Why Hire A Fishing Guide?

I am a big proponent of hiring fishing guides, especially when I fish new places. You can save a tremendous about of time learning a new fishery with the help of a guide who fishes there every day. Figuring things out yourself can be rewarding, but when I have limited time in a new fishery, I always hire a guide. Guides also manage boat positioning/control, which frees me up to just fish, which is the part I enjoy the most.

How to Choose a Guide

When I am looking at a new fishery, I do some research online to see if there are guides who fish there regularly. I try to follow them for a while if they have social media so I can get a sense of how often they are going out and what they are catching. Some guides recycle old pictures so I look out for that. Once I have identified some likely candidates, I see if there is anyone I know who has fished with them before. If not, I try to find some independent third party reviews or articles. I then give them a call to see if we are on the same page on things like:

-Fishing methods: will I be able to fish in the manner/style I would like? Does the guide just specialize in one type of fishing or is he/she flexible?

-Equipment: I usually bring my own rods and reels, but I like to see that the guide has a boat that is appropriate for the fishery and gear that is well maintained. Sloppiness or neglect in this area typically extends to all areas.

-Personality fit: fishing expertise is my first criteria, but it is always more enjoyable to have a guide you enjoy being with, especially when fishing is slow.

-Will they fish: I don't mind if my guide fishes occasionally, but only if it does not interfere in any way with my fishing. Some guides essentially fish the whole day with you as if you were fishing buddies, and I'm usually not ok with that unless we are splitting the costs like fishing buddies. This is a good thing to agree on up front. I once had a guide who fished ahead of me when we were flipping under docks for bass and he caught most of the fish since usually only the first cast or two gets a bite. Not cool at all.

-Safety: If I am going to be fishing in a remote area or far offshore, I want to make sure the guide has a way (or preferably multiple ways) of contacting help if something goes wrong. This is not an issue on 99%+ of trips, but in that rare instance it is a huge deal.

Type of Fishing Guides

I have fished with literally hundreds of guides in more than 25 US states and 30 foreign countries. Every individual guide is different, but for the sake of simplicity I have grouped them into the following categories. 

The Young Gun

The Young Gun is in their 20s and extremely passionate about fishing. They guide as much as they can and then fish as much as they can on their own when they are not guiding. They don't mind starting early and staying late to try to get you that big fish. They are eager to experiment with new techniques. Nearly every fishing guide starts out as a Young Gun.

The "It's Just a Job" Guide

This type of guide once had the passion and love of fishing that the Young Gun had, but it has since faded. They have a lot of fishing knowledge from having done it for a while, but it's just a job now, and they stopped learning a while back. They have a couple of tried and true methods, and never want to stray from them. When conditions are good they catch fish, but they often don't have a deep bag of tricks when nature throws a curveball. They go home at exactly the appointed time no matter what is happening with the bite.

The Moocher

This is a guide who loves to fish. They love to fish so much, they spend the whole guide trip fishing themselves. They try to get their clients on fish as well, but their business is just a way for them to get paid to fish as much as they can. They think nothing of casting at the same piece of structure their client is trying to fish, and almost always end up catching the biggest fish of the day.

The Pro

This a someone who started out as a Young Gun and the passion never faded. They have been continuously learning and growing as a fisherman, and now they have a vast repertoire of fishing experience and techniques to draw from. They enjoy fishing on their days off still, but they get great enjoyment from helping others catch fish.