I hired a guide only once. He came well recomended and had a very nice 25 foot boat with all the bells and whistles on it. We were going out for Coho Salmon. On the way out to his favorite spot I noticed as we passed a kelp bed that lots of herring were being pushed to the surface by what I believed to be coho so I pointed it out to the guide. He got all puffed up and got into a great big snit about how he was the pro and I was the client and what was I paying him for and so on. So I shut up. He took us out to some small islands where we spent the whole day trolling back and forth with nary a bite. The next day I went out with my son in my 14 foot aluminum boat to where I had seen the herring being pushed. We spent about 4 hours there catching coho after coho and even a couple of Chinook in the 30 and 40lbs class. I was going to show him the chinook when we came in but decided he didn't need to know what a good spot that kelp bed was. I have never hired a guide since then.