do some study, if you haven't already on business itself. Things like taxes, bookkeeping, business law, etc. Formulate a realistic business plan, and be honest with yourself about your situation, skills, and financial ability to cope with not only the stuff you plan for, but for the inevitable things that will happen along the way.

Hope I'm not unduly discouraging you--what your doing is great. But I have seen some pretty ugly things happen with start-ups. Good luck.

JP