I do a little guiding on the side, not full time or anything but I have a little experience. I fish very very little and typically only towards the end of a trip if a client really asks me to.

My concern is sticking a giant fish and that being the highlight of THEIR day. I get the trying to figure it out part but I typically have a game plan long before I get there and I simply coach them on what I would do.

I certainly understand that some days are frustrating when your watching a guy burn C-rigs back to the boat, but I feel better watching, conversing, coaching, opening drinks, etc. Just my take

Correct Tom. I try to get a good take on the kind of fishermen they are before the trip if I can. 90% of the clients I take are not very skilled and usually have to be shown how to operate a rod and reel. Most of my trips are crappie but I do some bass trips also. I do fish most times but I usually ask the customer and most times I have to demonstrate the way the fish want the bait. Most times I try to identify the weakest angler or child and put them beside me and show them fish on the graph, why we are fishing the way we are and what should and usually happens. Like Tom said, there are a lot of reasons people hire guides, you need to know their expectations. Some people have never fished a day in their life and think you just drive to them and go to whacking them. Unless the customer wants me catching fish, I usually fish off away from where the action should be happening and trying a different technique than they are.

A guide should not front end his client.

Completely agree on this. When I first started guiding, I had the fear that every client was going to be Rick Clunn and make me look a fool. As I guided over the years, not only did I gain a lot of confidence, but also found that most clients just wanted to catch fish...and most weren't died in the wool bass fishermen.
The one thing that I always found funny...when I'd specifically tell clients the one/two bait patterns that would be working or specific locations...they'd invariably pull out a buzzbait in the heat of the day throwing in dead water or something to that effect. I also had one client show up with a bottle of whiskey. I didn't think much of it until he backlashed and while I was fixing it for him...I handed him my Gloomis rod with a $500 Shimano reel attached and watched him cast the whole setup off the side of the boat. Thankfully I wasn't very deep and was able to retrieve it. We went straight back to the ramp and were done for the day. That changed my policy on alcohol in the boat. (I didn't charge him...just stopped our fishing day)

I like the guide to fish. I figure we both like fishing. Usually learn something from them. Most will fish some lower percentage bait or switch baits to see if they are biting another bait.

When I guided, I GUARANTEED that you or I would catch a bass. If not, you got that trip free, $250 dollars of mine and another free trip, so I was out %750. So teh reason I fished was to show the client what I had been catching the fish on. I only guided on weekends, so I had to get back familar with what the fish were doing, but only 1, then I quit, but I had several times when only 1 fish was caught, sometimes they caught it, sometimes II caught it, but with $750 on the line, I MADE myself fish t omake sure I knew what they were doing. Of course, I never had to make god on that promise in 106 guide trips, but I was lucky and I KNEW the lake well. After 1, I would quit, undes the client wanted me to show different techniques or presentations. Most insisted I fish so they could watch what I was doing. This was on Lake Lewisville, later on Bob Sandlin and Cypress Springs, but I made good on it every time. If you expect me to give that guarantee, I deserve the right to fish, until 1 is caught. I am NOT going to put $750 on line and NOT fish, but that was just me. MOST GUIDES to not offer a guarantee, but I knew the lake that wel. Been on Lewisville 496 times thru the years and it has nearly always prduced for me. I worked as a contingent guide, if the 3 other guides on the lake were booked, they would suggest me, vs. one os their competitors. But, that was in the early and mid 2000s. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

You can ask Tom or Lance Vick the first words out of mouth is "You better pick up that rod and get to fishing!" The more you get them fired up the more every one catches! JMO...

To each his own. I would want the guide to have some fun, show me what he/she knows about the lake and catch the biggest bass he/she can. But I haven�t tried a bass guide yet in 50 years of bsss fishing because I am too stubborn and don�t have any money. There - I feel better.

I was a full time guide for 8 Years. I can honestly say I fished about half the time. There is no right or wrong in this scenario. There are times when You Fish to show a client a new technique or just to try and figure something out that might work better. What I never did was Fish when the clients were on em and catching them pretty good. Had many trips when we were wearing em out and the clients were having a blast and inevitably they would say come on pick up a rod and catch some. I would always decline bc my biggest fear was to catch a big one that they might have caught if I wasn�t fishing. A guide trio should be a learning experience for those who are paying their hard earned money for a service. If you get a guide who is not into teaching and all about fishing then I wouldn�t hire him again. Just my two cents.

LOL 100% truth!

A good guide knows when to fish, and when not to fish.

I've fished multiple times with some of the very best guides (in my opinion) on Lake Fork...Mark Pack, Brian Duplechain, Hollis Joiner, and several others. All of them fished through out the day with me...when appropriate. At times watching how and what they were doing was the only way I would have caught ANYTHING. And when they came to the sweet spot on a hole they would tell me what the structure/cover was and tell me where to throw or how/why the fish were positioned on that particular spot. That's a guide! They show you how, where, and why. The flip side of that coin was a trip with Richard McCarty back in the 90's. He front ended my buddy and I most of the morning until I had enough of it. We were jig fishing most of the day. At one point we were in a creek channel bend near a point, and after he flipped in beside a huge stump three or four times (obviously the sweet spot on that turn), turned to and said, "I've caught two nice ones off that stump in the last couple of weeks." After that I moved up elbow to elbow with him on front (which from the look on his face was not pleased) and ended up putting a small whooping on him with the jig. (yea...a small modicum of revenge and a little smirk on my face as I type) Regardless, I still tipped him, but would never go on another trip with him and would never recommend him to anyone. Good ones teach...bad ones just want you to pay for their fun. And that's all I have to say about that.

I guess this will be today's necro-thread resurrection. I was looking for a Lake Palestine guide when I ran across this. Way back in the day, when dinosaurs ruled the earth, I would have loved to have been able to hire a guide, but I was so broke I couldn't even pay attention much less have money to hire a guide. Sure would have made life a lot nicer, though.........lol. Well, fast forward a few years and I got to the point where I had at least a couple of nickels I could rub together and I started hiring guides. Over the decades, I couldn't even begin to say how many I have hired, and I learned that guides are just like everything else in life (the same I'm sure could, and is, said about clients), they range from absolutely horrible to fantastic beyond belief. I think (again like most other things in life) it all starts with open and honest communication and a good rapport from the start. If everybody shares the same information set, more often than not, everybody involved will come out with a positive experience. As far as guides fishing, I wanted them to. That way I could watch what they do and could learn. I also liked and encouraged them to think out loud. That way I could sort of get inside their head a little bit and see how their thought process worked and that was yet another way to learn. Like I say, I have had good ones and I have had bad ones, but I can say honestly that I have had way more good ones than the other kind............BUT I think it's human nature to remember a little extra about the bad ones. One strange thing I did note, generally speaking, was that when I hired guides that were, or were trying to be, professional tournament anglers, they tended to be really, really good, or really, really bad. Never seems to be much middle ground with those types. I guess I'd have to say that the very best guide I ever had was a guy by the name of Chuy Morales. He guides on several lakes lakes down in Mexico and fishes many (and wins a fair share) of the bigger bass tournaments that they have down there. He really has it all. A very nice, cordial guy with a good sense of humor and customer service way above the call of duty.and his extensive knowledge was just icing on the cake. Well, that and all the fish I caught. That said, the worst guide I ever had was a then young buck out to make his fortune on the tournament trail and was paying the bills by masquerading as a fishing guide. He had a snarky attitude and pretty much really didn't care anything about what you had to say, wouldn't answer questions, didn't show me anything about technique, nor care. I got hung up when we were in a stump field and rather than let me work it lose real quick, he told me to break it off because were "movin' on". Well, fortunately for him, that was in my early days and had just gotten those couple of nickles extra, I was talking about, and at that time I hadn't hired very many guides. I could go on, but you get the idea. Needless to say, I gave him an earful (not that he cared) when we got back to the ramp. Told him it would be really chilly in "you know where" before I'd ever hire him again, or recommend him other than as the guide you LEAST want to EVER hire.

A couple of decades later, I happened to run into him at a meet and greet at a BASS or FLW tournament (I forget now which one) and I walked up to him and said, "Well, Mr. Clark Wendlandt, it sure is a good thing you grew up to be a great tournament fisherman, because as a guide, you weren't worth a bucket of warm............spit". Well, that was the sanitized version of what I said, anyway........................

Ok.

Well, I would need to hear his side of the story before I will comment.