Any contract guides here?

[Guest Manitoubass]

For next spring, I'm hoping to get out and do some guiding on my local waters, but, I have some questions. I've guided for camps before, but thats a little different. I'm looking at doing it independantly, but more of a part time thing really.

 

I have some questions so if any guides can hit me up it would be much appreciated

 

Thanks in advance

[Woodsman]

With only part-time you may have a hard time covering the expenses associated with being a guide with a business of your own. Many things required to operate a business, and on top of that there are somethings required for guiding in particular.

No I'm not a guide but have talked to a few about this.

I"ll just take you out on my boat & charge X $ will only end you up in hot water at best. Those who follow the rules will sure make sure your shutdown as they spend the money(& training time)to operate legally.

Insurance for guiding is not cheap either.

I'm assuming on your boat.

River side guiding would be somewhat less complicated but still not practical IMO. Not many customers.

On their boat, again not many customers.

Edited November 14, 2010 by Woodsman

[Guest Manitoubass]

With only part-time you may have a hard time covering the expenses associated with being a guide with a business of your own. Many things required to operate a business, and on top of that there are somethings required for guiding in particular.

No I'm not a guide but have talked to a few about this.

I"ll just take you out on my boat & charge X $ will only end you up in hot water at best. Those who follow the rules will sure make sure your shutdown as they spend the money(& training time)to operate legally.

Insurance for guiding is not cheap either.

 

I understand your points, and by part time I was more referring to the fact that Im not going to have clients every day right off the bat. My main problem is guiding for myself on local waters without a camp to rely on. Thats what Im trying to wrap my head around, because that basically kills alot of potential business with people expecting to be pampered from launch to midnight beers, lol.

 

Im not sure about the idea, Im just testing the waters. It actually might be easier to buy a camp, or build a camp, then go from there

[grt1]

if you do it for yourself using your own boat you would be wise to check your boat insurance coverage. mine doesn't cover me if I use it for a commercial purpose.

 

what i do is make arrangements with the tourist camps in the area to give me a call when someone wants a guide and i use the camp boat, gas and bait. I tell the guests that if they want a shore lunch, bring a sandwich as i don't cook for them. (have heard of too many stories of guests whining about the quality of the cooked meal) .

 

I know the guides in the Vermilion Bay area are getting $200 a day and someof the camps around here that have guides are charging $150 per day, but I charge $100 since I really have no costs and what the heck, it's a day of fishing without having the wife complain about me doing it.

[Rizzo]

I know the guides in the Vermilion Bay area are getting $200 a day and someof the camps around here that have guides are charging $150 per day, but I charge $100 since I really have no costs and what the heck, it's a day of fishing without having the wife complain about me doing it

 

I wish I could find someone with rates like that locally! I've considered getting a musky guide before on a big body of water (ie Georgian Bay) but you're looking at around $400 a day...so far I've just stuck to smaller lakes and figured it out myself (and sometimes with some tips from OFC'ers!)

[Raf]

no reason not to figure it out yourself on gbay either Rizzo. most important part of getting a guide IMO is learning to get around safely. you can grab a nautical chart, study it, have a gps on board and achieve the same thing. places to fish will take care of themselves -- you know where to find 'em.

[Guest Manitoubass]

no reason not to figure it out yourself on gbay either Rizzo. most important part of getting a guide IMO is learning to get around safely. you can grab a nautical chart, study it, have a gps on board and achieve the same thing. places to fish will take care of themselves -- you know where to find 'em.

 

Good points.

 

But for me, part of the experience for a sort of get away is to have someone to put you on big fish swiftly, but more importantly, its about the experience and having fun, teaching others, promoting your homebody of water, and getting out for a good time meeting others that love fishing.

[Guest Manitoubass]

if you do it for yourself using your own boat you would be wise to check your boat insurance coverage. mine doesn't cover me if I use it for a commercial purpose.

 

what i do is make arrangements with the tourist camps in the area to give me a call when someone wants a guide and i use the camp boat, gas and bait. I tell the guests that if they want a shore lunch, bring a sandwich as i don't cook for them. (have heard of too many stories of guests whining about the quality of the cooked meal) .

 

I know the guides in the Vermilion Bay area are getting $200 a day and someof the camps around here that have guides are charging $150 per day, but I charge $100 since I really have no costs and what the heck, it's a day of fishing without having the wife complain about me doing it.

 

This is similar to how I have done it in the past, but next year me and one other guy are going to try and do things a little different. Just wrapping my head around some things, looking at insurance etc.

 

Thanks for the post

[Rizzo]

promoting your homebody of water

 

...thats exactly the reason I wouldn't do it (as a casual fisherman)...don't want everyone on my spots! I suppose if you own a resort or marina etc you want as many people there as possible but as a fisherman you'd say the fewer people the better

[Guest Manitoubass]

...thats exactly the reason I wouldn't do it (as a casual fisherman)...don't want everyone on my spots! I suppose if you own a resort or marina etc you want as many people there as possible but as a fisherman you'd say the fewer people the better

 

Is see where your coming from, but I kinda of disagree. I have zero issues giving up spots and techniques. Rainy is hyyuge man, lots of room for other fisherman/women.

 

But that being said, we are also going to take some clients to some smaller/lesser known lakes in this vicinity.

[mercman]

Manitoubass,I say GO FOR IT. It sounds like a dream of yours.I worked for 20 years in the bussiness i'm in before i had the guts to go for it myself. I knew the bussiness and the competition(Appliance parts) and i took the chance on my instinct. People(familly) said i was foolish but i did it.When i bought the company it was doing 400k per year.Six years later and i closed my last fiscal year the company did 1.1m,and i'm shipping all over Canada.

So research it,sometimes you can buy an existing company or the phone number from some else who is retiring, do something unique that no one else does, and be successful.Good luck and keep us posted

[POLLIWOGG]

If you are working on a boat you must also have a commercial boat operators card. You can challenge the test but it usually requires a coarse to pass it.

[Guest Manitoubass]

Manitoubass,I say GO FOR IT. It sounds like a dream of yours.I worked for 20 years in the bussiness i'm in before i had the guts to go for it myself. I knew the bussiness and the competition(Appliance parts) and i took the chance on my instinct. People(familly) said i was foolish but i did it.When i bought the company it was doing 400k per year.Six years later and i closed my last fiscal year the company did 1.1m,and i'm shipping all over Canada.

So research it,sometimes you can buy an existing company or the phone number from some else who is retiring, do something unique that no one else does, and be successful.Good luck and keep us posted

 

Thats awesome, thanks for sharing.

 

We are going to do it, but we have some things to figure out in the meantime, mainly financial (grants etc)

 

We still have all our client lists etc, so I know we can book clients right away, which is a good thing. The main thing is finding our niche. Both of us have guided and have lots of experience, we just want to do things a little differently than most. Thats what we'll spend time figuring out throughout the winter.

 

We have boats already, so really it will be figuring out the finances if needed, getting a website up and running, calling clients, doing some advertising and getting insurance. Might even have to get some sponsorships going again, as we both plan to fish a few tourneys next year as well.

 

Regardless, I'm really looking forward to it. Fishing beats the hell out of the oil patch, lol

[mercman]

The main thing is finding our niche. Both of us have guided and have lots of experience, we just want to do things a little differently than most.

 

This will be the key to your success.Offer a service,to your customers that no other guide can or has ever offered.

Prepare a Bussiness plan and then make an appointment with the BDC Bussiness Development Bank of Canada.

 

http://www.bdc.ca/en/Pages/home.aspx

 

They were very helpfull to me.

 

Paul

[Guest Manitoubass]

This will be the key to your success.Offer a service,to your customers that no other guide can or has ever offered.

Prepare a Bussiness plan and then make an appointment with the BDC Bussiness Development Bank of Canada.

 

http://www.bdc.ca/en/Pages/home.aspx

 

They were very helpfull to me.

 

Paul

 

Thanks for the info, but we have to go through a different approach. My partner is a status indian, so our grants are a little different in those regards. We might be able to get enough(if even needed) through the reserve, which is alot quicker and a little more forgiving. We go through the reserve first, with a plan guided by Rainy River Future Developement.

 

With a solid plan, we'll be good to go

Edited November 15, 2010 by Manitoubass

[Guest Manitoubass]

While I'm at it, I might as well ask for any OFNer's thoughts for things they would like to see out of a guiding service that they feel is missing?

 

Anything helps, thanks in advance

[NBR]

Manitoubass, you sound like you have planned well but just a word of caution. Almost always when planning a business the planner(s) will over estimate revenue,under estimate costs and miss start up costs by a mile.

[Guest Manitoubass]

Manitoubass, you sound like you have planned well but just a word of caution. Almost always when planning a business the planner(s) will over estimate revenue,under estimate costs and miss start up costs by a mile.

 

I've noticed that, lol, so we go over everything ourselves as well.

 

Of course we want to be successful, but two years from this spring, even a break even will be considered success. I mean, it is fishing, which is a reward in itself

[bare foot wader]

While I'm at it, I might as well ask for any OFNer's thoughts for things they would like to see out of a guiding service that they feel is missing?Anything helps, thanks in advance

 

 

attention to detail! for me, it's the little things that add up and make a great experience....regardless of how the bite went a client will remember the little things and extra efforts

 

i expect any guide to put me in a few fish...a good guide will have scotch...a great guide will have scotch and chocolate

 

for shore lunch anybody can deep fry fish, so kick it up a notch...a semi-gourmet meal streamside on a cold day will warm spirits beyond belief

 

promo items - send them home with your company shirt or hat, a few hot lures of the day, etc

[Guest Manitoubass]

attention to detail! for me, it's the little things that add up and make a great experience....regardless of how the bite went a client will remember the little things and extra efforts

 

i expect any guide to put me in a few fish...a good guide will have scotch...a great guide will have scotch and chocolate

 

for shore lunch anybody can deep fry fish, so kick it up a notch...a semi-gourmet meal streamside on a cold day will warm spirits beyond belief

 

promo items - send them home with your company shirt or hat, a few hot lures of the day, etc

 

Exactly what I'm looking for! Awesome suggestions, and I agree on all accounts