How To Choose The Right Fishing Guide

Are you looking for that 10 pound walleye or 50 pound catfish you’ve always wanted a picture of? Do you want to learn the river or lake better? A good guide might have the time on the water, experience and skill to make your dream come true. By asking questions and paying a little attention to details, your one time guide trip could give you the knowledge to put more and bigger fish in your boat that could last a life time!

Why would anybody need a fishing guide?

Fishing is easy. Drop your bait and sit it out…Well maybe, if you have a lot of time. There’s more to guiding than a hope and a prayer. Once you’ve sat in a boat for hours without a bite a person realizes how much help a good guide can be. Or maybe your from out of town and want to relax for a day.

Guides are pros at what they do, and that is why they are guides. They are people that love fishing, teaching and love watching others catch fish. They can help out with gear and knowing what you will be needing.

Do they have the proper licenses?

The first piece of finding your guide is to make sure they are insured and if guiding on a Federally controlled waterway, like the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers locally here are US Coast Guard approved. Some states like Wisconsin require a state stamp for guiding with in it’s boundary’s.

I’ve been amazed at how many guides feel that their regular boat insurance or even home owners insurance will cover them while being hired. It doesn’t. If you happen to be the unlucky one with a hook in the hand or worse and end up in the hospital, it’s going to be on your dime. Is it worth the chance? Go with a pro and concentrate on catching fish

The next important piece is to make sure your guide follow the laws. Laws vary from state to state and even body’s of water. Your guide should know them and follow them.

Experience

Every area is different. Species of fish are different.

Someone that has fished the area for the type of fish your looking for will know not only where to go but what to use and where to cast your line. Fish can be found in many places, your guide needs to know where, when and how to put you on them.

Another piece is how long have they been in business. Generally speaking, the longer they’ve been around the better they know the area and the fishing.

Good places to check for good guides start right here on In-Depth Outdoors. Watch the fishing reports. Look back at the guides history in the reports forum. Also Private Message others that have use a particular guide. Email or call your guide. The ones that take weeks to respond aren’t worth your time. Don’t forget to check out their website. All invaluable tools for selecting a great day (or night) on the water.

Equipment

Ask about the gear that is brought for you. Some guides will let you use your own equipment. Be prepared thou, many times the personal gear isn’t heavy enough or is too heavy and it is just in the way.

Guides should have the best of the best gear for the fish they are targeting. Set up and ready to go. Using the gear brought by the guide might be a chance for you to try something that you never would have tried before.

Ask what else you will need to bring. Some guides take care of the small things like sun block and bug repellant. Other have lunch for you others do not. Make sure you know what your getting before you get to the dock.

There’s an outline of what to look for when selecting your guide for a day or more on the water. With just a bit of leg work you’ll be able to turn the odds more towards your favor.

Good fishing out there…and see you on the water!

Another shamless plug for Fishing with BK. Just kidding Brian

Great article! All things to take into consideration before spending the hard earned money on a trip.

I’m trying to talk my buddy into going out on a guide trip, and apparently he thinks going anywhere and landing the mass quantity and Quality fish is easy!

Nice article BrianK. I wrote a very similar article for my friend’s site called “Non-Traditional Fishing.” My article gives a client’s perspective. Here it is:

http://www.nt-fishing.com/readarticle.php?article_id=12

Nice article Briank…
I would only add this…be sure to ask for references… or look for those on the Guide’s website. I Guide in an area with a small tourism base. Many of my clients are from Milwaukee and Chicago and are new to the area.
My business is BEST promoted by SATISFIED clients and RETURN clients…
An experienced Guide should also spend considerable time on the phone with you determining your expectations, angling abilities and time/season constraints, and answering questions…I.E. Its tough to come to P-4 in late July and expect a November style Sauger bite. Then be honest about the realities of what to expect.
Lastly…no one controls the weather…be sure of your Guide’s alternative to a rainout or storm that prohibits completing your trip…
I have taken 5 or 6 guided trips on Pool 4…I learned probably 20 years of info in those 60 hours of fishing… Its the very BEST way to increase your fish CATCHING ability by leaps and bounds!

BTW…I do not guide on the Mississippi…this is just an honest opinion…

Great article guys, what you said is very true. Having guided for over 15 yrs. Many of my trips are fishing lakes from the Metro area to Green lake in Spicer and surrounding area. It’s a great feeling to help a youngest catch their first fish. Even if it’s a sunfish, high 5’s and photos, the kids remember these times. Getting a X-mas card from a youngest that lives in Las Vegas, with your photo in a group of photos is really KOOL. Equipment is a very important part for clients enjoy the guide trip. A list of others guides phone numbers can work well, net-working with each other. To help people catch fish and enjoy the sport we love is a great feeling.

Great article Brian! I’ve been out with James, Dustin, Dee-Zee, and even you before you were a guide. In fact, I’m pretty sure I asked you at the time why you weren’t guiding for pay? You certainly were guiding.

Anyway, those trips cut my learning curve by years. I went from someone who didn’t know diddly to some one who actually shows up on the web pages every once in a while with some nice fish. Great investment!

dd

Great article. I could not agree more. I travel a lot for work and don’t get the time on the water that I would like. Hiring a good guide is invaluable. The knowledge that they take the time to share with you changes your fishing capabilities for life. Those that I have fished with do an excellent job ensuring you have a great time, even if the fishing is slow.

I have also had experience with bad guides before. The ones that set the hook for you and hand you the pole. I hand it back and say, “why don’t you reel it in too?”

Or the ones who don’t listen to your request and have no time for pictures. They are after the bottom line, catching fish, so that they can go in early if they get your limit.

But a really good guide might be getting ripped off a little by giving up their honey holes and giving away great fishing knowlege that took them years on the water to get.

Anyway, there are good and bad ones out there. Doing your research might help you eliminate the bad ones. The good ones are really worth it though.

Great Article Brian!!

Being a licensed Captain here on Rainy Lake my guide service has the chance to fish with all levels of anglers; From seasoned walleye fisherman just looking to get on the right pattern to one time tourists fishing on a one day license to add that to the check off list on their trip. Making a good read on what your clients are looking for/expecting is important to the overall happiness of your customer. Everyone seems to be the hero when the fish are jumping in the boat, but the good guides or guide services seem to seperate from the pack during tough bites. I try to take care of my customers from the moment we’ve made first contact until the moment I load their personal gear back in their vehicle!! I also think it is important that customers feel they have learned something new. I mark maps up for different wind conditions or species…. Explain what I’m looking for on the graph. Let them try a high quality blank while jigging. Explain why this jig seems to outproduce that one…. Catching fish for the day is just that, but the education you receive on fishing a body of water or species will last a lifetime!!

AND HECK HAVE FUN!! Fishing is still FUN, so lighten up and crack some jokes, and point out the Moose on the shoreline. Some days it’s windy, and some days cold fronts drop in…. That is fishing, so give it your all as a pro in the sport and make sure your customers know you care about their personal happiness and future success stories!!