I will say this most companies that have a price increase do to gas prices usually call it a surcharge. This is based off of several price points that trigger a price increase or decrease depending on which way the price is going. The guides just used it as a excuse to go up. The other companies mention above, about did they bring down their cost have to guarantee their work Guides do not guarantee anything but you will pay them. This is just part of it. The biggest difference between guides and say a plumber is guides are a luxury and we chose to hire them. The plumber we usually have a wife telling us to call the plumber while we are out with the guide. LOL

Just saw where one (I think the best in the business) just lowered his by $100.00 a day for Sugar and Lake Falcon for that very reason as listed on his web-site.

While I don't disagree with you Bruce, I think it would be better compared to an Attorney.

You pay for their time and expertise, no matter what the judge or jury ends up deciding.

You pay the guide rate for the day and get them for the day. The trouble begins when a guide doesn't value his time enough and feels he needs to justify his expenses with a fuel surcharge.

I don't know if any of you have been to the dentist lately but they are the worst.

In the shipping industry, your product gets to its destination and you don't know if it was UPS, Fed EX or the US mail except for the packaging. They have to come up with clever surcharges because of the generic product they are selling.

Guides aren't the same. If I want Tommy Law on Sugar, Paris or Hoffman or whoever on Fork, I'm going to pay what they ask me to pay because I have my heart set on fishing with them from past experiences. You can't just substitute one for the other and expect not to notice. And no..... I'm not going to agree to crappier results with a cheaper guide.

Guides 350.00 per day max.The guides should have a trophy fee of 150.00 per pound for bass over say 6 lbs. Clients either fork over the cash right then or line is cut to keep the trip on the cheap. Cost cutter guide service we accept I phone and Android transactions along with the always friendly cash.

I think most of the people who complain about the price of guides don't use them, so it's a waste of time to even debate with them about what a guide should charge.

Being a guide is a tough job. The good ones work hard for every penny they make.

We have all fished 8 hour days. Not only do you acquire wear and tear on your equipment, but you assume a lot of wear and tear on your body as well. Guides are a special breed. I have no problem with them getting what they can get.

This has been interesting seeing what peoples thoughts are on guiding. I can tell you a lot of you are spot on. Lake Fork Guide Mark Watson said it the best. This is not a get rich job by any means. By thanksgiving are bodies, gear, skin,face, and everything in between have taken a beating. There's a lot of work behind the scene of guiding that go into this that never gets seen.

I do believe it takes a special breed to be guide. Being a Lake Fork is my dream job. I put 120%.... everything i have in what i do for a living. Just like a lot of you small buisness owners when you start a company i believe you go all in. Give it everything you have and more. Put fuel cost, tackle expenses, boat payments, insurance on everything, bills..... we do it cause we love it. Watching he/she or kiddo catch his personal best, the father son that haven't fished together in 20 years get back in the boat together, the clients that i now call some of my best friends, all the pictures we take with smiles on peoples faces that most everyone else in the world never gets to see..... is why we do what we do. I like to think i get to see people at there best. People get on the water and they are stress free, relaxed, and just themselves.

To say this job is hard is an understatement. I Promise the guides i know and myself work there tail off day in and day out to make sure at the end of the day when there clients leave there boat they can say they give at all they had to make sure they had a good time.

Just my two cents boys. See yall on the water

Interesting thread. I've been on several guided trips, including Fork. To me, a professionally guided trip is a luxury, so let's stop comparing it to what a plumber charges. If you have a plumber out, you HAVE TO have something fixed more than likely. No one HAS to take a guided fishing trip. It's a luxury to go out with an experienced guide. My father tried to teach me a valuable lesson years ago when I was just a kid that I think I've picked up on pretty good. He said, "Son, when someone teaches you one thing, try to learn two things".

Apply that logic to a guided fishing trip and it's worth every bit of $450 for a full day with an experienced guide. It's not just about catching fish, it's about the "two things" you can learn from a guide who's teaching you one thing.

The way I see it is if you don't like the price then don't go!

No, No, No, No, and No....

Just to throw a little mix in this topic. My dad hired guide Bob Uhler (old timers will remember Bob and he also guided on Fork when it opened) on Tawakoni in the year 1968 for a day, we fished from sunup to sundown and it was in the month of May so it was like 7am to around 7-8pm. The cost? $40 whole dollars and my dad tipped him $10 for a good day of fishing. Been a lot of changes over the years.

This started out as a simple question of will guides lower their rates due to the decrease in gasoline prices and has got into a justification of the prices they charge or overcharge.In my opinion if the reason for an increase in service price is due to the rise in fuel prices when said fuel prices go back down then so should said service price.Let's be real here though,it does not work that way anywhere else.At the price of oil gas should be even cheaper.I don't have a problem with what guides charge,it's the market,if I don't want to pay it I won't.I have fished with guides on the coast more than freshwater,the cost is about the same.The 2 guides I used down there were both good guys and gave us great trips,1 I have used at least 6 times and will use again.The one time I used a guide @ Amistad we didn't get our monies worth but he still got a tip and I don't judge all guides by that one.If you think the price is too high then don't pay it.JMHO

You do know that we take people of less than adequate capabilities right?
I'm gonna take you fishing, assess your ability. and cater to them.
Sometimes the techniques required to catch fish are beyond our customers ability.
Sometimes, (believe it or not), conditions for catching fish are terrible, but it's the day the customer picked, even if we recommend against it.
Everybody that goes fishing, goes with the "hope" to catch fish.

Gasoline was like 15 cents a gallon back then too. That is 1/10th of what it is currently and we all know the price of gas will rise. So, technically it is really less than 1/10th the price. If your dad paid Bob, $50 bucks back then, it would be about $500 in today's dollars.