I run and fish with a couple of guides and the thing I could not put up with is the pressure of not finding fish. Also 99 % of the people are the nicest in the world and the other few I would be afraid they would get lost at sea. I enjoy helping the guides when they maybe are struggling and I find fish and help even more if kids are on board.
At my time in life I hate someone telling me I have to do anything even if it is fishing.
Johnny

Not a guide but the whole fish cleaning thing would wear me out. I have seen DTA and BB clean 75+ fish at the end of a hard day of guiding. No fun there.

That's why at Yellow Bass Adventures, we practice 100% catch & release

Seriously though, that is the part I just wouldn't want to do. I have a hard time cleaning 25 fish for a family fish fry, let alone 75 for snot nose Billy and his Dad

Aint that the truth, nothing like taking friends or family for that matter, and getting on a slow day. Its amazing the comments and looks you get

That's why I find myself fishing by myself more and more often. All of the second guessing and armchair quarterbacking from friends and family have started to wear me out. "We're too shallow." "We're too deep." "Look, that guy caught a fish. I told you we should go over there." "Look, there's fish on the graph - how come we didn't stop back there?" Enough already.....

Man that is the good part - cleaning bunches.

Some days and you have close trips with 6 to 7 in the boat and you have to clean 150 plus - yea that gets old (and your back hurts standing over that table for that long).

But if they had a good time - I had a good time.

I just might need to go to sleep a little early that night - and you for sure want to stay on your side of the bed - after those days.

I realize now that I was born to be a guide. I was a guide starting in highschool and all through college. After graduating, I tried to get a real job and ended up with a management position working 70 hours a week on salary and back to guiding it was. I have now started my own business and have been in business for myself for 3 months now and couldn't be happier. The buy in price can be high but it is a lot cheaper than buying into any other market. It is relatevely inexpensive to be a guide when you are talking about starting your own business. I went into about 60 grand in debt to get started. There are 2 parts to being a guide. 1 catching fish and showing your customers a good time. 2. Booking trips. I've noticed that there are some guides that can catch fish ALL the time (even when it is tough) and there are some guides who can book trip, then there are a few who can do both and thos few will be the ones that will make a successful living at being a guide. The big advantage I got out of college and my business degree is that I learned marketing and how to go out and book trips for myself. There is nothing eles I would rather be doning!

Oh and my girl just graduated as an RN...I plan on keeping her so I have that one in place too

Good Luck to all those who persue their passions
Brian

As some of you know, I'm an upcoming guide getting a client base going.( I now have a lot of repeat clients that know how to catch fish, but they just want to make sure they will be on the fish when they get into town.) I found a place does not have one guide besides myself to guide at, Rowlett Creek for the Sandbass run and Hybrids. Lots of people look at me weird when I say I guide there during the run, but the amount of money that little creek produces for the fishing world is crazy. I have reached a point where I'm booked almost 99 percent of the run now. I am mainly a guide up in Broken Bow at this time, but they had to release water in the park to control flooding and has messed things up pretty bad there. But there are some fish still there though.....But not enough to keep a novice fly fisherman happy. So, now I have had to find other kinds of fish here in Texas to guide for till October when things level out in Broken Bow. So I had to adapt really quick to keep the money flowing. I'm still taking a huge pay cut from it too. And now, the rules are being change in Oklahoma for guides:

Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, fishing guides applying for a license must provide the Wildlife Department with documentation stating they have completed boat training through the National Association of Safe Boating Administrators, which is available readily online or at locations throughout Oklahoma. They also must provide the Wildlife Department with proof of commercial general liability insurance covering services as a fishing guide with policy limits of at least $500,000 per occurrence. Additionally, fishing guides must maintain current boat inspection by any governmental agency or entity authorized to perform such inspections, and they must be certified by the American Red Cross in CPR and basic first aid.
(thefishingwire.com)

So "us" fly fisherman guides might have a problem. I will finish the year guiding The Lower Mountain Fork River, but if this applies to all guides, I may be stuck in Texas. I am CPR and First Aid Certified. But I don't own a boat anymore. I had no need for it. So with that being said, watch out Mr. Varner. You may have more competition coming to your lake. I may be buying a boat within the year if this Oklahoma thing sticks to the bank beater guides.

My thing is, I love to teach people how to fish and catch fish the next day without me. I love the smiles and props for being able to make every client this year happy. It does however kill me, like Varner said I think, to hook the clients into bigger Hybrids than I have caught. But like said before too, its the tip I'm after, you "have to make the client happy so your business gets advertised through word of mouth.- Free advertising. I know I do a good job guiding and I know I'm a good guide. But WOW, it takes up a lot of time. I'm up as well at 5 am to hit the water everyday. and watch the sun come up and then go down. But I absolutely love doing it too. And another point to make is you meet and make lots of friends. Best thing is making friends with people with hook-ups. Like doing trades. I got a great website off a trade for letting a guy tag along with me a couple times and showing him some water. So if you like my site and want one, his contact info is at the bottom of my site.....

-Anyways, do make sure you dont kick your real job to the curb yet. There will be bumps in the road that will put you back. Weather is the worst of that.........

Ill have to add, this site helped me be who I am. Thanks TFF.

I did it for 3 years and it started out as just a way to pay for the habit.Well it never did and as your client list grows so does your cost and making money is tough.Think about these guys that charge 250 a day. you have to fish 200 days to gross 50,000
and you will not make 50,000.List out all your cost and budget your self.Find your best deals on equipment and lures and make them if you can. It is also tough fishing the area lakes during the summer when all the crazy ones are out.
It has to be for the love of the game.

I don't even try and make money - I really don't (I put everything I have into it everyday).

I just want to be the best � and to be the best - sometimes you have to forego the money.

Just be the best you can be at whatever you do � and I think that is what makes you happy.

Brian hit the nail on the head... I've started dabbling in the guide business myself. I'm a football coach first, with a passion for Lake Texoma Striper fishing. On my salary, it's tough funding fishing trips 2-3-4 times a week like I like, and your buddies sometimes conviently forget to get cash for gas money. So this guiding thing really started as a necessity to feed my addiction to fishing like some stated. It's been a good start, this is my third summer, and marketing like Brian said is the secret ingredient. I don't like to open myself up sometimes to message boards, just gives people too big a platform to pick you apart. Anyway, the great guides that I've had the privledge of knowing and working with certainly manage their clientele well and martket to keep the business rolling. I've enjoyed watching Brian's business explode and his posts show what a great job he's doing with his customers. If it were only as easy as waking up and going fishing???

Check out my website and see what you think...
www.ccstriperguideservice.com

I've been doing it 6 years now as a full time guide. I am not getting rich but I get by ok most of the time. The hardest part of this business is stating busy year around. Business generally comes and goes like flood water. That would be the biggest advantage of having a steady job versus guide work. Good luck if you plan on getting in the business. It's a fun business if you can survive.

good luck with that guiding just dont seem like it would be enjoyable unless you were fishing with some people that have never fished before.

i work in the music industry, where these snot nose brats are also paying my bills. Except their so rich, I wont ever see their money if I saved all of it in 10 of my lives. You guys should be happy but intelligent, ---not happy at work, get another job.