I do 10%

I have never personally been on a bass guide, but I usually on a couple deep sea trips ever summer. On some of the longer trips I have been many hours without catching what we were after. That is part of fishing, a guide can put you in the perfect spot, give you the perfect bait but he can not make the fish start biting. If I feel a guide traveled to more spots then he planned causing him to use more gas, equipment and time then when he stated his price I keep that in mind when I tip more then how many fish we land. That works both ways too if we travel out and set in one spot for multiply hours without attempting to better the trip.

The biggest variable in guiding are those dang green fish! You can't always base your tip on the number of fish you catch. A waiter/waitress is always going to have the tools and opportunity to make your visit to a restaurant pleasant so they can be tipped based on their production. A poor guide has to deal with weather, temperamental ol' bass and a few other variables. Not to mention, a day on the water without catching a single fish with the right guide can benefit you 10 times more than a day on the water catching 100 fish with another guide.

This is def an opinionated question that will get pages of answers. I was relating it to other "service based" industries. For example if you go to a restaurant and the food is cold, nasty, or you've waited 30 minutes for another beer...then you could complain and they either give you something for free or maybe a giftcard to come back another day since you didn't receive the level of service expected. Well on a guided fishing trip, don't you expect to catch some fish? That would be entire reason I pay for a guide, so if he doesn't meet expectations, you just paid $400-$500 to ride around in a boat and get sunburned!

If I'm paying a fishing guide; granted I understand he cant force the lure in the fish's mouth, I fully expect to catch multiple fish if I just paid the man $450 to fish for 8-10 hours. I'm not saying I expect to catch a 13lb monster, but for me personally...I'm basing the quality of trip and the quantity of a tip on the quantity/quality of the fish I catch. I personally don't care about learning how to read a depth finder or navigating the lake. I just want the guy to take me to some hot spots and let me start casting, and show me presentation tips to get more bites. I'm sure some guys could still have a good time and catch nothing or only one 2lb'er because they are interested in the other bits of information they might receive, but I'm paying several hundred bucks to catch fish I wouldn't otherwise have a chance to.

Tips are not expected to say the least. BUT, they sure are great when you have to use 3/4 tank of fuel graphing alot of places to find the fish that are set up right to catch . In the summer time its very easy to burn alot of gas graphing and those tips can mean the difference in the day. Thanks to all my customers who do tip me and those who dont. I appreciate them all.

You can tell the difference in a guide that is working for you to catch fish and one that is just doing it to make his boat payment. I have been with both. I guide sometimes and have always been tipped and we have always caught fish. Alot of trips become educational trips. Most people want to know when,where why, so I try to show them what they can understand.If I don't get tipped, it probably won't bother me any. You asked to go fishing on lake x on this day, so I will take you, but I will also explain our expectations,lake conditions etc that may impact (good or bad) our fishing day.

Many thanks for all of the inputs! Based on what was said by most, I think it is safe to say that current guide rates have not influenced tipping to any significant degree.

A special thanks to Snickers for the well thought out & articulate response!

C.

+1

I couldn't have said it better Skeeter.

For me:

If I drop that much on a trip, I feel I have work to do too. After scheduling the trip, I check in with the guide a couple times to see how things are going. A good guide will let you know if the last 10 days or so have not been producing, most will offer to cancel the trip if they just had 4-5 days where the fish just aren't biting. If you do your upfront work, the guide works his hot foot off trying to find fish, and you don't catch them - that is fishing, tip him and ask him to call you when they are on and do it again, he is likely a good guide.

I have had several guides offer free or discounted return trips when the fish had been on the last few days and just weren't that day. Repeat business is how they stay in business.

Bottom line, the guide fee pays for that person to float your butt above where the fish were biting last time and give you a bait that worked yesterday, and keep you laughing all day, wether you catch fish ... Never a guarantee.

With that mindset, you should never book a guide. Remember it's called fishing, not catching. No matter how good a guide is at finding fish, there are days when they just won't bite. I rate a trip on the learning experience and if I catch fish, it's a plus.

...but you NEED a $50,000 boat!! :-)

Absolutely crazy! "I need to notify the guide if I not tipping"? The guide charges what he feels is a fair price for his service. The tip is MY prerogative. I'm a big tipper but it is not automatic! And for any guide(or any service oriented business) who automatically charges a tip: you are simply charging "hidden fees" to make your product appear more affordable while actually charging more. Anyone just wish the airlines would charge one price for a ticket and let you see that one price and compare? The guided trip fee is the prerogative of the guide-the tip is mine...period. But to answer the original question: yes I tip guides like I tip waitresses. 0%-25%...that depends on them!

I don't think you should let them know that you don't plan on tipping. I haven't done the math for today's prices, but when I was guiding, as in previous post where gas was $1.25/gal, and boats & trucks were less expensive - I would charge $225 for 2 people for full day. I can tell you from experience, the rate was based on covering costs. No, it did not necessarily cost $225 to take 2 people to the lake for the day, but figure $40 gas in boat, another (at least) $40 in gas in truck, I supplied all of the equipment so there is some loss of lures, plastics, and an occasional rod or reel getting broke. Also included in that cost is all of the trips to the lake to make sure that I have some spots that are producing.

So, I always worked my butt off for the client and a tip at the end was a way of showing their gratitude that they recognized the effort. I didn't expect a tip, so, yes the rate would cover expenses and kick me in a little, but the gesture of the tip was worth more than the tip. I didn't always get a tip, but that's not for lack of effort, it was dependent on the client. For example, parents paying for a teen to go by himself and only gave him the quoted fee, and that's ok.

So, being a former guide, yes I tip my guides, provided they work for it. You can't base it on whether or not you catch fish.....to a certain level. As in, if you have ever been fishing then you know certain times of the year, weather conditions and such makes it very hard to catch anything. But, if conditions are good and it just seems that the guide isn't taking you to fish or doesn't know what he is doing - then, I won't tip them. If they work really hard and the conditions were tough, then he earned the tip for trying. This goes especially for hunting guides. I have taken several duck/goose hunts and if the guys are working it and the birds don't come, then it's not their fault. But, if I can see that the guy is not really putting in the effort, well then screw him.

I don't like the guides that expect it. As stated in earlier posts, they should be figuring their rates to cover their expenses and keep a few in the pocket (for the day). If they don't do this and then expect a tip, well then that is on them - not you.

$50.00 is the minimum--usually $100.00- thats only 25%. I only hire top notch guides such as Cody Malone, Eric Wright and Dave Parsons. Those guys work their butts of to put me on fish and the information that they so freely share is priceless. $500 per day split 2 ways is cheap to share the boat with any of these guys !!!!