I remember growing up my careers of choice we, respectively; Tournament Pro, Bass Fishing Guide, Marine Biologist.
My grandfather who was and still is my idol was on the top ten list of pretty much every local tourney trail in the area during the 80's (Honey Hole, Poor Boy, etc..), and was somewhat of a guide in that he was always the guy that midcities redimix would send possible clients out with him to somewhat sweeten the deal. Obviously some things change and I'm now an education major at UNT. I've still have the ocassional itch to be a guide but now that I'm a bit older I've noticed a trend that I may have been blind to when I was younger. Does being a guide burn you out on fishing? I've talked to more than a handful of guys who quit their jobs and decided to try and make it as a guide, only to end up going back to the grind and not even being able to enjoy fishing anymore. Is it a personality issue in dealing with clients or the pressure of producing on a near daily basis?
Just curious, -Jay

I wouldnt quit the day job...you would starve to death I still love to fish. Now, my fishing is differnt. I fish for sandies. If I have kids on the boat and the fishing is not real fast paist then I will hand the kids my rod. I have yet had a bad customer. I dont guide 7 days a week so I dont know about the burnout. But I can tell you, the few times that I had trips for Fri, SAT and then Sun, I was worn out. It is stressful when the fish are not as active but I still love it.

THE GUIDE BUSINESS CAN BE BOOM OR BUST AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES A LOT OF GUYS GO FULL TIME ONLY TO FIND OUT LATER THAT THE INCOME HAS DRIED UP AND THEN BACK TO THE JOB THEY GO. MANY DIDN'T HAVE A GOOD CAREER TO BEGIN WITH AND COULD MAKE MORE MONEY GUIDING. MANY OF YOUR FULL TIME GUIDES HAVE A WORKING SPOUSE WHOSE JOB PROVIDES SOME HEALTH BENEFITS ETC. OR THEY HAVE TO PAY FOR THOSE COVERAGES OUT OF POCKET(MANY HAVE NO INS. AT ALL) MY SUGGESTION TO YOU IS IF YOU WANT TO GUIDE, CONSIDER DOING IT PART TIME, WEEKENDS, VACATION DAYS, OTHER TIME OFF. SCHEDULE YOUR CLIENTS ACCORDINGLY AND HAVE A JOB/CAREER ALSO. THE GUIDING MONEY CAN BE ICING ON THE CAKE AND CAN ALSO PROVIDE YOU WITH SOME DECENT TAX ADVANTAGES, ALTHOUGH THE IRS HAS TIGHTENED DOWN ON SOME PART TIME BUSINESS IN THE RECENT PAST . AS FOR BEING STRESSFUL, JUST LIKE TOURNAMENT FISHING, GUIDING CAN GET STRESSFUL AS WELL WHEN THE BITE IS TOUGH. ALL GUIDES LOVE TO FISH AND LOVE TO SEE THEIR CLIENTS CATCH FISH AND SOME CLIENTS GET THE WORDS GUIDE AND GOD CONFUSED. GUIDES CAN ALMOST ALWAYS PUT THE CUSTOMER ON FISH BUT WE CAN'T MAKE THEM BITE....GOOD LUCK IN WHATEVER YOU DECIDE.

FORGOT TO ADD...IN 16 YEARS OF GUIDING, I HAVE ENJOYED THE TIME SPENT WITH MY CLIENTS MOST OF THE TIME. I HAVE HAD A FEW GROUPS OVER THE YEARS THAT I WAS EAGER TO GET OUT OF MY BOAT, BUT THOSE ARE RARE. ANY PROFESSION DEALING WITH THE PUBLIC HAS IT'S UPS AND DOWNS. SOME PEOPLE JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO ACT AND ARE A_ _ HOLES BUT SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO BITE YOUR TONGUE AND SMILE OR GO ALONG WITH WHATEVER.....IF YOU ARE GONNA BE IN THE BUSINESS THOUGH, REMEMBER THAT EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT CATCH FISH OR MANY FISH ON ANY GIVEN DAY, THAT IF YOUR CLIENTS HAVE FUN AND THEY CAN SEE THAT YOU HAVE REALLY WORKED HARD AND TRIED YOUR BEST TO BOAT FISH, MOST LIKELY THEY WILL BE RETURN CUSTOMERS OR GIVE YOU REFERRALS. NOBODY LIMITS EVERY TIME THEY FISH EXCEPT IN THEIR DREAMS......

that might work in the freshwater side of it but the part-time pot lickers down here on the coast ars making it really hard on the full time guids,there is no way you can part time bay guide and look your client in the eye and say you are worth the going day rate, maybe a lake guide can do it but on the bay you must know what the fish are doing and where they are everyday.

MITCHB....

I DON'T DISAGREE WITH YOU ON THAT, ANY GUIDE THAT CAN FISH DAILY OR SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK WILL NATURALLY HAVE MORE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE THAN ONE WHO FISHES ONLY A COUPLE DAYS A WEEK. UNFORTUNATELY SOME OF US HAVE A JOB THAT GETS IN THE WAY OF THAT...I STILL ADVISE JAY TO TRY IT PART TIME FIRST AND SEE IF BEING A GUIDE IS REALLY WHAT HE WANTS TO DO. MANY ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE BUSINESS DON'T SEE WHAT ALL IS INVOLVED IN GUIDING AND SOME WHO HAVE NOT HAD EXPERIENCE DEALING WITH THE PUBLIC WILL BE SUPRISED. AT ANY RATE, PART OR FULL TIME, NOTHING BEATS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE ON ANY GIVEN BODY OF WATER. EVEN THE BEST GUIDE ,ANYWHERE YOU GO, CAN HAVE A BAD DAY AND THE MOST INEXPERIENCED GUIDE CAN HAVE A LUCKY DAY. I FEEL FOR THOSE FULL TIME GUIDES ON THE GULF COAST WHO WERE AFFECTED BY ALL THE HURRICANE ACTIVITY THIS AND LAST YEAR, I'M SURE A LOT OF HAVE TO PURSUE OTHER ENDEAVORS.

Jay,
The guide business is tough, very tough. For example business was nil right after the hurricanes hit...nothing..no one was thinking about fishing, and can you blame them? Unfortunately, the bills keep on coming.
Another thought, if your boat needs work you either do it yourself, give up trips (read money there) and still run it and make money.
Being a full time guide is definitely different than part-time. Full time, means just that. In the spring that could be fishing 25 out 30 days. Does it burn you out? Not me, not yet. You see I love the clients. We have a great time on the water, god conversations on numerous topics not just fishing. The guide business is all about people and how you relate to them. I even pick them up at either BPS or Gander Mtn here in Sugar Land and take them to the lake (for an extra $25...the pleasure of my company is definitely worth it!

My suggestion? Become a GREAT teacher and fish for fun. You will never go out of demand, you will never get rich, but never go broke. But be GREAT at what you do, not just good. Too many teachers are coming out with little or no subject matter knowledge and that kills the class real quick if you cannot think on your feet as the kids take you place you may not have anticipated. How do I know? Why I was the best US History teacher in the state until I retired after 32 years to guide full time and fish tournaments.

Good Luck

cbs

Well I am a rooky compared to some of these guys on the forum. As for guiding vs working a real job, I prefer the guiding. This time of year the money stinks but during the spring and summer I get by. I have some things I do on the side that gives me additional income and without those things I wouldnt make it. I have 3 kids and my wife is a stay at home mom. Luckily when I decided to start guiding we made some good financial decisions. Last spring I stayed booked doing 8-14 trips per week for nearly 3 months. After that I have averaged atleast 3 trips per week until Christmas. I have to say that getting up 2 hours before sun up and not getting home until an hour after dark makes for a very very long day during the busy season. I loved every minute of it though. In fact I was thankful on every morning as I pulled away from my dock and watched the sun come up knowing I was going fishing and not having to join the rat race of driving to work. I was able to fish over 200 days this year. I still love it just as much as I ever did. I have only ever had one group of guys I wanted to throw off my boat "but didnt". We were catching fish but there was an attitude thing going on. You are right about the pressure of producing. Especially in my line of business, crappie fishing. I fall back on the sandbass when they dont cooperate. Sometimes I wish I had been a sandbass guide. The pressure is fairly nonexistant when the fish are biting great but we all know they dont always do that. Another down fall is if the fish are not biting I am out looking for the better bite on my own time. I spend atleast 1 day a week on the lake by myself or with a buddy looking for more fish during the slower times. I find my self only searching new areas and when I find the fish I dont stay and catch them all, I move to the next possible great spot and try to develop a pattern for the bite. My buddies hate this but it's what I do. I used to fish to catch fish, now I fish to find the fish! Most of the time anyway!

First of all, don't expect that guiding will pay all the bills. Too many guys that love to fish throw everything out the window, and become a guide...and consequently starve to death. I'm 62 years old and been fishing all my life. I started guiding part time a couple years ago, and then went full time the first of this year, but, the full time thing was a filler for retirement. In other words, I wasn't depending upon it solely to pay the bills. I was very successful at it, sometimes booking more trips than I really wanted to do. I stopped guiding full time in mid year, as one of my old bosses called and asked me to come back to work. So I'll do this for a while and then probably go back to guiding, but to answer one of your questions...no, it didn't turn me away from fishing. I love it as much as ever, but now get to do it on my own terms again, which means that I go out 'looking' as much as fishing.

Bottonline, you will meet some great people guiding (and a few not so great), but if you are trying to do it as a sole income and trying to live on it....you better think twice.

Jay
I thought about doing the same as you. It sure would be a lot more fun guiding, so, This is what I done. I rigged me a new boat for the flats and when it was done, I invited the most non-fishing/non-boating person that I knew. My Neighbor. 1st I cast net for bait, between him and his son "playing" in the water, I bought bait. 2nd While I buy the bait, he finds a shrimp on the dock and makes one of my baitcasters into the most god-awful mess that you can imagine. 3rd. With-in 5min. of anchoring and getting the first rod out, He says, "Where's the fish?" 4th I instructed him and his son not to reel the bottom lines as they would get caught in the oysterbed , six rigs later, they understood what I meant. 5th While setting there talking, I notice his son fiddling with something. He's pulling the loops (piling) out of my brand new carpet. 6th They drop one of my brand new rods overboard and before I knew it, broke another trying to retreive it. 7th On the way back, the boy looses his hat, three miles back to find it. 8th I let him back the trailer in the water, he wanted to help, Did you know the tailgate on the truck had to touch water cause when I told him to back in until the lights touched the water, he thought I meant the truck. 9th When I got finished frying the fish that night, his boy wanted a hotdog cause he don't like fish.
So the next time I ever get the idea that I want to guide, I just get out the gun and by the time I find the bullets, I come to my senses. I go out in my shop and work on outboards and will live happly everafter.

The best way I know to starve to death, after about three years you can have meat with your beans at least twice a week.