If Tony Clark is not on your list and you haven't found a guide yet try him . He is great with Kids and I would be willing that your boys will not Zero. If things get to slow he will put em on a school of sand bass.

You can still find a good reputable guide for that time, it's just going to take a lot of calls. Good luck.

Good luck and I hope everyone has a great time

Contact John Tanner, top notch guy and fisherman. Tell him Andrew McClusky sent you!

If one of the really good guides at Fork zeros you can get most of the people on the lake that day will as well. You can learn more about fishing in a day with a good guide than you can often in a month or two on the same water whether you all catch fish or not. If you want to learn to read a depthfinder and learn technique related stuff the day is well worth it.

well, then I got burned�which is probably why I am sour on "guides"

I remember a day about a year ago when three of the best guides on fork all zeroed on same trip and same day. I would have bet a million dollars that those three would not have gone out and all three would zero but it happened. I believe their are different level of guides but they all have bad days and good days. I believe you can have a good trip whether you catch fish or not by how much you can learn. I also believe depending on which guide you hire different times of the year will play into that guides strengths. I would suggest if you decide to hire another guide talk to him when his strengths are best and get a trip during that time period. There are guides that do better in the spawn and others that do better in the summer, they all can have success through out the year. just my .02

please reconsider another guide don't blame one guide trip on all the guides of fork I have fished with many and on each trip learned and took something home with me when I didn't catch fish I gained knowledge, the experience you take home is how you want too learn if your guy just wants catch fish I suggest hire you a live bait guy but if you want too learn and you will listen you will take home something well worth the money and when that moment comes for you be rewarded with big fish you will appreciate the time and effort you took to learn with that guy, I personally thank Eddie Garret everyday for the time he spent with me showing me how to read my electronics and how to properly present my baits and one day I will get my DD fish and it be all owed to him for teaching me how to fish fork.

The one variable that people forget to be honest about with themselves when they have a bad guide trip, is their angling abilities.

I would venture to say 75% of those that book guides are not very accomplished anglers and then they expect to have this "magical day on the water" with a guide. Expectations of catching are way too high for a lot of people that hire guides.

If the bite is tough and then you add in that the guide customer(s) are not very good anglers, then you are not going to catch many fish, if any at all.

If it's catching you are after, learn to sand bass fish, you catch a 50 - 100 a day on a lot of lakes, 6-8 months out of the year.


Beginner - Novice Angler + Tough day = a huge let down to many.

Beginner - Novice Angler with a good attitude and a realistic expectations + Tough Day = a fun day of learning whether you catch them or not.

What Doug, Gatorkidd and Mark wrote is so true. If you stay positive you can learn so much. If the fishing is off that day you still get a lesson on patterns, locations..etc. All Fork guides are top notch

I agree, Jason Hoffman is the man�..

I can recall being on a particular bite that was lights out a few times and speaking with some friends that guide while we went in for lunch. Discreetly mentioning to them the where and when of the bite I was on and offering to share what info I had to find out it was of no use because their clients could not cast as well as needed to get baits in the area etc. People tend to forget that not only do guides have to find fish they gotta find fish that the skill levels of their clients for that particular trip will allow them to catch. I think people often have unrealistic expectations of a guide. Its human nature. You are paying money so you want tangible results.

Mark you took me on a "guide trip" once, I'd like a refund.

I only caught like 26 fish and 5 over 5lbs....

Shhhh...you know no one catches them shallow at Fork. Are you crazy?


BTW that damn dock ain't been good to me the last year or so either.

I think the deal is you used to cast a bigger shadow and that's what the fish held on, I call it the Blue Bell pattern.