How much do you tip your guide?

[Meeshka 0]

Just wondering. We generally tip $50 / day / angler but it seems I was tipping tipping that same amount 10 plus years ago. I have tipped as much as $500 one day when he got me into a 45# laker on a fly, my biggest laker to this day.

[mikechell 0]

Service industry etiquette.

Average tip is 15%. Less shows dissatisfaction with the service, all the way to zero.

Maximum tip should be no more than 25%. Anything more than that is considered "bragging" that you have much more money than the person you're tipping. If you really do, then feel free to give to your heart's content. Brag away.

[Bimini15 0]

It occurs to me that a guide can work hardest on days where fishing is slim pickings.

Great service and great catches may not go hand in hand.

[Rake 0]

It occurs to me that a guide can work hardest on days where fishing is slim pickings.

Great service and great catches may not go hand in hand.

Truth!!! While I was working in Idaho (part time as a fill-in guide), the hardest day I ever had was late one fall, normally an exceptional time to fish. I took a great guy and better than average fisher to a spot I had fished the day before; fish had risen most of the day to a baetis hatch and I'd caught more than a few.

 

Next day dawned gray and stayed that way as I met the guy at the shop. Cloudy, breezy and spitting occasional snow, I expected another hatch like the one I'd experienced... We didn't see a bug all day and where the fish went to, I could not say. The flat that had produced so well the previous day was dormant as were the riffles and runs. I took the guy to several other spots including one that I never, ever fished with a client. Nothing!!! He had paid for a 3/4-day trip, but I kept him as long as he wanted to fish. I busted my tail to get that guy a fish, but IIRC, he had only one bump on a nymph.

 

Thankfully, he was experienced enough that he understood, but that sure didn't make me feel much better. I've had several trips with folks that couldn't see a rise, much less see their fly... those are the really frustrating ones, especially when they complain that they couldn't catch fish. That's when a hopper/dropper or big orange indicator comes in handy

[vicente 0]

Service industry etiquette.

Average tip is 15%. Less shows dissatisfaction with the service, all the way to zero.

Maximum tip should be no more than 25%. Anything more than that is considered "bragging" that you have much more money than the person you're tipping. If you really do, then feel free to give to your heart's content. Brag away.

I mostly disagree with this, I spent 6 yeasts working at a ski resort mostly doing ski tuning for both fairly serious racers and normal skiers and people that only ride a couple days a year. On occasion we would get big tippers that would top double the cost of the service, it was never something that we felt bad about our like we were looked down on. We offered great service it was nice to be appreciated and when you make 13 bucks an hour and someone drops a 20 in the tip cup cause you rigged something up to get them back on the snow for the day it's awesome. One of the guys helped an older lady get he ski boots off she was struggling with she tipped him 100 bucks for it there were no complaints. Clearly in service industries most of the time the people you're working for make more money then you you know it they know it add long as they don't lord it over you and there's mutual respect no one making an extra days worth of pay because of the generosity is going to complain.

[mikechell 0]

Disagree all you want ... it's not my opinion, I am just restating my company's travel policy. I am also comparing guides to wait staff in a restaurant. It's definitely not the same as someone who can tweak a ski or fix an engine.

 

I often get large tips, too, working on people's motorcycles and boats ... but that's the exception, not the rule.

[Mike West 0]

I didn't read all the replies so excuse me if this covered all ready.

I've guided for Mule deer hunts and fly fishing for trout. Hardly ever direct, usually through some local shop.

I had my price for my time and the day...$150-$250 The customer paid about $100 more than to the shop.

If I got a tip it was gravy on the bisquit...and most of the time I did..$50-$100

But if they didn't I never looked down on them or got mad... They paid for a service and got it.

I've hired about 5 guides in my life that worked for themselves. I paid the the fee and then tipped them $20 to fillet the fish.

If they were working through a vendor I would ask them how much they got paid for the day and then tip them 10-20 percent depending on how well he treated me...not how many fish we caught

[DrVette 0]

Wow, I have never been on a Guided trip. Why would you tip them? They already charge an arm and leg??? You paid how much for that day...They got a good share, if not most.

[Kudu 0]

It's a hard job. You have big expectations to fill. The guide is paying for license, boat, marina fee, bait, equipment, gas, insurance, etc. You just come and catch fish then go home or to the motel. I've been guided a lot and have always tipped. 50 to 100 generally. 50 being half day and 100 full. If I had a really enjoyable day more. I have become friends with some and keep touch over the years. I've never really known any guides that were making a killing so to speak. Anyway, I just imagine myself doing their job and try to pay what I think it would be worth.

[mikechell 0]

Why do guides get paid as much as they do?

1) To be a licensed guide (at least in Florida) ... you have to have a captain's license, and inspected and insured boat and insurance for the passengers.

2) In many parts of the Country, the fishing season may only be 6 or 7 months. So, the guide might be half a year without a daily income.

3) Often, even during the season, the guide can't go out (weather), doesn't have a client or the client cancels.

4) Most guides here, provide food and drink for the day, as well as all operating cost.

 

But, mostly, because most of their clients only fish a few days a year. They can't waste a day learning the water and trying to find a great fish.

Those of us who get to fish often, don't use guides because we have time to play.

[DrVette 0]

Why do guides get paid as much as they do?

1) To be a licensed guide (at least in Florida) ... you have to have a captain's license, and inspected and insured boat and insurance for the passengers.

2) In many parts of the Country, the fishing season may only be 6 or 7 months. So, the guide might be half a year without a daily income.

3) Often, even during the season, the guide can't go out (weather), doesn't have a client or the client cancels.

4) Most guides here, provide food and drink for the day, as well as all operating cost.

 

But, mostly, because most of their clients only fish a few days a year. They can't waste a day learning the water and trying to find a great fish.

Those of us who get to fish often, don't use guides because we have time to play.

yeah, i see what you mean. One more reason i can't go on one. But i doubt i would ever fish FLA. I am a trout guy. Give me a good few hours,up to a day to dissect the waters i wish to fish. I should fair well on my own. To me it is that unknown that makes the day more fun. Even if all i catch is a 3-4" brookie...i call it a great day.

 

 

I found out a couple of hours ago that my favorite beaver-ponds were hit by this Junkins fire. I know that area VERY well. I use to do volunteer search and rescue up there. There is no way for any-one to go into those valleys. They will kill you on a nice clear day. Fire running through them...run away. The area is also VERY notorious for very strange winds that are like side-ways tornadoes...Even the planes don't dare risk their lives going there. I think all i am going to have is memories.

I hope Bishop's Castle is left untouched...

[Bimini15 0]

I am with Vette.

I actually got started fly fishing when my inlaws gave me for christmas a guided offshore fishing trip. The guide had to cancel with no make up day in sight, so I decided to go a different route and spend the money in fly fishing tackle. I do not precisely live in the Mecca of saltwater fly fishing, but still, one of the best decisions I ever made.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Big difference from what I have seen... people who have grown up fishing and those who decide they have the money and time and now need a hobby other than golf. I've told the story before but it is applicable again. I've hired a guide exactly ONCE in my life- on a trip to Florida so my son who was young but competent could get a chance at a decent bass. We drove an hour to meet the guide, then listened to how much the golden shiners cost, and how he got gov't subsidies after the last hurricane, and how expensive his health insurance was. My son had a good time, got a cool boat ride on a glitter rocket, saw a few alligators, and caught two nice largemouths with the guide's help. The guide got to fish all day but paid an acceptable amount of attention to my son. This was a private guide, not through a shop. I had a day of fishing I could have had if I brought a couple rods and rented a boat from a marina for the day. In the end I tipped him what I figured would cover the cost of gas for the boat and the bait, which in reality was what I could reasonably afford at the time. I got kind of a weird look as we parted ways, but he didn't say anything.

 

I've had some rather negative experiences with guides from shops, while fishing for steelhead in the GL tribs. I know my opinion should not be based solely on my encounters with guides, but so be it. We all make our own choices when it comes to our profession (thankfully we still have that bit of freedom in the USA) and I know there are a lot of great teachers out there- guides who really want their clients to have the best experience possible, but there are enough who are out to either just get their sports hooked up to fish or who just want to be paid to be on the water, that it colors my opinion.

 

I'd hire a charter boat maybe to go offshore in the ocean, MAYBE, but I seriously doubt if I'd hire a fly fishing guide in fresh water anywhere in the USA. I can do well enough alone. If I don't do well, then I know I will have learned a lot.

[DrVette 0]

There is an out-let shopping center located below Dillon Reservoir in Frisco Colorado.

I went to Frisco for something called Vettes On The Rockies every August.

Well the second year i went i took my fly-fishing gear. I couldn't afford to go racing.

Right smack in the middle of the mall is a great trout stream. Although i admit i have only caught one fish from it. You have hundreds of people wandering around watching you fish. You have never been there before and you find you have an audience, which is something you have never had before. That was probably the hardest thing i every had to over come with fishing new waters. I doubt a guide could have helped.

Catching bows and browns in what is basically downtown Breckenridge was the coolest.

That was were a guy invited me into my first one fly contest...I bet he wished he never met me. I pounded him and he was supposed to be a top guide for the area. I actually got a job from that. The town paid me to be there 3 times a day to give casting instructions to any-one who showed up. The Orvis shop up there gave me about 8 rod set-ups to let any tourist go fishing. No-body had to pay and i never got a tip.

But the city gave me a condo till Oct. 1st and paid me enough to stay well fed. I wish that job was still around.