I will add that I have a 22 foot CC, Bassaholic is right about boat length. I only let people chuck and reel of there are three or less and they have some experience.

Keith

bridgeportguide,
You sound like you're doing plenty of business. My main business would be the motel/cabins/RV park. Guiding would be "on the side" for a while. I'll probably have my hands full with the other parts of the business. I could handle one or maybe two at a time depending on the kind of fishing we're doing. Am I close on the break even point?

20' or better. Most trips have 2 customers plus the guide.

I am not a guide, but I have been fishing all my life and I do own a business. With any business, word of mouth advertising can make you or break you. If a client has a good experience in doing business with you, he will tell a friend. If he has a bad experience, he will tell all his friends. Consider how many clients you will need in a given month to meet your financial goal. Consider the type of water you will be fishing. Will your current boat support these? Also consider the bigger the boat, the more clients you can take per trip which multiplies the income per trip. I would think that most clients come in pairs at least. I personally think a 19 footer is large enough to get you started.

20-24ft depending on the style of fishing you're doing.

If your going to fish Texoma 22-24,bass fishing 20-21 will be large enough to be safe on those windy days.

From all the past guided trips I would say at least 20' with dual console and a larger rear deck.....

Depends on the lake your guiding on and how many people you want to take out. Taking big parties of people or fishing on open water on big lakes you would be better off with a 21-24ft CC boat. Also unless your bass fishing I wouldnt suggest a bass boat. They are the most uncomfortable and unsafe boats compared to CC and deep V boats. With the low sides,high decks and uncomfortable seating bass boats are terrible for guiding any more than 2 people. Your customers are also more likely to return if you have a comfortable & safe boat. Kids are unsafe on bass boats and everyone including the guide is always at risk of falling over board while fishing in rough waters. If your fishing calm waters and only taking two people I would suggest no less than a 17 ft boat & not a bass boat! Get a wide deep V or CC boat.

I get the feeling Chuck don't like Bassboats.

Maybe he doesn't, but he's well respected on these boards and I appreciate his opinion. I still am leaning toward a bass boat in the 19 or 20 ft range because I also want to use the same boat to fish local tournaments. I see what the guys are saying about the cc boats, especially for crappie, white bass/hybrid or catfishing. I've been in some cc's before and they are certainly much better for parties fishing for other than bass. The lake in question is hubbard creek, what I consider a medium sized lake. It can get rough, but it's no texoma, big sam, or amistad. I've been on it in my 16 footer in 20 gusting to 30. It wasn't comfortable, but I made it OK. Wouldn't feel good about clients in my short boat on a windy day though.

20-21 foot with a 250. Less wear and tear than a 225 or 200 with 3-4 guys and a guide load.

Why do the guiding yourself? You are going to have your hands full with the park and you've already said you don't have the experience guiding, nor the boat.

My suggestion is to find out who one of the better, more well known guides on the lake is and recruit him to run trips out of your park. Maybe offer him some perks for referring customers, maybe a discounted rate on lodging, or a commission on bookings. The opposite should also hold, he should be willing to give you a commission on trips that are generated within the park, etc.

When boat show season rolls around you will also have someone that can split costs of the booth, marketing materials, man the booths, etc, etc.

Another option, would be to let the guide pick out a boat, buy a boat for him and charge a per trip useage fee.

If you just want to guide part time for the heck of it then do it but it won't make rational sense.

BF, there's a part of me that agrees with you, but there are several problems with your suggestion. One, there are no other guides on the lake. That's why guiding is so appealing: I'd have the market cornered. If the guide business took off, it would be easier to find someone to clean hotel rooms and mow grass than to find a guide to work out of my park.

Every guide was inexperienced once. Gotta start somewhere.

As far as the referrals go, you've outlined my plan for working with the hunting outfitters in the area. Some kind of referral network with the hunting crowd would do wonders for my business in the off season, assuming the summer crowd is basically gone after labor day.

good thoughts all... keep it coming.

I've decided to take the plunge and start guiding part time, and a 20 footer is what I will be buying soon.

If you are anything like me, you guide already, you just don't get paid for it. I guide every time I take friends fishing. The difference, I think, is that when I don't want to go, I don't go. If I were guiding professionally, I would have to go regardless.

I know several people who are basically weekend fishermen, sometimes a little more, who have tried their hand at guiding. They think that because they can find fish that they can put others on fish and make money doing it. They all found out that they were wrong. Some would get a call now and then, but since they weren't getting enough business to do it full time, getting the scheduling down between the client and themselves would be a hassle, and then the fellow has to go scout the lake in advance (because he's not fishing it daily like he would if he were guiding full time). So, it ends up being more of a hassle than it's worth, but that's because these people weren't interested in guiding, just making the money by fishing instead of working. I think a successful guide has to generally like people, be a good talker and good listener and be somewhat socially aware of their surroundings. They have to know what the client expects from the trip and not just assume the client wants to go out and limit real quick so the next group can get started.

I have taken a few guided trips in my life, and I'm sorry to say that the large majority of them were disappointing, but not because of the creel at the end of the day. They were disappointing because I felt like I was a workload that the fellow was trying to get done, instead of a friend he was fishing with. I realize that day in and day out, it's probably hard to shift gears from professional angler to "hey, I'm your new friend", and I never expected that, but the majority of my trips with guides turned out to be "do it this way, cast there, use this, don't do that, sit there" type conversation. Mostly commands, not conversation at all (and I am an experienced fisherman, imagine how a new fisherman would react).

The few good experiences I have had were good because I felt the guide wanted me on his boat, that he looked forward to the trip and that he wasn't glad it was over at the end of the day.

So, as far as the boat, I would go with the biggest I could get. I wouldn't sacrifice space for anything, especially since you will have a place on the lake anyhow. I would want to feel comfortable that my clients feel safe, dry and that the condition and quality of the gear/boat isn't even considered except in a positive way. I would want to remove as much concern about everything but fishing as I could. Personally I would be concerned about going out onto a lake with 3 or 4 people in a 19' boat on a guided trip, especially if some of those people aren't as experienced with fishing or boating as they could be (which is quite often the case).

Sorry for the long winded response, but it seems now days like everyone with a new boat wants to guide, and yet only a select few are actually qualifed to guide and even fewer will be doing it 10 years from now. I wish you success.