Fishing Guides

I already have an organization taking out disabled veterans on fishing trips at no cost. But I have many others that are calling and knocking at my door to take them fishing and are willing to pay. What do I have to do for the state of MN and federal to become a fishing guide and accept money? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just want to make sure that I don’t do anything wrong and get in trouble.

I just stumbled across this web page this weekend and have been reading hours of past messages before I signed up as a member. This looks like an awsome place to share info and fishing trips.

Welcome to the site.

It depends where you plan on guiding. If you want to guide on federal waterways then you need a Coast Guard license. If not, then you don’t.
Here is a link to get you started. Coast Guard The license you need for federal waterways is the OUPV.

That’s good info and a good link Lenny.

You might find the CG’s site a little overwhelming… http://www.explorersgidellc.com is a fella that teaches this class.

Not only can you download JUST the info you need…he’ll answer a ton of question via email or phone….and he’s on ONLY guy that holds a class in the Metro area or on-line from what I hear.

Again, as Lenny said. The USCG licensing is only for Federal waterways. Great Lakes, ‘sippi, MN, St Croix, Red River of the North and LOTW’s…I don’t think I missed any.

PS MN doesn’t have any regs on guides…however if you guide in WI waters…including the WI side of the border waters…you’ll need a WI Guide License.(According to the WI DNR)

Make sure to check with a good insurance company. Not all know what type you need. Besides being liable for clients in your boat, make sure you have replacement cost for everything you use in the business. The best place to start looking is with a company that has specific polices for guiding.

Welcome to the site fishing vet. You follow the above mentioned links and you should be on your way to guiding here in Minnesota..

Welcome to In-Depth Outdoors Fishing Vet!!!

Welcome to the site Fishing Vet! Here is a link that can get you going in the right direction to starting a business in the state of Minnesota. It’s not specific to the type of business you want to run but gives you general information and it has a ton of links to just about everything you want to know.

This site should be a good addition to the links the other guys have already provided for you. Hope it helps!

http://www.deed.state.mn.us/bizdev/start.html

Welcome to the site Fishing Vet. I think what you are doing is great. I lost one of my best fishing buddies 2 years ago in Iraq. I have fished with many of the guys from this site, some guides & some not. I have never met a guy I would never fish with again. All the advise they are giving you will truely help you out, and we will all look forward to posts from you in the future, by the way did I mention I usually carry a hand held GPS when fishing with all these great guys. Just kidding.

John

Fishing Vet- I just sent you a PM. Look forward to hearing from you.

John