If you don't like the guide rates of $400, then why not just fish a flw tournament or a bfl tournament. You get a full day of 7:00 to 3:00, and the boater is going to take you to their best spots unless you draw a lemon. You pay ~$150 to fish and you have a chance to win money. If you draw a good boater that knows what they are doing, you'll catch a lot of fish

If this is the case, then why don't more guides offer $200 guide trips using the customers boat and gear?

I can absorb a $200 hit than $450.....I can take the wear and tear on my gear.

Here is my 2 cents worth, hired Justin Margraves to fish with me Lake Of The Pines. My first time on the lake.
My boat, he drove and ran trolling motor. He fine tuned my HDS 12 and HDS 10 with my
permission, he asked. Yes we caught fish but the best part of the whole experience was he trailed where we went
, showed me where to go safely with out damaging my boat. That alone was worth the money fish or no fish! This
was a Friday went out Saturday fished what he showed me did ok. Went out with confidence on Sunday launched before
sun up did great with my style of fishing. Did not ask for a price break nor did he offer one. My next trip with
him will be Lake Fork looking forward to it. These guides have paid there dues.

No health ins. no payed vacation, or holidays, out of pocket for continuous break downs, lures, upkeep etc., comes no where near $72k, in the pocket.

I think $500 a day for two people where the guide works hard and teaches is a value for most fishermen..... You could take 10 trips over two years with a buddy or your son and y'all would have some idea how to go about it successfully for $2500 a year.....

Just coddling and putting up with "clients" who don't know anything but have outrageous expectations would be a tough duty.

I wouldn't guide if you paid me $750 a day. Sometimes the weather is terrible but they still go out. Guiding is hard work. Prepping, launching, running, fishing, loading, travel, putting up the boat is exhausting. Someone else mentioned it- customers sometimes are a PITA. $450 per day is a deal.

It's like anything in this life, things are only worth what you can find a person is willing to pay for it. Why are some bass boats $70-80K? Because they have found some will pay that. Why does a dentist make a half million a year? Because he can.

People charge what the market will bear, simply as that.

Is there a special truck and boat insurance guides must have? What about trailer tags or boat tags? I'm just curious, because those seem like expenses you would have weather you were a guide or not. Those are also expenses that the customer has all on his own. If the insurance is special for guiding, then I apologize. Just doesn't seem right to me to include expenses that you would have anyway.

There are a couple that do just that. Everything is your equipment and they just hop aboard. I think they're really more about teaching than the traditional guide service. A guide would have to set up his business and know there was a sufficient customer base for that model. Otherwise, he still has his boat payment and equipment to buy. Then again, he has to have insurance to cover clients on someone elses boat. Who is going to drive the boat? You drive and wreck he could be held responsible. He drives your boat and hits a stump or the motor blows and then the client wants him to repair it.$450 is hard for me to come by just for a guided trip also but most guides offer the same price for one or two clients so really, you can do it for close to $200 each if you find a buddy.

Having used a couple of guides and seeing what they go through day in and day out, you'd have to pay me more than they charge to do that for a living.

Most Guides are worth more than what they charge you learn fishing tricks you never knew that you remember for a lifetime...

Hats off to them for a very difficult Job they love doing.

Yes my truck insurance is a commercial policy because I do pick my customers up and drop off.If you are using your truck in any business you should have this type insurance. If you dont it will just allow the insurance company a way out of a claim. Regular insurance cuts corners on passengers. You also should have a commercial guide insurance which is not cheap.

Tags and stuff are just general but if you did not guide or own a boat you would not have to have it. One thing no one has mentioned is the boat mortgage/payment. Try a $1000 a month on the newer rigs. They do not give us the boat.

People who hire out a guide can be doing it for several reasons. They may want to also ride in that brand of boat and fish out of it all day or listen to the engine on a performance level.

If they are interested in buying one in the future. As a guide you do not start out running 200 trips a year you have to build a business it just dont come over night.

Myself I spend 240-280 days a year on the water to help increase my customers odds so I spend lots of gas money ahead of time that I never see back. Just part of it.

I have told this story before and I will tell it again cause it might add a different perspective on what the guides give to customers for their money.

I had a guy onetime and we were fishing in March we had a ok day cause a cold front came through and our numbers were not great but we did ok and my guy caught a 7 lb fish which helped on a tough day.

I showed him how I rig a certain bait and we caught our fish on it that day. He was headed to a tournament and he ask me how I would fish that lake. I replied I would take the bait we used today and throw it like we did here and it should work for you and I would bet the fish on that lake probably have never seen anything like it.

So he was out a guide fee for the day but he used the bait and the certain way I rigged it which was totally unique ! Called me two weeks later after his tournament and he WON the tournament and $5000 all on what I showed him. So that was a good investment for him guide fee = $5000 nice.

Who knows how many people guides have helped win there hard earn money back or make a good day of fishing out of what you learned from a guide trip. I tell my customers quite often.

I will teach you things to make you a better fisherman today and in the future and you will catch more fish from here on out if you apply the methods we use.

I have thought many people how to throw bait casters retrieve lures and many other things. Again our fee is not just about fishing but all that goes with it.

Wow, I can't believe what I have read on this thread. I am by no means rich or wealthy but I have been on several guided trips and not once have I regretted it. For the ones who think guides are to high all I can say is get a buddy and split the cost or find a different career. With that being said for the ones that are complaining you need to take your boat, gear, gas, oil, insurance, time and knowledge and start your own guide service (and remember that your clients are going to have expectations). Don't forget that you will have to advertise and earn a reputable client base since word of mouth is the best way of advertising for some businesses. That's all just my opinion. My hats off to all the guides including the ones I haven't used. They go through alot more bs than most of us think.

I don�t know how the guides do it for $450. I would only be paying $225 per day if I split a trip with someone. Seems like a deal to me as I know what it cost to own, run and maintain a rig.
Nearly always, there is something to clean, fix, adjust or replace while I am spending only 50 or so days on the water per year. I would bet that the guides cannot even count the hours they spend on their off day(s) in preparedness for the next outing. I wonder how many trips they make a year to their friendly service center?

I think about when I take someone fishing that does not have the equipment or the experience I have. Before my next trip, I have to go ever every rod they touched and in most cases, change line, check eyelets, etc. I can�t even imagine doing that every day after having two anglers in the boat with novice to minimal experience.
Whatever the guides are charging, I would have to say it is a deal. If declining gas prices put more coin in their pockets, glad to hear it.

I'm completely fine with guide services. They are not typically considered as something you would do multiple times a week, so if you're like me and go with a guide 2-3 time a year, the current prices are completely fair. If going with a guide was something that people did multiple
Times a week then I could say lower prices cause you have more business, but since that isn't the case then prices should stay at what the market can bare. What is ridiculous is how expensive fast food has gotten. Almost cost me the same to go to whataburger now as it does to go to chillis. Just sayin....