I was cleaning a mess of big Crappie yesterday on my tailgate and had several people come over to admire them.
Then the questions started.
Did you catch them under the bridge?
Did you catch them on brush piles?
Where are the brush piles?
Minnows or jigs?
What color jigs?
How deep were they?
Can I just tie up to a tree, I don�t have an anchor.

I was obviously a guide as I was wearing a logo shirt and standing in the heat cleaning fish for folks.
If I am out on the lake I will often give up a pile if someone is close but not catching fish.
I don�t mind sharing tidbits of info to help other folks have a fun day on the lake but WOW .

How much do y�all share before you suggest they just hire a guide for a trip?
I book more trips with folks learning where and how to catch fish on their lake of choice than just a casual day on the lake and do my best to set them up to catch fish all year.

My last trip to Sandlin I let them take picture of my GPS so they could find my brush piles BUT they paid to learn.

It is hard to know where to draw the line as I don�t want to be rude to folks.

Did you catch them under the bridge? some of em,....
Did you catch them on brush piles? we fished a few brush piles,...
Where are the brush piles? 12 to 25 feet, depends on the wind....
Minnows or jigs? we used both
What color jigs? all colors were used
How deep were they? 12-25 feet, some deeper.
Can I just tie up to a tree, I don�t have an anchor. sure,...

that was easy,...maybe you all would like to schedule a trip sometime....

that was easy,

I don�t mind sharing how I caught them, depth etc... most people don�t know how to read a graph anyways. But they�ll pot lick if they can.

I'll tell them what area of the lake to go to and what depth of water to look for brush and use this jig or minnows.

I think if you've decided to make a living as a fishing guide, you should not give up very much information. I think giving someone the color of jig they're biting and the depth they're holding is pretty good information to get them started.

Maybe you could keep some business cards in your shirt pocket and let them know you have an opening in three days and would be happy to teach them how to catch the crappie you've found.

HHHHHAaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

This

People should definitely pay for GPS coordinates (via the guide fee or otherwise). I would only give those out (and maybe only if I liked the people I was guiding) for paying customers and only if they were from out of town and couldn't get back to that location more than 10 or so times a year. The rest of the stuff you could just provide relatively generic answers while also being helpful to a degree (and pleasant). I mean you want to market yourself in those situations but you also don't want to put yourself out of business.

i just default to telling people we caught them near the dam. it usually shuts them up.

Which ramp are you using?

I cant afford a guide trip with you so can I just follow you in my boat tomorrow??

Had a fishing buddy that look you in the eye, and tell you he caught everyone of them in the mouth! Pretty much ended the questions. Of course he would pull a plastic from his pocket and hand it to them, tell them that this was his favorite color on the day...and it usually was.

You can lead a horse to water but cant make them drink.

Those who want to learn you can help a lot by generic info such as color,weight, depth of water, and depth fish are located at. If I were going to book a trip it would definately be with someone who I ran into at the boat ramp and offered me some advise vs one that was an a** hole.

I guided salt water part time until I went back to freshwater bass and crappie. So I know what you mean. Use it in a good way to up sale your services. If people want to get GPS coordinates let them book a trip and take them out sinking brushpile mixed with a little fishing to show them presentations.

I always tell em I caught them north of the dam, some people get it some dont

x2. Most people even with the right info cant put it together.

The guy in the back of my own boat cant even do what I can do. I would be a little conservative on my actual spot. I would chuckle and say I can't give that up.