Have you ever had a bad guide trip? If so what made it bad, without naming names.

both trips i have taken were bad as far as number of boated fish. first time was a full day only boated 6 fish between the 2 of us. second trip was a half day solo and only boated 1 fish. two different guides on fork but same results.

I never have.i learned something ever trip out with a guide!

sometimes the fish don't bite, not the guide's fault. pay attention and make it a learning day, then you'll tak something home with you

I have had 7 guide trips in last year and im happy say I havnt caught a lot fish or big ones but everyone of them taught me something on the water, and off the water, most have become very good friends with me now. Like Doug says there time spent on the water and there teachings are better then a bad trip.If your expecting a monster bass then your going be disappointed.

We have all probably had bad guide trips when compared to our expectations. I can remember a few occasions when I thought I would kill it with a guide based on the previous week only to be shut down based on weather and frontal conditions. A guide is just what it sounds like, a teacher to help prepare you for an adventure of a lifetime. Conversely, I've had trips with guides when they had a "hunch" at hammering a fish of a lifetime. Coincidence? I certainly don't think so. My guide put me on a PB of 11.13 when the water was 48! He called the area well before we ever started.

My first and only guide trip at Fork was horrible.I never got the first bite while my friend boated 1 small fish.It was in late April.I talked to the guide the night before and they had been "wearing them out".I asked if I should bring my own rods.He said he had plenty.I figured his must be better than mine.Wrong.Everything he had for us to use needed new line in a bad way.At our first stop,he just opened up a compartment and said, "there you go,tie on whatever you want,it should catch fish today".And when it was all over he asked if we would like to book another day with him while I was counting out his cash.I did not reply.

I have never gone out and slayed them with a guide. But every trip I have learned so much and have made good friends.

Yes one! On the coast... the guy was crazy. He did not want to deal with any fish caught. At one point he was laying the middle of the boat holding a umbrella saying that the world was going to end. We should have used him for shark bait... I think the sharks would have spit him out.

I've gone with one guide on Fork about 6 or 7 times over a 5 year period. I never had a bad trip with him. We've had some great catching days, and some average days. But EVERY day was a good one in my book and I stay in contact with him pretty regularly. I think as long as you temper your expectations, know that it's fishing and not catching, and go with the hopes that you learn something new, it's a successful trip.
There are just a lot of people that expect to catch lots of giants on Fork when they go with a guide. Some days the fish just do not cooperate. Anyone who's fished there very much knows how humbling that lake can be, I've had more than one day where I had one bite, or no bites, then the days we all remember, 30-50 fish, 3-9 lbs, wide open.
The only guide trip I ever had that I was really worried was going to turn out bad was in Costa Rica. My kayak guide recommended a guy that could put us on some big fish. I got him for a 4 hour trip, he showed up 45 minutes late and absolutely wasted. He was supposed to have a full bait well, we had to spend 1 hour catching bait. But then? I'll just say that for a 2 hour period, I was either hooked up or about to be hooked up. The fish in my signature is one of many with that guy. 2 giant rooster fish, a big Jack, and 2 20 minute fights only to end up with a broke or cut line.

Many moons ago I took several trips out on Fork and Rayburn. Almost all were not worth two cents. This is why when people post about guides or are asking about them I always post NO ONE needs a guide unless you are boatless. Nothing is better to me then just spending time on the water and you will come away with just about as much info. You spend that same 400-450 or whatever it is nowadays that is a lot of gas to go out and learn yourself. The internet is a very good way to get your instructional knowledge on graphs/rigging along with different techniques.

We had a guide for 4 hrs once for stripers on Texoma. We met early at the dock and drove out to a junction where the creek entered the main channel on the main lake. After graphing about 10 minutes we dropped shad down on his gear and quickly caught 2 limits. We went back to the dock where he cleaned and iced them. By 9:00 AM we had split ways. Not very happy but the guide delivered. I think good communication can prevent a lot of unknowns.

I had a redfish guide start talking about going in after we had a limit and caught and released a few by 9:00. I simply told him I was a fishing nut, and barring bad weather, we would be fishing until 2:00. Just like his boss' website said.....He kept us out and was pleasant the rest of the day, although I wouldn't use him again.

I had the worst rxperience on Fayette a few years ago. I hired him to learn one method he was supposed to be good at. After we got on the water, he says deep crank baits is all they are hitting on and wanted to spend the day cranking the dam. Later in the morning, he saw another guide catching fish in the intake on the rock pile. So he just pushed his way in and started fishing, all the while I'm being frontended. After the other guide finally got tired of him and made a cast on the front deck, the guy I was with moved away. And loudly complained that the fish didn't belong to the other guide. I gave up and told him to take me in.

I have never really had what I would call a bad guided trip but of all the guides I have fished with there was one in particular on Fork that you would have thought he was tournament fishing. He hit every spot first and of course caught the most fish. Other guides I have fished with at Fork or Texoma rarely fished or at least did not fish the entire time. Even with that said this guide was still pretty informative and I did not have a major issue but never used him again.