Experience as a guide?

[Scudley Do Right]

I am wondering how many people on here are or where a fishing guide. If there are what are some of your experiences? What are the pros and cons of the job? Are there any stories that stand out to you while guiding? What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about getting in to it?

 

[Porter2]

Not me but close friends. It sucks

 

[Dloy]

Seems like a danger of spoiling a perfectly good pastime. I think there are easier ways of making enough money to finance your joy. I know one guy that guided for many years, and eventually retired. I’m not sure but I don’t think he fishes at all now.

 

[JudyM]

From what I hear, the hours are brutal.

 

[Divad]

All depends on the type of person you are. I enjoy aiding in others fish success at the cost of my own, sharing the experience is just as good as having it for me. I frequently see myself doing this on trips when not guiding now.

Also helps to have experience and ability to work comfortably with a gamut of people types. From kids to seniors, new casters to pros, introverts and extroverts, various nationalities etc. The best guides excel at hospitality and are naturally charismatic.

In Montana, water is abundant along with fish and guides are a normal occurrence. In Washington chasing let’s say steelhead you’ll get flack. The water isn’t as abundant and the fish are heavily pressured. Saltwater guiding here is a closer experience to river guiding there, and personally I’d say the most fun.

Guides I know that quit resonate with @Dloy ’s statement, it is a possible outcome.

 

[Brute]

This is a joke told to me by a guide many years ago…”what’s the difference between a fishing guide and a large pizza?…a large pizza feeds a family of four”…

 

[Mossback]

If I had a million dollars, I'd just keep guiding till it was gone...

 

[iveofione]

The road to poverty is downstream

 

[Evan B]

I don't have the people skills for that

 

[Rob Allen]

I was never any kind of full time guide but I dud a little here and there. It was fun but you have to love people even when they do not deserve it. At today's guide rates no one who does it full time can complain about the money. I have a pretty low regard for the guiding industry even though some individual guides are awesome.

 

[albula]

I'll add a different perspective. I started a one man guiding operation in my early twenties. Lot's of hours and uncertain paychecks at first but when it was all said and done I traveled all over the world guiding and sold a business with a prominent national presence, a stable of close to 30 guides, an established retail and travel operation, retained real estate and retired in my 40's so I could pursue a dream of guiding tarpon fishermen in the Florida Keys. Do you want to be a guide? It all depends on what you decide is your end game. It certainly isn't a get rich quick endeavor but if done with forethought, a strong work ethic and business creativity it has proven to me to be a lucrative and engaging pursuit. And I have 4 kids who have fished in some pretty neat places that many dream about. I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

 

[SKYKO]

I'll add a different perspective. I started a one man guiding operation in my early twenties. Lot's of hours and uncertain paychecks at first but when it was all said and done I traveled all over the world guiding and sold a business with a prominent national presence, a stable of close to 30 guides, an established retail and travel operation, retained real estate and retired in my 40's so I could pursue a dream of guiding tarpon fishermen in the Florida Keys. Do you want to be a guide? It all depends on what you decide is your end game. It certainly isn't a get rich quick endeavor but if done with forethought, a strong work ethic and business creativity it has proven to me to be a lucrative and engaging pursuit. And I have 4 kids who have fished in some pretty neat places that many dream about. I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

Given your reply and comment in the "Thank a veteran" thread I'm going to make an assumption on your age and ask a follow on question based off that assumption. Apologies in advance if I've miscalculated. Do you think you would have the same experience, fulfillment and financial success following the same path now vs. then all things being equal? I ask because it seems the industry has reached some sort of saturation point as most areas/resources/abundance have simultaneously declined? I wonder if you were first to market so to speak or near that in some areas? I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts and reply as well as any others.

 

[Mossback]

At today's guide rates no one who does it full time can complain about the money.

Insurance, fuel, vehicle maintenance, gear, gear maintenance, boat, boat maintenance, advertising, shuttles, licenses, business taxes...

When you are an actual legitimate business and operate like one, it's a lot more expensive to operate than an all cash, fly by night, unlicensed guide business working 'a bit' on the closest river to your house.

 

[the_chemist]

Never done it but I immagine guiding makes your sort out your reel priorities quickly.

 

[Evan B]

Given your reply and comment in the "Thank a veteran" thread I'm going to make an assumption on your age and ask a follow on question based off that assumption. Apologies in advance if I've miscalculated. Do you think you would have the same experience, fulfillment and financial success following the same path now vs. then all things being equal? I ask because it seems the industry has reached some sort of saturation point as most areas/resources/abundance have simultaneously declined? I wonder if you were first to market so to speak or near that in some areas? I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts and reply as well as any others.

+1

At this point, if it was a worthwhile fishery, someone has already made hay there. Not a whole lot left that hasn't had this happen yet.

 

[fatbillybob]

Seems like a danger of spoiling a perfectly good pastime. I think there are easier ways of making enough money to finance your joy. I know one guy that guided for many years, and eventually retired. I’m not sure but I don’t think he fishes at all now.

I hate it when people say do what you love for work. I call BS on that. Do what is OK for work but keep what you love a hobby so you continue to love it. There is not faster way to ruin what you love than to try and make a living at it.

 

[RCF]

I hate it when people say do what you love for work. I call BS on that. Do what is OK for work but keep what you love a hobby so you continue to love it. There is not faster way to ruin what you love than to try and make a living at it.

You are absolutely correct. One needs to enjoy work but have that happy place to recharge. For those that knew Doug Persico, owner of R C Merc, he would say his biggest mistake in life was combining the hobby he loved with business to me over the years.

 

[Rob Allen]

I hate it when people say do what you love for work. I call BS on that. Do what is OK for work but keep what you love a hobby so you continue to love it. There is not faster way to ruin what you love than to try and make a living at it.

That has not been the case for me. It's destroyed my making a living very badly actually, but it hasn't ruined what I love.

 

[G_Smolt]

Many, many different fisheries in the US and World, there isn't really a "single take" on what it is like to be a fishing guide. In the "salmonid guide" ecosystem alone, there is staggering variation in what makes for a good program, even within the same geographic region...kinda tough to generalize about the experience.

Coming off my 21st season as a guide, and at 54, I'm tired. A 165 day sunup to sundown season with a handful of days off is for kids, not folks with AARP cards and retirement plans. I'm in the twilight of my career, but here are a few (mostly random) thoughts...
I haven't pulled a 45-day-er in a couple years, but I still remember occasionally falling asleep at the vise at midnight while crankin' out a few dozen bugs for my next trip in less than 6hrs...I also remember spending a LOT of plane flights tying leaders and doing other rigging, much to the chagrin of the pilots.
I once taught my wife how to tie saltwater loop knots to pre-tie tippet sections for me by the hundred, and when I was in the midle of the 450-500 guests-a-season years (2012-2019) I had to pay her to do my laundry.
I've been there for awkward family meltdowns, and been treated as the sounding board and unwilling confidante for all kinds of shit people somehow think they need to unload on a semi-stranger in the middle of the wilderness.
I've guided some of the wealthiest humans on the planet, and I've guided folks who have saved for years to afford a half-day trip.
I've had the pleasure of having a front-row seat as some of the best practitioners of flycasting on the planet have fished my waters.
I've guided a ton of folks of the "I know how to fly fish, I don't need your help" persuasion (mostly middle-aged white guys), and I've also had the distinct pleasure of introducing hundreds of folks to flyfishing.
I've watched friendships and relationships bloom and blossom on my trips, and I've also been there when the other shoe drops, so to speak.
I've had to administer CPR and beyond-basic first aid in wilderness settings.
I've been lucky enough to log thousands of hours in floatplanes all over Alaska, and been paid handsomely for that experience.
I've had to run past guests to get in between them and angry bears, because...that's my job.
I've had the pleasure of taking more than 6,000 people fishing in Alaska, and I can count the number of folks who were truly irredeemable assholes on one hand...wouldn't even need all the fingers.
I've learned how to catch salmonids consistently, easily, and repeatably under every condition imaginable. I've watched and dissected fish and fishing behavior for thousands upon thousands of hours, and come up with tools and techiques for the success of other anglers, independent of my presence/coaching
Over the years, I have learned to manage the expectations, emotions, and idiosyncrasies of my guests, and learned a lot about myself in the process.
I've learned how to connect deeply and commucicate openly, concisely, and fully on a compressed timeline with otherwise total strangers, and made some long and lasting friendships with guests over the years.
Through the "Guide's Union", I have met a vast number of exceptional individals with shared passion and experience, in some cases forming instantaneous and lasting bonds much like fellow trauma survivors...
I've had days where I was the king of the world, and I've had days where I did my best to keep my shit together in the view of my guests.

Was it all worth it?
In the long run, probably.

If given the chance, would I do it all over again, every single day exactly like I already did it?
AbsoFuckingLutely.

Would I reccomend it to anyone else?
Nope.

 

[Snopro]

There is not faster way to ruin what you love than to try and make a living at it.

Going to disagree with this, but I'm only 30 years in. YMMV.