Becoming a Fishing Guide

[Dble Haul 0]

Jarrod- Please take my comments with a grain of salt.

 

Just because somebody turns 16, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are ready to be a guide. I would give it several more years (read: seasons) to mature as an angler and a person. I can think of several instances where a 16 year old, regardless of maturity level, would be in way over his or her head.

 

Please trust me on this and give it some serious thought. Just because you can do something at a certain age, that doesn't mean you can't wait a bit longer to develop important traits and life experiences. I guided for a handful of years in the 1990s and saw many young people, even in their early 20s, flounder. And this was an outfitting service, not guides working on their own.

[Sean Juan 0]

I'd say that of all the things a good guide has to do only about 25% of them have to actually do with fishing.

 

So have to be able to read people better than you can read a stream. A story that made the first dozen clients laugh could piss the 13th of royally. Add to that that you may be guiding families or couples and the dynamic gets much more confusing. The guy fishing with his neophyte wife does he want her to catch a lot of fish, is he looking to catch his dream fish and she's just along for the ride, or is he sick of having to untangle her line and just wants to fish and you are there to let him??? People are tough to deal with, and don't expect all of them to tell you exactly what they want. Keep in mind that as stupid as it sounds some people get very stressed when on vacation - pressures of a job compress fun time making it more of a chore, or if they feel they are susposed to be on the trip of a life-time and it isn't going as they dreamed it would.

 

Since you are serious about becomming a guide I'd try and find a job now that will increase your exposure to the public - you can learn a lot more about dealing with people working at a supermarket. This goes hand in hand with what Dble Haul was saying.

 

Add to this issues of insurance, advertising, and a billion other things I don't even know about...there's a lot to know.

 

Personally I could never be a guide - I was a teacher and learned to hate humanity. Fishing is my fun time, I'd hate to have it become just another day at work.

[whippersnapper 0]

 

Hello,

 

As a former guide, I thought I would jump in here to add some of my reflections on joining the guiding business.

 

I became a guide during my summers in college to keep me outta trouble and help pay the bills. It was the best seasonal job I've ever had. That being said, it isn't without its shortcomings. Guiding is physically hard work and demands long days for overall low pay ( by comparison, my buddies working construction made 3x as much as me). Being young, inexperienced and low on the totem pole doesn't help.

 

Here is what I would do if I were you:

 

Wait a few years. Mature as an Angler and Individual. If at all possible, I would try and experience as many guided trips as possible- either as a paying client or hired hand. Exposure to many different guides can help reveal the sublte differences between good guides and great guides. Most of the time it has less to do with the fishing and more to do with hospitality and meeting the clients' needs. These people pay a lot of money and can be very demanding and its up to the guide to ensure that the clients are happy, even if that means babysitting one of them.

 

One of my greatest difficulties as a young buck was trying to get successful type A corporate personality types to listen to a youngster. These are the kinds of people who don't fail at things very often and don't take kindly to a young kid telling them what to do. You have to know how to handle people and give advice without sounding condescending.

 

I would recommend reading books and watching instructional videos so you can become familiar with teaching styles in order to clearly and concisely explain the basics of fly casting to beginners. Because you will have lots of beginners.

 

When you think you are ready, call up fishing lodges and ask if they are hiring seasonal employment. Some of the lodges have a pretty good turnover. Chances are you won't make as much money working through a lodge, but your room and board are covered. You probably won't need a boat, but a reliable vehicle that can take clients would be helpful. The point is that once you get a years experience guiding under your belt, you can go anywhere!

 

Keep it deep,

Whippersnapper

[Kid Tier 0]

Im going to guide also. Im going to wait untill I am at least 18. I am not just starting my own guiding business so I will have lots of help along with a established list of clients. I am going along on trips to learn right now.

I would say that it is a good idea to wait untill you are older. Im sure that there are many clients out there that are not going to like taking advice from a someone young enough to be his or her son. Lots of good advive given by everyone.

good luck with guiding

[Thibodeau 0]

Most Guides around here don't only fish but hunt as well. Go to your local Game Wardens office and they will tell you exactly what to do to get your license. I did and its a few tests, hunting, fishing , boating safety regulations, They have all the info you need. When you've studied up and feel your ready they'll give you a writen test.

[rougetrout 0]

The good guides as everybody has said can read a person and very quickly realize how to coach such a person. A fair number of people out there don't take well to advice no matter who it comes from. When you are sixteen try this: Pick a buddy who wants to learn to flyfish and has only done it a few times or not at all. Show him how to cast in the backyard so he can get the basics. Then take him on the river or lake and show him where to catch the fish, how to catch the fish, and what fly to use. If you enjoy this then think about guiding. Remember you are not fishing while he is fishing.

[nightfish 0]

I'm not a guide, but I've taken my share of guided trips, and I have several good friends that do it full-time. Legal requirements can vary quite a bit. Around here (UT) you need a business licence, First Aid/CPR annual certification, permits from the Forest Service, BLM or state (whichever agency has jurisdiction over the water in question), and sometimes the county, and you'll have the normal requirements of any small business owner regarding taxes. Some areas, like our Green River, allow guiding under the permit of an outfitter. The number of outfitter permits is fixed, so you just couldn't start up your own business. Each outfitter can have as many licenced guides as they like, but they are only allowed a fixed number of boats on the river each day. In addition to being required to operate under an outfitter's permit, each guide is required to be a member of the Green River Outdoor Guide Association (GROGA), a union of sorts, but GROGA also maintains operating and certification standards for the guides and outfitters, and has a strong voice in how the resource is managed and how trip rates are set.

 

To get started with one of the outfitters on the Green, you'd either need to have an established reputation as a guide, or start out as a grunt...working in the flyshop/kitchen/lodge, running shuttles, etc. Then you'll get a few walk/wade trips. After you've qualified on the oars (driftboat training on the Green plus one other moving water) you'll continue with the other grunt work, and pick up an occasional fill-in when a regular guide can't make a booking. The first two or three years you won't get much more than 2 or 3 months/year of actual guide work. During this time, you'll want to pick brains as much as possible, and fish as much as you can, focusing on the hatches, how changing weather and flows affect fishing & boat handling, and people skills (tip management). Offering to man the oars on a guide's day off is a great way to learn from the established guys. On busy rivers, quickly learn the proper local river ettiquette. Owning your own drift boat and tying your own flies aren't required, but they'll increase your margins and river knowledge.

 

Work on your observation skills. You need to be able to spot rising fish, emerging and in-flight bugs, keep track of the end of two flylines and their drift, watch both lines for takes, manage the boat for a better drift, notice when flies get mucked up by weeds, keep your oars and head out of the way of errant casts, keep up with conversation, keep an eye on the time, keep an accurate running count of fish caught (and lost), tie on flies, undo tangles, re-rig lines, point out wildlife or interesting natural features, tell jokes, answer questions of all types, all while looking well ahead to maintain a safe and effective drift, watching out for trouble, and watching all directions for bank fishers & floating traffic.

 

You'll need to be able to maintain patience and a positive demeanor, politeness, and how to accept large, small and non-tips with grace. You need to be early for every trip, and have your boat, equipment, flies & lunch (if part of the deal) ready the night before. You need to be able to tie knots quickly, even when your fingers are numb, it's dumping rain or snow, and the wind is pushing you back upstream, and be able to quickly decide if completely re-rigging a rod will be quicker than undoing a birdsnest. If a client wants big fish, lots of fish, fish on top only or streamer fishing, you need to know where to go & what to use. It also doesn't hurt to be proficient in gear fishing. You need to learn and REMEMBER the names of your clients & use their name when speaking to them during the day. Learn what the river is capable of, & be able to give a reasonable, but slightly underestimated expectation of what any given day will be like. No client wants to hear that the trip you had the day before did fabulous, but they're not doing nearly as well.

 

You'll also have expenses as a guide. Flies, lunch, equipment, boat, shuttle & parking fees are your responsibility when working for an outfitter in most cases, and you get a fixed cut of the daily rate. You'll also have to provide your own lodging. Some outfitters on the Green own trailers that they rent to the guides, so you'll also have to learn to live with roommates of all character types.

 

Finally, you need to show value as a guide for the outfitter. Learn to market yourself for repeat customers & referrals. You'll need business cards on hand for your clients. One thing my brother does as a snowboard instructor is to take pictures of his clients during the lesson, which he then emails to them a week to a month later with his information watermarked on the photo. He's built quite a nice repeat base with this marketing technique. Keep notes on each trip & client, so that if/when you have future contact with them you'll be able to build a positive association with them.

[fish 0]

if it is that you want to be out on the water all the time there is much better solution:

 

move to an area with decent fishing and a bit economically depressed (they usually go together) try and buy a cheap place in the country (not on a river just a crap old place). Get a wood lot with it, get a part time job at a grocery store. Be a jack of all trades by cutting wood doing garden work, a grocery boy and when you are not making ends meet (depends how many Tibor reels you feel you need) then go fishing. Most of your money will be cash, perhaps even a lot of things you do will be by barter. You will probably make about as much money as a small time guide and all your fishing time will be for you. Your investment in small house and property may even be less than all the trappings of a successful guide and they will not depreciate like a 50 hp merc with many hours per year on it. You are also more likely to get a mortgage than a big loan for a guide business.

 

Good luck with whatever you do just do what you have to keep fishing.

[Joe Hard 0]

I dont know the rules and regs. for your area but here are a few things you should know. Know your rods, weight, action ect. Know your knots. Know your compass and g.p.s.. You should also know spinning and bait casting and lures and bait. You should also know your water craft, canoes, drift boats, and outboard motors. You should know how to cook a shore lunch and start a fire under all conditions. You should have a good knowldge of your clients potenial. I mean you are not going to take a person with a heart condition on a six hour hike through the swamp. Unless you are trying to drum up your father some business

Here in Nova Scotia it is a two day course that costs arround $300.00. You should have all kinds of tackle to supply just in case, rods, reels, lines, flies, leader ect.

If you are serious about this, you should take casting instruction and become a certifed casting instructor. First aid, and be nice to old people. by the way got my ten dollars?!! Get on it Jarrod!!