I have been out with quite a few guides over the years. I agree that I normally want the guide to fish. I have been shown on many occasions that the fish were there but I wasn't feeling the bite etc. That being said I have also been with guides that "front ended" me all day. They would point out structure or cast targets after they caught a fish from said location. They are generally more skilled and will wear you out if they are of a mind to do so. It puts you in a tough position -if you complain you are going to make the rest of the day a little tense. If you don't you may regret the fee to watch him catch fish. Best guide ever Bob Uhler.. fished from the back of an old ranger. He still would out fish you..

Thanks to 98% of you with your input. The other 2% can troll elsewhere. I appreciate your points of view on the subject. From the little footage I saw it appeared the guide was front ending the 2 clients on the boat. I was sympathetic to their situation is all. I am more optimistic to using a guide now. Tight lines gents. Really appreciate your feedback.

Kungfoogrip.

Don't know which video you are referring to but as a former guide I have been on both ends of this scenario. I have fished with guys that couldn't hit the water with their cast. I have fished with guys that had equal or better skills than I. The guides never know what they're gonna get.

The analogies you used above are not exactly apple to apples. Some days the fish are more aggressive and will pretty much hook themselves. Other days, the fish have to be finessed.

There are some excellent guides available especially on Fork. 99% of them want you to catch the fish and have the best day possible.

I fished with a gentleman once on a Coon Creek Lake Shelton near Athens TX. I knew about the legendary Coon Creek and had high expectations of our day. The man I was with had the reputation for being the best fisherman on Coon Creek. We hit the water at daylight, ran up the lake to some grassbeds he had been fishing. We started with topwaters and boated a 4-5 fish. This was in September.

He told me the best fishing had been in the deeper brushpiles on T-rigged soft plastics but that was after the sun got up. I thought, makes sense to me. Once the topwater bite subsided, we ran back down the lake and started throwing worms at brush piles in 8-10' of water.

At 10 am we had 3 fish on our worms. They just weren't biting the worm so I dug around in my bag and pulled out a pack of 4" Storm Wildeye swimbaits in shad color. Coon Creek doesn't allow outside boats so I didn't have a lot of tackle with me. I tied on a shad colored swimbait and started catching fish. After five fish, I gave him one and we both started catching them and catch them we did.

At 1:45 we decided to go eat lunch. He kept a fish counter on his belt and every time we would boat a fish he would click it. When we loaded the boat to go eat he showed me the clicker. It said 107. So between 10 am and 1:45 pm we caught almost 100 fish, many of them 4-5 pounds.

I tell this story to make a point. There is no doubt in my mind that had we kept throwing a worm we may have finished out the day with 15-20 fish. By doing something different, we killed them. Swimbaits were not in his arsenal.

You want the guide to fish when you hire him. The bite changes from day to day. The technique that crushed them the day before, may not work today. Unless you fish every day, you cannot develop that sixth sense that many of the pros have about what to do for any given situation.

When I guided at Fork, I would fish pretty hard until we had the pattern dialed in then sit my rod down and unhook fish for my clients and help them retie and coach them. If they hung up and broke off I would hand them another rod while I re-rigged theirs. I made them drink water and put on sunscreen too. For a nominal fee I would rub it on them.

That's what a good guide does for their clients. Of course this is only my opinion. That and $6 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.....

I want my guide fishing, he's paid to know where to fish and I want him trying everything in the boat to see what will catch them. I fish with Dannie Golden a lot and if we aren't catching he will be throwing every random bait he can find until we are catching. Can't tell you how many times we've ended up catching good fish on a bait we never thought we'd use that day. Now catching more and bigger fish than I do is just plan rude.

let's get chasinbass' input on the issue...

I like it when the guide fishes. no worries here.