On Guiding

[D.W. Verts]

My guide trip Monday was a hoot- Harry is a good fisherman who really wants to pick up on new ideas. He could throw any bait decent enough to catch fish, and used my old tackle just fine.





We only fished 5-1/2 hours as he had to get back to St. Louie. Fishin' was tougher than last week- I finally figured out it was that hurricane or whatever. The wind blew hard out of the East, and the HIGH was 75 degrees. We figured out late that the bass were shallow, shallow. All in all, he said he was happy and we made some tentative plans to do it all again.

I could write three or four articles with stuff I picked up/remembered etc. from that short trip.

[Wizard]

We hope to see the articles soon.

Wizard

[Donald Garner]

Dale, glad to hear the Guide Trip went well for ya.  I too look forward to reading your articles.

[Oldfart9999]

Dale, sounds like you both had a good time!!!
I noticed earlier in the thread that folks were concerned about spots, giving away theirs or being shown spots. Over time you will give up your spots just by fishing them, people take notice of catching and move in, the more it happens the more it will happen. As far as hiring a guide to find spots wouldn't it be better to pay attention to what makes a spot good and carry that knowledge forward so you are better able to find them on your own? You'd become a better fisherman.
Rodney

[coldfront]

wouldn't it be better to pay attention to what makes a spot good and carry that knowledge forward so you are better able to find them on your own? You'd become a better fisherman.

in a nutshell.

[D.W. Verts]

in a nutshell.

Lazy folks want stuff handed to them. Gifts. It's just part of it.

The very last guide trip I did as a professional was in '99. The guy said he was going to be fishin' several derbies on Truman in the following months- he was honest about that.

But then, mid morning, we were' catching them decent- suspended fish in the timber, and I caught him dialing in way points on a hand held GPS. It took a minute for me to figure out what he was doing, and he WAS hiding it from me. I told him that I didn't think that was cool and I didn't want him doing that. He agreed, until a couple hours later when we snagged a four and a five at the same time off of the same tree, and he did it again.

We went back to the dock, and the smug SOB happily paid me and thanked me.

I started watching and he won the next event he fished two weeks later. But then he zero'd the next two (club events and a workers union tourney).

We met by happenstance a couple of months later at a gas station, and he was less than cordial when I asked him how his fishing was going. May parting comment was that "it takes more than GPS coordinates to catch bass" resulted in him flippin' me the bird.

I smiled most of the way home. I'm still smiling. Unless he's a member here. Then I'd probably laugh, some.

[Wizard]

I only guided to help out when someone overbooked the day. I never took a client to MY spots. I worked too hard to build them. Community holes give up enough bass to satisfy most clients. I started the trip st 8 am. I would go out at 7 am and pre fish 4-6 spots to make sure they held bass. Part of the package is the thrill of a fast running bass boat. Most of mine ran like a scalded dog. In the past, many of the guides were professional anglers supplementing their income. Some of them used the client to pay for THEIR practice. If you get one like that, bash them in the snot locker.

Wizard

[D.W. Verts]

I had clients get mad because I never open my boat up and let it all out...

Got a phone call just now from another guy who wants a guided trip. Man.