No guides for three reasons. Reason 1: Their well-deserved fee and tip would take too big a bite out of the family vacation money. Reason 2: I fish pretty close to home most of the time. Reason 3: I pride myself on my ability to sniff out good fishing areas by talking to tackle retailers and other fishermen, map reading and a little intuition. 8T
Yes,
I have taken my son and father on many guided trips and always learn a thing or 2 also. It helps with relationships when I am not the instructor. we will take a guided trip the first day fishing and go it alone from there on out. I have a drift boat and a jon Boat for smaller water.
-Jeff
Yes we do- two floats in Michigan and two when we are in Montana. I don't look at it as taking anything away from our vacation, rather we plan for it and save our $ so that we can do the float and really feel it adds to our vacation. We enjoy seeing 6 to 16 miles of river a day that we really couldn't get to any other way due to access or private land (or lack of a boat). We also learn something every time and see some really unique sights that we might not have seen otherwise, just because of the amount of river that you cover. The guides that we take are used to us also so they are comfortable with our expectations and abilities. We also do a lot of exploring on our own but it is still fun to take a guided trip. My advice is if you have never taken a guided trip you should try it at least once, with the right guide it could be one of the most unique experiences you've had flyfishing.
Sure do. You will learn more from a good guide in a day than you could learn on your own in a year. Money well spent but you will notice I said "good" guide. He will give you a campanion, a history lesson, a casting lesson, a lesson on reading fish and water, a knot tying lesson, an entomology lesson, a tackle lesson, and knowledge of the river - all for one price. Read this if you want to get my real thoughts.
http://www.hatofmichigan.org/uploads...lies_ebook.pdf
Bob
I haven't used a guide. I have been fortunate enough to know a few good guides and most of them have shared knowledge with me. Also, I am a steelheader and know many other steelheaders. If I am traveling to a river system I don't know usually one of my friends does. Another thing, most steelhead will hold in the same kind of water no matter what river system they are in so once you learn where to find them the skill can be applied to almost any steelhead river.
If I were going to fish somewhere exotic like the Bahamas or such for a species I had no idea how to fish for then I would likely hire a guide.
"The reason you have a good vision is you're standing on the shoulders of giants." ~ Andy Batcho
Never have, but if the planned trip to Aitutaki comes off then I will be using a guide to get me onto the Bonefish, partly as the lagoon is so big and you really need a boat and partly as I have never fished for bones before and will need all the help I can get!
Here in NZ a guide is not needed as long as you can read a map and are willing to ask permission at the farm house you can fish on your own.
All the best.
Mike
never have, but am considering it. been thinking of doing a fishing trip in south america, and of course ill have one there if i make the trip. nothing set in stone yet, but i like to travel, and ya gotta admit that would be fun and a neat area to see.
Depends. Yes, if I need a boat or I'm fishing someplace new like on a vacation.
Better to spend the money, and it's a lot although guides bust their you know what's and deserve every penny, then to waste a vacation trying to scope things out.
Plus, I'm always trying to get better. A good guide can always point something out that makes me a better flyfisherman. Biggest tip I ever gave was to a guide who showed me a super slick way of tying a blood knot!
Our trip last summer to Colorado and Montana has been about the only real opportunity that I might have had to utilize the knowledge and skills of a god guide. I was very tempted to do a guided fishing day on the Yellowstone or in Yellowstone Park but I felt so guilty about spending The $400 plus fees, that even thought my wife and I did discuss it, I just could not pull the string. I had a wonderful e-mail from Lady Fisher giving some advice and a way to contact Tim and I was in Parks Fly shop and planned to ask some questions but I only ended up buying some stuff to tie the Purple Haze flies. I believe that the owner was the only one there and he was trying to close so he could take a client out that evening, so I can't blame him for not being overly informative. It is not that I don't think that these good guides are over paid or are undeserving, it is just that trip its self was already some what of an extravagance for us and it was hard enough for me to justify to myself the cost of a new pair of Cabelas waders that were on a close out sale for $125, that I just could not take the money to spend on a guide,as much as I wanted to. I did get to fish in the Park a couple of places, and on the YellowStone one morning and on the Galatin for a while one evening so I was able to catch a couple of cut throats, and a couple of rainbows but no browns or brook trout, but then we had to end up cutting our trip short to get back for some family stuff. Maybe if things go well we can reward ourselves with another trip out there and I can squirrel away some extra money for one of those wonderful float trips that I read about, but until then I will be very content as long as I can still visit Bennett Springs, because there I can catch fish several different ways in several different places every time I am there, and that makes me very happy!
I have fished with guides a couple of times on wading trips in Colorado and New Mexico when I had limited to time to fish and I wanted to spend my time catching fish instead of figuring out where the fish were. I was pretty much of a neophyte trout fisherman at the time. Both times I had a great time and caught a lot of fish. I also learned a lot, and I was able to use that knowledge to catch fish on my own. The guides also seemed to enjoy having a client who could cast half way decent and set the hook when the fish hit a fly or nymph. Now that my skill level is a bit higher, I would be less likely to hire a guide for a wading trip.
Fishing in boats with guides is a different issue. If I travel someplace, and if I have the opportunity and the cash to go on a float and/or fishing trip with a guide, I will do it. I don't own a boat or any kind of water craft, so I figure that the money that I save by not owning a boat can be applied to fishing with a guide.
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