I’ve fished with a guide in our immediate area three or four times in the last five years or so, and there have been two times for sure that the spots that we fished were under the radar, but great spots for muskies and walleyes. My question is, should I fish these spots that are not well known at all and possibly take away from the guide, or should I make my own luck? Moral dilemma. 
acafisherman19
If your parents paid to send you to a private school or college, can you use what you learned? 
I feel like if this guide took you specifically to this spot, and you’re using these spots on your own after the fact, then you’re being disrespectful.
If say, the both of you guys found this spot without speaking with one another, it’s all fair game. You just need to keep in mind that the people that are brought out by the guide are probably interested in keeping fish, adding a little bit of pressure to your spot.
Happens to me all the time. Take a client out and they lock onto that spot like its the only one like it. To have benefited the most from your guided trips, you should be able to then seek out another half dozen spots that mirror that one. Possibly find a couple the guide doesn’t know about????
ask the guide. I asked up front and was told to go ahead and mark the spots with my GPS. I think it’s more about what you are doing and when than any magical spot.
When hiring a guide to take you fishing, you dont want to spend all day marking the spots your fishing. Take all day to ask questions about why the fish are in this spot, and why your fishing them the way you are. If you do that and hire a guide a couple different times of a year, you can take that knowledge and transform it into success on other lakes and different spots on the lake you were guided on. This is just my opinion.
Good luck
If you paid for it I say it is fair game, those fish will most likely not be there for too long. Thats where many make the mistake of fishing memories.
As many have mentioned to be a better fisherman you need to know why the fish are in that spot. From there it is your turn to put your new knowledge to use and find similar areas and explore.
Dont think of a guide so mush as a spot giver but a methods/locations teacher.
Gain some knowledge, put it to use finding your own new areas and you will be better rewarded by your sense of achievement.
Ask the guide if he’s OK with you fishing those spots without him. 
I have been with a guide only a few times. But the most recent one told me that I am paying for the fishing spots/locations and to cover the expenses (gas, bait, etc.) He went on to tell me that he has several different spots on the lake, knowing that customers, like me, would return to the same locations. If i am going to pay $100 an hour for a guy to take me fishing in a lake I dont know much about, I am going to return to every single spot he shows me. There should be absolutely nothing wrong with that. I dont see how that could be a problem.
Bottom line is it is a public lake.
That being said I would ask a guide when he was guiding you how he felt about you using a spot he showed you. Some guides might not mind, others might. Others might have “requests” for you like “please keep it a secret”.
Personally I would feel like a douche to go hit spots a guide showed me if I didn’t enquirer what his feelings were first. How would you feel if you didn’t ask and you went end fished the spot and then he came motoring up with a client?
If I plan on spending a week in Canada, I’m going to hire a guide on the first day. The spots he shows me are definitely going to be key as no doubt, I’m going to pull out my map and find other area’s that are similar.
Over the course of the week, I will check as many new spots as possible but if they don’t produce, I almost certainly will go back to the spots the guide showed me.
On the lake I do most of my guiding on, (Lake Wisconsin) I see this type of scenario play out all the time. Some clients go back and fish only the spots I showed them. Others take what I showed them and apply it to other spots around the lake.
I personally have no issues what-so-ever with them fishing spots I showed them. It is essentially a large part of what they paid for.
If your planning on being a guide for the long haul, you better not let small things like this bother you. Otherwise, you can pretty much count on repeat business being a very small percentage of your yearly client base.
As far as I’m concerned, clients fishing in the spots I showed them, is exactly what I would expect them to do.
I would also expect them to look for similar spots but whether they do or not makes no difference in the end.
Well said.
Quote:
Well said.
Mike anderson
I agree with Joel in that it can be different depending on the lake and the scenario. i have used a guide on several occasions. 1.) to learn the body of water and the tactics during a specific time of year that I intend to fish for many years to come(ie. pool 4) 2.) to get on fish quickly on a distant vacation that I have not fished or am not familiar with for that time of year.
i am more likely to fish the same spots on the vacation lake but also branch out some. the “home” lake I am going to use the knowledge about the spot to find others first. But I will use that spot in a milk run of fishing spots depending on time of year. Also, be up front with your guide on your intentions and he will be able to teach you better in return.
Personally,Id never pay a guide unless it was a great lakes charter,or ocean adventure I dont have the boat for.I like to find my own sucess its more fun in my mind.Ive brought a few aquantinces out on spots for hot bites and next thing you know 10 other people who know them are there to.Id say just keep it to yourself if you do use the guides spots.
I used to fish a stream in the rockies that held rainbows, along with some cutthroat and browns. The first hole of water was cut under a bank with a tree root. I always caught a rainbow there…not large but he always played with me when I came by…I shared that streach with a fishing friend, and when I fished it next…no rainbow…when I ask my buddie if he had fished it yet, his reply was..o yes, they were delicious…..
I guess I expect friends I take out to return to spots. I would not expect them to ask me if it was ok to come back there, let alone if they paid me to take them out. If i want a spot to be a secret i would not take people there. I have a spot my dad and i go and it seems to always have a fish or two. i dont go there with people who fish so he has a plce close to home to go. I assume people fishing a guides spots is the nature of the beast.
I’ve known guys to hire a guide in the spring…. then return to those same spots in August and wonder why they couldn’t catch a fish.
I agree fully it is about learning what to look for, more than specific spot on a spot. I’ve only been in a boat twice with a guide… but both times we spent a ton of time talking about reading the water, and how fish transition… putting together patterns to eliminate water.
This said, first time I was at pool 9 with a guide… I talked to him before we even went, explaining I would have a boat for fishing another few days. I get there once a year… and wanted to learn safe navigation and such, plus have a couple spots to start with the next couple days. As Joel said, backups for my own learning. When I got to the trip, he actually had a map for me, marked up…. and we hit a few of those spots as examples how to fish them. How to avoid the closing dams getting in… and such. The upfront conversation made it all better. Eliminated any unease, and he smiled when he passed me the next day…. trying one of the areas he told me to go to. I have sent him a couple clients since that time.
Would agree that asking him about fishing those areas would be the way to go.
When I guided I wanted to see my clients back on those spots. Told me they learned something that day and where putting it to use. Then again areas that I fished changed often and many of these spots reloaded with fish fairly fast.
I dont mind taking friends out and fishing with them and getting them on some fish.But when I end up there one day and ten of their friends are there its kind of irritateing, to me anyways.I was talking more of aquaintinces,not nessicarilly friends,theres a difference to me between the two.I guess I shouldnt assume they dont have a big mouth,which is why I no longer fish with aquaintinces,Ill tell them the lake or river Im fishing but wont bring them there with me anymore,learned the hard way.
Guiding:
I tell everyone the same thing. This is your river too. If you chose to fish the locations I’m taking you to and I show up, I’ll ask if I can fish “near” you. If you say no, I’ll move on. Just keep in mind that this same scenario could happen on this trip.
Most people will say they wouldn’t ever fish the areas again. Few have and had some prop repair to do afterwards. I happens.
One fella snuck a gps along. I was pretty green. He would pull his bag out of the compartment and I trying to keep the deck trip free would put it back below.
Guess it didn’t work well for him as he ended up beached on a sand bar.
For pete’s sake, just ask!
Personally speaking, when I go out with a friend I tell them straight out, don’t take me to a secret spot. I don’t want to know about it.
This came from a friend that took me to his “secret spot” and then found someone fishing it some time later. I never fish his spot… ever or told anyone about it. Ruined what I thought was a good relationship.
Thanks for all the input everyone!!
Since these are spots for muskies, I’ll probably just add them to my milk run for this specific lake, one more so than the other because one of them is an out of the way backwater that very few people fish. In specific conditions, that spot would be fantastic, but I do understand what the guide was telling us about the day and why these fish were in the backwater.
Since fishing is just a fun(?) hobby for me, I would like to do my best to keep the lake good for this guide to make a living on. Me, I would have a hard time guiding and I greatly respect everyone who puts in the time to learn a lake and help their clients catch fish.
Thanks again for all the input!!
acafisherman19
Quote:
Guiding:
I tell everyone the same thing. This is your river too.
Stop it.
I didn’t mean for you to take it literally and dive in.
Works both ways.. I was in Canada once with a guide and we were walleye fishing his home lake… we were doing “alright” catching a few, when I told him, we need to motor over to that shore and throw to shore and retrieve out to the boat… he looked at me like I was dumb, but he went over there anyways… 3 of us proceeded to hammer 24-28″ walleyes on just about every cast… he said it was the best day he ever guided on the lake 
(I told him to feel free to hit that shoreline without me, when the wind was out of the east again) 
Quote:
he said it was the best day he ever guided on the lake
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
