Has anyone here been a fishing Guide or know about how much they make for a day on the water. Just curious. The amount my friend tipped the guide yesterday about floored me. His thoughts were they make most of the money through tips.

Just guessing, I would thnik the guide service would get 20 to 30% for booking the trip and the guide (if he supplies his own boat and equipment) would get 70 to 80% of the money. For a $400.00 day thats not bad money.

Mike Cowdrey was once a guide and may still have his license. Fat Freddie's son is currently a guide. Creek1 is a guide. I know a teacher who guided during the summer but haven't talked with him in years.

Just my thoughts but I doubt if a guide relies all that much on tips. If your friend gave a huge tip, that is up to him. I'm sure other clients tip very little.

The only time I've used a guide was during a group trip for Dorado in Baja. In that case, because the Mexican guides worked for a guide service, the individual guides did rely on tips to make much of anything. But that was in Mexico.

So, Gary, did you guys catch any fish?

It depends on if they work for a shop like deschutes angler or if they are independant. The shops take a chunk of there daily fee. The other thing you have to figure.

lets say you pay a guide $400.00 a day. Your shuttle costs him about 50 bucks your lunch another 20 lets say you lose 20 dollars worth of flies.And if you are in Washington he has to pay sales tax on thc cost of your trip. This is why I always tip my guide at least 50 bucks.

If he works for a shop that is a big chunk of his pay gone. plus most guides I know work pretty much hand to mouth.

Depends on the law governing the specific waters.

In the cases where a river is concessioned ie only so many guide permits, and each permit only allows a limited number of guides under that permit. The permit holder is king and the guides will be paid a smaller percentage, often not more than 50%.

Depends on the quality of the guide and length of time your spending on the river. For a full day I pay from $400 to $600. If I see during the day he really knows how to guide me onto the fish I want, I tip up to $100.

Normally. I'll only do a half day the first time with a guide to see if he has quality knowledge and is prepared to share that knowledge. Not fun paying people who know less about a river than you do! There aare times I've read more in my books about a river or seen on Westfly about the river than a guide who claims he "knows" fish habits on a river. For example; the McKenzie River shows the pros from the cons; and, their boating skills. It is hard not to catch fish of quality when with a pro on that river; but, his boating skills tell a lot about his knowledge. On the Mc.... or Middle Willy, find an Orlando guide named Allen and you'll understand! I've done all the Mc. and MFW with Allen, I no longer need his skills; yet it is such a pleasure to fish with a really proffesional guide.!

I can only think of a few guides in these parts that do so full-time and as Hack mentioned, they are hardly wealthy. Obviously, they don't guide a 40 hour work week so you have to allow for allow for all the days they make nothing.

As far as tipping goes, I've never heard of a set percentage. I do know, when the clients have a good time and catch a lot of fish, the tips do go up -- same with service at a restaurant.

The guide I knew who was teacher and only guided during the summer went far beyond what a normal guide normally does.

He, Butch, normally guided two day trips on The Deschutes which meant one camping night on the river. One of my fishing buddies, John, would work as the Butch's "lackey". John and anyone else he could find to help him, would drive the rigs to the campsite. There, they would unpack and set up large tents and the kitchen. John and his assistant were never paid but ended up with a free trip to the Deschutes which entailed a lot of free time to go fishing once the camp was set up. They also got to enjoy a gourmet meal for dinner.

Butch was not only known as a good guide but a fantastic camp cook. The clients didn't have to do anything but fish. The camp was set up when they reached the camping area and Butch would provide a fantastic meal which equaled those in most fine restaurants.

Next morning, after a great breakfast, off he and the clients would go. The lackeys would break down camp and drive the rigs downstream to meet Butch and the clients at the take out spot.

Butch sure knew how to provide his clients a very good time, regardless of the fish they caught.

John always attempted to talk me into becoming his lackey assistant and normally I refused. At that time, I was starting to become a well known outdoor writer and my ego got in my way.

Then he mentioned the name of one of the clients. As Butch charged quite a bit for his trips, as he should have considering the price of dinner, his clients were not exactly poor. The client mentioned just happened to be the son of the owner of a very large farm in the Willamette Valley. So large, the owners were millionaires. The son had taken over operation of the farm. But what got my attention was the fact that the farm had nine bass lakes on the property. You could not access those lakes without permission and that was almost impossible to gain.

I saw an opportunity to befriend the farm owner and gain access to those lakes... I'm really good at talking owners into allowing me to fish private waters -- I learned the skill from Deke Meyer. But I needed to talk to the owner.

So, I ended up as secondary lackey for that one trip. Everything John had told me was true. It didn't take us long to set up camp so we had the entire afternoon and early evening to fish The D around the campsite. In those days, trout fishing was very, very good with the redbands ranging from 16-18 inches.
We caught many large redsides and because John is an excellent fish holding model, some of the photos I took of him with the fish he caught ended up in my articles.

When the clients arrived and Butch started cooking a fantastic meal, I did indeed find my target. I did indeed befriend that target and with the help of a lot of free-flowing whiskey, I did indeed gain access to those nine lakes. I still have access. (there are very large LMB in those lakes that is only a 15 minute drive from my house)

But more to the point of the thread. Butch went out of his way to provide his clients with a top-notch trip. He charged more because he provided more. I have no doubt Butch received very large tips because he provided a first class guided experience. Butch could be considered the gourmet fishing guide.

I pay guides who do it to support their other business!

Duda, you got me there. What do you mean?

Thanks Guys, I have a new appreciation for guides, I didnt realize their cut was so small. The boat was $400.00 and we tipped $70.00. It was a great day and a great guide who worked his butt off, so I have no complaints there. Too bad he didnt get a bigger cut of the pie. Like Hacksaw said, this river is limited on the number of Guide permits, so he has to take what he can get.

Gene, to answer your question from another thread, I had 8 hits, including 4 take downs, 4 caught and landed 2 of those, both natives. I thought is was great but according to the guide that was a bad day compared to what they have been doing. My buddy who paid for everything didnt come out as good. He had 4 hits including 3 take downs and 1 caught but didnt land it. After a trip like that I better get going on his brown trout carving.

I am at the point where we will be adding the fins to the carving so I need to start the habitat. Once the fins are on I can no longer lay the carving down on the table as the fins can not support the weight so I have to have a place to hang the fish. I have a few ideas on the habitat including the use of plexiglass.....give you the details later...right now I am experimenting.

Gary

Well, hell, Gary, in the world steelhead flyfishing, you had a good day!

I think that IF your a independent guide and IF you can stay pretty busy during the guiding season then you can do alright. If your working for a shop or working for someone else then your doing it because you enjoy it, not because your making bank.

Much like prostitutes--

The individual, sole proprietors do well, can pick and chose their clients, work when they want to. I.E. "Escorts or "Call Girls" and on the other hand you have your every day run of the mill street whores that are giving it up to strangers to line someone else’s pocket. The"Pimp" or "Fly Shop". The both essentially provide the same service, but at different compensation

That's just how it is and it will always be that way.

Yeah Gene, about that fly-fishing thing....ya see we were a..a...we were not exactly fly-fishing. We were using those shiny things that spin....ya know...we were using lu...lu....lur...lures..there I said it, yes we were using lures. I know I could be banned for saying that word...but hey I was a guest...what was I to do...I didnt want to upset anyone.

Wow, I agree with you. Comparing guides to whores is a pretty good analogy.

Oh no!
Those girls probly work harder than 80% of the guides we work with? Better attiudes too!
(Back to football) Sorry!