400 Too Much For A Guide?

[salmonguy]

Hi Riverdancer,

I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and a friend of mine has a guiding service and here are his rates for PEI,
GUIDE SERVICE
# Full Day One angler- $125.00
# Two anglers- $175.00

# Half Day One angler- $75.00
# Two anglers- $125.00

Here is his web site if any body is interested [url=http://www3.pei.sympatico.ca/flyfish/:2baba]http://www3.pei.sympatico.ca/flyfish/[/url:2baba]

Even when we go to New Brunswick to fish the Miramichi where you need to have a guide the cost is around $150.00 Canadian and that is for 3 people.

Those prices seem excessive to me.

Thanks,
Alan (salmonguy)

[RonMT]

I think it is way over priced. $350.00 should be tops with any guide guiding for trout. Most will not even do more than an 8 hour day anymore. You can get a full day in the salt for 3 people for that price and the guide has a Captains license and a $35 thousnad dolor boat to take care of. Nope in my book it is getting out of hand. The way you will know is when they number of trips start falling off because people are not willing to pay those high price's? Just my opinion. Gald I have my own boat and a son willing to row it and that guides LOL. Ron

[mantis]

I think it depends on the River and the Guide. I am taking an all day float trip with another guy in early May here in the East and it is costing $275 plus a tip, probably another $50. There is so much private water around now that to get thru some of it you have to float. A good guide is well worth the price and one who knows the river and the insects can really make for a wonderful experience. All this is assuming one can cast . The best guide in the world can't help you much if all you do is slap and rip the water .

[dudley]

Here's a quote from Jack Gartside's web site;

"on a Gartside expedition, one survives on one's own skills, going fishless if necessary. Hiring a guide is considered both decadent and an admission of failure ? akin to having a pizza delivered while scaling Mount Everest."

Sums it up for me too.

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"The man who knows all about trout does not exist,
although you have probably met him"
Samuel G. Camp 1911

[josko]

$400 and up, way up, here on Cape Cod.

[Riverdancer]

I am a Professional Fly Fishing Guide, and Commercial Fly Tyer, but didn't want to influence anyone's answers by saying so in my initial post, because I value everyone's opinions. Thanks for the great responses so far.

Honestly, I feel a bit like RonMT. Besides being a guide, I am just an angler like all of you who values his money greatly, so I think 350.00 is a considerable of money to spend for a one-day excursion, and I think prices in upwards of 450.00 would drive away regular anglers like ourselves, and lead the profession catering to the upper 1% of the population.

That is not where I want my profession to go. Granted, we as guides spend A LOT of money on flies, tippet, gas, insurance, CPR/First Aid certifications, licenses, equipment, boats, etc..., but I feel like 300 is a fair trade, and allows both parties to walk away fulfilled.

I'm in this profession to share my love for this sport with as many people as I can. I don't expect to get wealthy, and I don't want to be exclusionary with my services. Truth be told, most of my best trips are with the blue collar worker who decides to save up for 6 months with his or her fishing buddy to hire me on the San Juan for their very first guide trip. The enthusiasm, and down right love for the sport these people bring to my job, gives me the reason to keep doing it!! They might have saved up all they could, and don't have the extra money to tip at the end of the day, but you know what, they paid a lot of money already, they listened to what I was teaching, they may come back or tell their friends, and most importantly, they had a blast fishing with me, and created memories that will last forever!!

I want to keep my rates reasonable, so that everyone who wants to, can try hiring a guide, and learning a little more than they could in years on their own!

I am honored to be in so many photos with my clients hanging all over the world on their proud walls, and in their hearts!! I guess that's my inflation!



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Jude
Late to bed,
Early to Rise,
Guide all day,
Tie more flies!
www.customflys.com

[D. Micus]

i'm with dudley on this one (God help me!)

[idahofisher]

I agree trip prices are getting out of hand, however If there is blame anyone for high prices, then it is the outfitter and their high operating costs, not the guides.

Ron, you said your son is guide. It is funny how you say you won't pay for a guide but you will use your son. I am sure he is a good guide and a hard worker. Does he or doesn't he deserve the pay he makes for guiding?

If the outfitter starts charging less then I can just about gurarentee the guide will make alot less money, not the outfitter.

Like many states, in Idaho there are only so many outfitter permits issued for each river that allow commercial use.

I understand that Henry's Fork permits are worth around $250,000.00 and the only way you can get one is to buy it from someone who already owns one, and that is not probally going to happen.

Riverdancer I am willing to bet that if you charged your clients $300.00 for a day, over $200.00 of the fee is still going to your outfitter. By the time you figure in your expenses it is probally going to cost you money to guide.

I like helping people out whenever I can. If it was my choice I would charge less. However, guiding is a career for me. I have put in over 30 years of flyfishing and 17 years of guiding and I earn the money I make when guiding. I personnely will not take a cut in pay.

If people do not want to pay me a fair price for my expertise, then that is their choice and I respect their decision.

Nobody is being forced to go out on a guided trip.

If everyone would boycott doing guided trips that I am sure eventually the outfitters would have to lower their prices. But with the continued popularity of this sport I think it is unrealistic to see this actually happen, at least in this area of the country.

Rob

[LadyFisher]

Interesting comments for sure. In the same vein as some of the comments, remember you are here on FAOL, a FREE website. Not only do you not pay anything for the information here, you don't have to register unless you wish to post on the Bulletin Board. Would FAOL be 'more valuable' to you if you had to insert your credit card? Or log on each time you visited.

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LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

RiverDancer,

If your thinking western Washington, drop me an e-mail and I'll send you some info on guides I know or have used in the past. Very short list.

REE