Fishing Guide Expectations & Etiquette
Author: Captain Mike | Filed under: Fishing, Fishing Articles
Nothing bothers me more than guiding a client with unreasonable expectations. When I get in the boat with a client, the first thing I ask is what my client is trying to accomplish. I hear everything from catching fish to learning the lake to practicing techniques and more. I try extremely hard to please every client; however it is not possible to meet everyone’s expectations. Not that I haven’t always tried, but sometimes clients aren’t really up front with about what they want to accomplish, and this is where the problem starts.
I think most clients realize that I can’t control whether the fish bite or not, and they seem to be okay when those bad days occur. Disappointed but okay. But even on those days, a good guide can make the time on the lake a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
When you hire a professional guide, you will more likely accomplish what you came for if you lay out clear, reasonable, and achievable expectations. Tell the guide if there is a certain part of the lake you want to fish or a particular bait you want to master, or if there’s a certain type of fishing you want to try.
What if your goal is only to catch good numbers of fish, and size, location, or what bait to use is of no consequence to you. Hey man, that’s great! A guide can take you out there and work hard to help you meet that goal. Regardless of what your objectives are, you must communicate them in order for the guide to help you achieve them.
After you have clarified your expectations, there are several things the client can do to help ensure the day is successful. One thing he can do is turn off his cell phone or limit its use to just urgent calls.
Let’s say half the time you’re on the water, you’ve got your cell phone plastered to your ear so you can’t focus on fishing. Wow! How unfair is that to the guide who is trying his best to put you on fish? If the tables were turned and the guide spent half his time talking to prospective clients and lining up future trips on his cell phone, that would certainly be unfair to you.Well, for you to be successful, both you and the guide need to focus on fishing.
Guides certainly understand that you don’t put your life on hold when you get away from the shop for a day on the lake. Sometimes you need to take a call; but for a client to spend hours on the phone is downright demoralizing to any guide who is working hard to make sure he catches fish.
Let’s say that between all your calls you ended up with only one or two bites out there on the water… guess what,? When it’s time to head in, the guide can tell by your long face that you’re disappointed. The guide knows you’re upset, but what can he say? That you’ve spent hours on the phone, and between calls you really weren’t paying attention to the fishing? That would be a bad ending to an unpleasant day. So just decide on your priorities before you go out,. and limit phone use to just the essentials.
The next concern I have is this: guides often get hired just to help a client locate or pattern fish so he can spend the next few days in his own boat fishing. This is a super use of a guide; however when the anglers goes back to that spot the next day and is catching fish and sees the guide pull up with another client, I believe it’s time to help the guide. He helped you jump-start your vacation, so it’s just good etiquette for you to realize the guide’s livlihood is coming from those fish, and you should move on after a reasonable amount of time so he can try and please his next client. This has happened to me only once, but I can tell you when the person doesn’t politely move to another spot, the guide feels pretty bad. Most guides try to avoid this situation, but sometimes it just happens.
Lastly, in my mind. you should consider tipping the guide if he has worked hard to accomplish what you have asked of him. It is a good way to show appreciation for a hard days work. It may seem that you’re already paying the guide a lot of money as a guide fee, but believe me, most of our clients couldn’t live on a fishing guide’s income. After covering the costs of vehicle and boat fuel, depreciation, and maintenance, boat and liability insurance, baits, tackle, drinks and snacks, business expenses and taxes, there’s very little left over, and tips often make the difference between breaking even and coming out ahead for the day.
Captain Mike Gerry
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
Web: www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
(256) 759-2270
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