20-21 foot with a 250. Less wear and tear than a 225 or 200 with 3-4 guys and a guide load.

Why do the guiding yourself? You are going to have your hands full with the park and you've already said you don't have the experience guiding, nor the boat.

My suggestion is to find out who one of the better, more well known guides on the lake is and recruit him to run trips out of your park. Maybe offer him some perks for referring customers, maybe a discounted rate on lodging, or a commission on bookings. The opposite should also hold, he should be willing to give you a commission on trips that are generated within the park, etc.

When boat show season rolls around you will also have someone that can split costs of the booth, marketing materials, man the booths, etc, etc.

Another option, would be to let the guide pick out a boat, buy a boat for him and charge a per trip useage fee.

If you just want to guide part time for the heck of it then do it but it won't make rational sense.

BF, there's a part of me that agrees with you, but there are several problems with your suggestion. One, there are no other guides on the lake. That's why guiding is so appealing: I'd have the market cornered. If the guide business took off, it would be easier to find someone to clean hotel rooms and mow grass than to find a guide to work out of my park.

Every guide was inexperienced once. Gotta start somewhere.

As far as the referrals go, you've outlined my plan for working with the hunting outfitters in the area. Some kind of referral network with the hunting crowd would do wonders for my business in the off season, assuming the summer crowd is basically gone after labor day.

good thoughts all... keep it coming.

I've decided to take the plunge and start guiding part time, and a 20 footer is what I will be buying soon.

If you are anything like me, you guide already, you just don't get paid for it. I guide every time I take friends fishing. The difference, I think, is that when I don't want to go, I don't go. If I were guiding professionally, I would have to go regardless.

I know several people who are basically weekend fishermen, sometimes a little more, who have tried their hand at guiding. They think that because they can find fish that they can put others on fish and make money doing it. They all found out that they were wrong. Some would get a call now and then, but since they weren't getting enough business to do it full time, getting the scheduling down between the client and themselves would be a hassle, and then the fellow has to go scout the lake in advance (because he's not fishing it daily like he would if he were guiding full time). So, it ends up being more of a hassle than it's worth, but that's because these people weren't interested in guiding, just making the money by fishing instead of working. I think a successful guide has to generally like people, be a good talker and good listener and be somewhat socially aware of their surroundings. They have to know what the client expects from the trip and not just assume the client wants to go out and limit real quick so the next group can get started.

I have taken a few guided trips in my life, and I'm sorry to say that the large majority of them were disappointing, but not because of the creel at the end of the day. They were disappointing because I felt like I was a workload that the fellow was trying to get done, instead of a friend he was fishing with. I realize that day in and day out, it's probably hard to shift gears from professional angler to "hey, I'm your new friend", and I never expected that, but the majority of my trips with guides turned out to be "do it this way, cast there, use this, don't do that, sit there" type conversation. Mostly commands, not conversation at all (and I am an experienced fisherman, imagine how a new fisherman would react).

The few good experiences I have had were good because I felt the guide wanted me on his boat, that he looked forward to the trip and that he wasn't glad it was over at the end of the day.

So, as far as the boat, I would go with the biggest I could get. I wouldn't sacrifice space for anything, especially since you will have a place on the lake anyhow. I would want to feel comfortable that my clients feel safe, dry and that the condition and quality of the gear/boat isn't even considered except in a positive way. I would want to remove as much concern about everything but fishing as I could. Personally I would be concerned about going out onto a lake with 3 or 4 people in a 19' boat on a guided trip, especially if some of those people aren't as experienced with fishing or boating as they could be (which is quite often the case).

Sorry for the long winded response, but it seems now days like everyone with a new boat wants to guide, and yet only a select few are actually qualifed to guide and even fewer will be doing it 10 years from now. I wish you success.

jkf96a,

Good luck in your SBA experiance, been there, done that.

" I am not far enough along in the process to have an official SBA adviser"

Havent they made the offer yet ? You do realize it is no cost to you ? Lots of experiance there to pull from (actually in one of my loans, the Advisor suggested that we not need a National Sales Manager and to get rid of him) It was me, ouch!!!

Very well said KatMan.

Keith
www.lakebridgeportguideservice.com

Where is this property located? You mentioned there are no other guides on the lake. That's odd these days, what lake is it?

The lake is hubbard creek.

KatMan, aren't you my uncle Clayton's friend Charlie? If I live at the lake and work the park, I expect I'll have plenty of chances to make time on the water, since the water is 25 yards out the back door. You're right about guide experience... I guide lots of folks, just not for money. I fully believe that at least 60% of successful guiding is not about the fish. If you can't give the customers good service, they won't come back. If they have a great time and see you struggle to put them on fish but fail, they just might come back in spite of your fishing record.

I guided for 5 years out of a 518 ranger and found that it was OK but the bigger you can afford the better. The room only became an issue with two complete novices and then I would ask which one was least likly to not hit me in the head while casting. That person got to stand up fron with me.

Remember in most cases these people will not be as good as you and they will NOT want to see a fishing demonstration they want to catch fish. So if you do fish save the best cover for them. Also if you guide on water that you fish tournaments on do not expect to save your best tourny spots for the touneys, unless you don't take your clients to them. Any one of your clients that has a boat and lives in the area will be back in your holes.

It is fun and rewarding and sometimes you get fish with some cool people. Other times you get Butt-Heads. It is your boat and you are reasponsible for them so you have the say. If they are unsafe or won't act reasonably just take them back to the dock.

Make sure you have insurace that cover guides and I highly recommend a coast guard captians license (required on navagable water).

Good luck