One of these days (don't hold your breathe tho) I'll be booking a trip with each one of these fine guides.....Bobby, Tex and FishHauler........

One of your best assets in Catfishing is getting to know other catfishermen. I share information all the time with my cat friends that are also willing to share information with me.

I can go on a scouting trip knowing a friend is fishing the same day and we share information.

This will only work if you are willing to share as well

This forum helps a lot. I usually go with 3 other people and its common to tip 20%, so 25% is not a stretch. Never had a prob with someone not wanting to pitch in a little extra.

In the past these trips are at lakes I would only fish once a year or every other year. But If someone went with me that lived close and I found out he was fishing that hot "spot" everyday I would be mad and call him out on it.

Fishing the same areas using the same methods the next day really isn't that big of deal. As previously mentioned the fish move. A guide always needs to be able to catch fish in several different locations on the lake for various reasons. Just be up front with your guide and be sure to discuss this BEFORE booking your trip. Now if you booked a trip with me and I found you sitting in the same spot as the previous day with 100 jug lines scattered out I might get a little upset. Cutting someone off on a drift is flat out rude. Just remember that if you cut a guide off on a drift, you'll be facing his boat while your are fishing. You'll then have to watch him catch all of the fish that you went right over and didn't bring into your boat. That's gotta be a lot worse than watching fish on your fish finder that won't bite.

100 jug lines made me laugh, I can see someone doing that!

I think a lot of this comes down to respect and being up front with and honest with people.

like I said I always tell them what my plans are and never had a prob. Most the time they even tell you good places to catch shad. Or give you whats left from there daily bag.

+1 on this.

I remember my first trip with Tex, we fished multi spots in an area that I had boated right thru two weeks earlier looking for cat, not knowing any better. Knowing why is a lot more important than knowing a specific spot.

YEP!!!! 100 jug lines in an area would not make me a happy camper either.

What these three guides are not telling you is that they are all three catfish whisperers so it doesn't matter if you go in behind them or not they are still gonna catch fish!!!!!

Guides do not own the lake or the spots they take you to. You have every right to fish anywhere you want on the lake. Just don't be obnoxious about it and make sure to share space with everyone.

Some people hire guides just to catch fish and will never come out and fish on their own. Some hire to learn and will be back on the lake you fish them on or will attempt to duplicate what you did on another lake.

Over the years I have taken people fishing and passed them by fishing the same spots I fished them at the previous day. Sometimes they are successful sometimes they aren't.

Spots are spots and just because your catching fish there today or right now means nothing because more often than not they are not going to be in the exact same place tomorrow. Heck, sometimes they are not going to be anywhere close.

When you are a guide you just assume this and have to work with the fact that people are going to come back and fish the places you fished, they are going to tell others the places you fished and exactly what you did and how, and that is just part of being a guide. If they paid me to fish and they want to come back and fish every single location I fished them in then more power to them.

The only time I take exception to this is in the summer if I start fishing baited holes. It is not all the time and not every summer but something we do when needed. Even then, I am keeping so many places active and rarely fishing the same place two days in a row, so I have fallbacks. I have only once had to call someone on this because it became a problem when they had told so many people where these locations were I couldn't find a place to fish. I simply made a phone call to them, explained the problem, the apologized and have since been back to fish with me 3 or 4 more times.

I think being up front with the guide is the best policy, and my experience is some are and some aren't, at the end of the day it really doesn't matter because if your sitting where I am headed I am going to move on somewhere else, I may even stop and offer you some bait if you need it.

I have been out with 3 guides in the past.2 of them were great teachers sharing knowledge.One Omar 'Luck of the Irish" let me bring a hand held GPS let me mark all the spots for future reference.He explained why and which season for each spot.Great learning trip with him on G.V. He even took the time to drive all over the lake letting me mark away even tho the fish weren't in the area that time of year .Great trip!

Another would have but I was afraid to ask.J.D.Lyle.He was awesome also but we hit so many spots last February I cant remeber since no GPS.I know he burned as mush gas as we paid for the trip as he worked his but off hitting at least 20 or more spots.The man knows Texoma like the back of his hand!He gave us a winter scouting deal while staying in one of his great cabins at hidden acres.

The 3rd un named guide on Texoma seemed interested in getting a quick limit and didn't tell me any useful information.Almost acting so protective that I got the idea he didn't want anyone horning in on his spots.As a matter of fact this guy walked to the front of the boat unzipped and took a piss without the fist mention of ladies please excuse me while I relive myself. My wife and daughter were with me shocked.I can't tell you how embarrassed and hot I got.Having spent the best part of $400 dollars and wanting to put the girls on fish the next day in our boat. It was a bad trip even with all of the fish in the boat.A simple excuse me would have saved the trip.I still get his email updates and remember why I will never recommend him in the future.

Guess who I will continue to spend my money with in the future?
Fish do move and patterns change.These guy's have it figured out and on any given day 99% of the time they find fish and fill limits like clock work.

Always use good sense and be up front with your plans for the trip before you book it.Then if using a GPS with their permission they will give you the spots they are willing to give up.

As a matter of fact this guy walked to the front of the boat unzipped and took a piss without the fist mention of ladies please excuse me while I relive myself.


WOW! I don't know what I would have done there. I think you got the right idea, just dont refer him or go back.

I had a similair event happen about 8 years ago on Buchanan. Trolling for stiper with unnamed guide. It was just my wife and I with our newborn baby (8weeks). He agreed to let us take her. So we were out there about 4 hours and the guy never once acted interested in the baby. So my wife tells me shes got to feed baby, she goes to front and covers up best she can. The guy waits a few minutes and says hey I never got to see that baby, and proceedes to walk to front and look. I was like really man? She just told you she was feeding her. Needless to say that was end of trip. lesson learned.

Until medical bills piled up on us, I was going to ask for a trip with Bobby for my birthday present. The first thing I was going to tell him is to NOT take me to your favorite honey holes, because he will find my boat parked there the next time.

That is really sad. You should have asked him if that was the only way he could catch a glimpse.

I hunted a leash one year with a fella who like to "set up" on other hunters: wasn't invited back the next year.