Guiding Question

[troutologist]

Well Im just about to finish grad school and have no real job prospects in my field. Im making finding a job a lot tougher by refusing to live anywhere near toronto. But I was thinking of trying to work as a guide at a lodge this summer. Does anyone have any experience or input as to what type of place I should look at. Also when looking into a prospective place what are the questions I should be asking and what to look out for? Best case know a lodge looking for a guide??

 

Appreciate any help

[steverowbotham]

search the internet for lodges. most of them look for guides around this time of year, so get on it quickly. fly-in camps often hire frequently.

[trapshooter]

Hello, I will try to offer some insights for you. This summer will be my 3rd as a guide at a lodge in NW ontario on Lac Seul. Unfortunately all the available positionis for this summer are already filled up. NW Ont has a lot of advantages, particularily the good fishing but also it is a popular area and lots of American's come up that way to fish. Our lodge is a walleye/pike lodge and is booked full from opener in May till the End of September so there is a lot of work and the tips are nice!

 

Guiding has been one of the best experiences of my life. The lodge you work for will make or break the experience for you so carefully research the way they do business.

 

Things to consider:

- THE FISHERY!!! What lake is the lodge on and what will you be fishing for? In NW Ont 95% of the american's that come up are looking for walleye. Is it a numbers lake or a trophy size lake or both?

- Good equipment (i.e. your guide boat) At a fly in lodge this may not be as important. If it is a big lake you don't want to be in a 16' tinny with a 20 horse motor. We run 18' ProV's with 90 Yammy Tillers. Lowrance X-15 graph/GPS combo. Nice stuff.

- Guide training? Do they teach you hot spots and safe routes or do they just throw you out there?

- How many guides on staff? Lots of guides suggests lots of guests at that lodge. We have 13 guides and I guide EVERYDAY from Opener in May till the End of Sept, unless I ask for a day or 2 off. But make sure the work is there.

- Size of the lodge.. not too big, not too small. Personally I wouldn't want to work at one of the mega lodges with 30 cabins and 70+ staff.

- Type of lodge. American Plan, everyone guided. Ensures work for you.

- $Renumeration$ and what is expected of you after you get off the water. Are you going to be up late in the fish house or packing shorelunch boxes, etc.? Do you have to pay camp costs for food/housing etc.?

- Bear Hunting in Sept? Lots of work but can also be lots of $$$

- Accommodations. You have to live there too and I've heard of some dicey 'guide shacks'. I know of one lodge as well, Kesagami, which is a renowned lodge but they prohibit their staff from smoking and drinking after hours and they can't even FISH all day in t he boat!! That's another thing... do they allow you to fish while you are guiding. I fish ALL DAY, haha, and wouldn't have it any other way.

- The owners/bosses. A bad owner/boss can make your experience a lot less enjoyable. My boss guides everyday along with the rest of us and he's basically 'one of the guys'. Definite plus.

 

Things to avoid:

- lodges that close down by august due to lack of guests

- lodges where guiding is optional i.e. guests drag their own boats up and can rent a guide if they want to. Often at 'rent a guide' type lodges there will be times where you don't guide for days on end and end up splitting wood or worse).

-

 

Lodges to look at:

- Evergreen Lodge on Lac Seul

- Anderson's on Lac Seul

- Totem on Lake of the Woods (big lodge but they run a pretty tight show from what I hear)

- Eagle lake (west of Dryden) has a few lodges on it.

 

I love how remote Lac Seul is, esp away from Ear Falls and Sioux Lookout. It's a beautiful lake and I am partial to NW Ont.

 

Guest service is EVERYTHING!! Offer to tie jigs, bait hooks, take pictures, get excited for a nice fish, ask questions, serve a great shore lunch etc.....Take care of your guests, even when your off the water and in the end they will take care of you. A sense of humour is key, esp when the fishing is tough. Keep em laughing and everyone will have a lot more fun. It's rewarding to know that when your guests leave they request you for next year. I've developed friendships with several guests of mine and I'm looking forward to fishing with them again this year.

 

Get cracking man! Lodge owners are looking to get their staff in place NOW!! Another thing I can suggest is asking to get in touch with someone who has guided at that lodge before. They will be able to tell you exactly what's going on. A lodge where staff turn over is high isn't a good sign. If they have a few guides who have been there 3-5+ years there's probably a good reason these guys keep coming back.

 

Good luck. You can PM me if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to share more of my experiences with you.

 

Cheers,

ben.

[dustink]

Best of luck to you!

 

Some great info there Trapshooter....well done!

 

dk

[outdoorguy61]

Personally, I would look for something that would be a trip of a lifetime for you, like the NWT for Arctic Char, which always used to be hungry for guides. The season is short with the only downside being the blackflies. It would pay well, if you target a high profile lodge, with as the other gentleman stated would be filling up fast.

 

outdoorguy61

[outdoorguy61]

Personally, I would look for something that would be a trip of a lifetime for you, like the NWT for Arctic Char, which always used to be hungry for guides. The season is short with the only downside being the blackflies. It would pay well, if you target a high profile lodge, with as the other gentleman stated would be filling up fast.

 

outdoorguy61

[GbayGiant]

I would think you should know the water, know how to fish the species in that body of water and learn all the hot spots and go from there. Try to find a place where you've already spent time learning the area. For example I fish Gbay mostly, so I wouldn't go to lake Ontario and guide untill I spent a lot of time fishing there unless I knew another guide or friend there willing to teach me everything he knows before hand.

[carll2]

Well Im just about to finish grad school and have no real job prospects in my field. Im making finding a job a lot tougher by refusing to live anywhere near toronto. But I was thinking of trying to work as a guide at a lodge this summer. Does anyone have any experience or input as to what type of place I should look at. Also when looking into a prospective place what are the questions I should be asking and what to look out for? Best case know a lodge looking for a guide??

 

Appreciate any help

listen to trapshooter he is the man for great guiding advice.

the way i got my job guiding is back in january i got some email adresses togther of areas/lakes that i would like to fish or have fished and emailed them my c.v stating i wanted a job as a guide. out of 25 lodges i emailed only 2 called back .so i would start looking right away,i know at the lodge i will be working at as soon as the ice leaves we start work. well goodluck to you and remember to take alot of pics

at this rate i think in october-november were gunna have to make a guide meeting so we can share eachothers stories and photos

[troutologist]

Thanks for all the info guys Ive sent out a bunch of emails. hopefully one works out.

[danc]

do they allow you to fish while you are guiding. I fish ALL DAY, haha, and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I've only done one guiding job but I wouldn't even dream about fishing while I'm guiding. As a guide, your job is to put your clients on some fish. Not to fish along with them. If I was a paying client and my guide decided to fish under my clock, I'd be very disappointed to say the least.

[GbayGiant]

I've only done one guiding job but I wouldn't even dream about fishing while I'm guiding. As a guide, your job is to put your clients on some fish. Not to fish along with them. If I was a paying client and my guide decided to fish under my clock, I'd be very disappointed to say the least.

 

The times I've guided have been mixed, I always have a line in the water but let the client reel the fish and hand me their rod so it's still legal, might as well have more lines in the water if your allowed for a better chance.

 

It really depends on a lot of things to me, if the angler is inexperienced than I like teaching them as much as I can and don't have time to fish. If there is a full boat than usually your to busy and have no room to fish. The majority of the time when you take one angler out they ask you why your not fishing and say they want you to fish, so I would and still keep an eye on things, the experienced fisherman usually like you to fish to because they don't need to learn the basic techniques they are more interested in the spots your fishing but still ask a lot of questions.

Also sometimes you get guys that just don't have a clue how to fish so in those cases it's good for a guide to fish to make sure there are fish in the water to be caught and go from there. It would also depend on the style of fishing, I mean if your anchored and jigging than you might as well have a line out the side.

 

I would let the client decide if it's O.K. first before I fish, usually they will let you know but I definitely always have my own line out for the client to reel in.

 

For example with musky one guy casting at the front and one guy at the back and I'll through a sucker on a quick rig out the side so I'm not in their way but it's still more productive.

 

Some clients want you to fish, some don't, sometimes you have to, to make sure your on the fish, some guys just want to see a fish even if they don't reel it in. etc...

 

Let the client and situation decide for you, or ask them if they mind if you fish when you think it would be more productive, there are definitely a lot of asses out there that nothing would make them happy, so just bite your tongue and finish off the day. Fisherman usually have a universal humbleness about them but there is always going to be some complainers no matter what you do. Wondering why you can't pull a musky out of a puddle in your driveway.

[danc]

I don't think that inexperience of your clients has anything to do with it. As a guide, your job is to make sure that they catch fish. Not reel in the fish that you catch. A good guide can and will do that. On my one and only guiding experience I had a couple of white collar high profile businessmen from the southern US as clients. These guys weren't even fishermen. The trip was arranged by the local company that was hosting them. Just a day out for the boys type of thing. I took these guys out on a big fast flowing river for Steelhead and Salmon for the day. I usually use 6 lb. test on this river, but considering the inexperience of my clients, I suited them up with 8 lb. test. I set their drags, picked out their lures and operated the boat. My job at this point was to take them to where the fish were and to get some fish on the line for them. And fish on they did get. There was some obvious rod handling and reeling in techniques that I coached them through. That's not easy when you've got a 10 lb.+ Steelhead or Salmon on the end of your line for the first time ever in a fast flowing river. But that was my job that day. And we succeeded. I'm proud to say that my clients hooked 13 fish that day. And they landed 13 fish that day. And the same two Rapalas that I tied on their lines at 6 am were the same two Rapalas that I removed from their lines at the end of the day. I think that I was happier than them when all was said and done. My clients were thrilled. And I got paid very well with an enormous tip. Would it have been the same experience if I had hooked the fish and then handed the rod over to them? I doubt it. I have to add that I'm not a guide and I'm not looking for more clients. This is just something that I fell into. It was a very rewarding experience.

 

I doubt if I'll ever guide again. I've had my offers but it's just not my thing. But one thing for sure, I'll never ever have a line in the water if I ever guide again. I'm getting paid to make sure that my clients catch fish. Experienced or not.

 

A few of photos from that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grt1]

you might want to google Stormer Lake Lodge. I guide for them in the busy periods when they need extra help and they only hire college students or recent grads . the lodge is 75 miles northof Red Lake and it is a first class operation. they have 17 foot Lund outfitters with 40 hp hondas. good boats, great lake to fish on and the pay is reasonable. you won't get rich but if you are good with customers, the tips are good.

 

As for fishing while guiding. You have to be able to find the fish for the customers and the only way I know of doing this is by having a line in the water. Weather and wind determine where the fish will be and you could be in the wrong spot if you don't sample what's below the boat.

[GbayGiant]

Personally I would rather have a guide fishing with me if they took me out on a charter rather than watching me all day, I already know how to catch fish I just need the spots, like I said it's always different some guys like it when you fish some guys don't, if they don't than I don't fish, I don't care about getting a fish for myself the goal is to get the clients fish in the most productive way, you should always have the maximum amount of rods out as your allowed even if I don't set the hook it's still an extra opportunity, why waste it ?

 

Anyway obviously our opinions are different, so you would be the type of client where I wouldn't be fishing, and that's fine, I wouldn't have a problem with that, that's my point exactly, every ones different. I go out expecting not to fish, but you end up fishing quite a bit or not at all depending on the clients but I most definitely have the maximum rods out even if their sitting in a holder.

 

Nice fish by the way.

[carll2]

I've only done one guiding job but I wouldn't even dream about fishing while I'm guiding. As a guide, your job is to put your clients on some fish. Not to fish along with them. If I was a paying client and my guide decided to fish under my clock, I'd be very disappointed to say the least.

 

most walleye lodges ive been out to and where i will be guiding you are 6 people in a big freighter styled boat and the guides job is to locate the fish by jigging with the clients,since these eyes move on a daily bassis .also part of the guides job is to catch enough fish for the shore lunch so the clients dont have to use thier limit towards the shore lunch.

i guess it depends for what lodge you are working for!different opinions and ways of working i guess..like they say different strokes for different folks

Edited March 16, 2007 by carll2

[mattyk]

nice pics DanC.

[danc]

nice pics DanC.

 

Thanks Matty. It was a fun day.

[trapshooter]

Dan, I can see your point of view totally but it can go both ways, there's good arguements for guides fishing and also good arguements against it.

 

I see what you're saying but troutologist originally asked for advice on being a guide and fishing makes that experience better for me, so I told him that.

 

Consider this...

 

I try different things in the boat if the fishing is off and try to find a new pattern or technique that might help my guests catch fish. How can I tell them how the fishing has been if I haven't been fishing? The fishing can be tricky and the more poeple you have trying different things the better it is for everhone on board. It goes both ways too, I learn a lot from my guests who try things I may not have thought of.

 

As Gbaygiant said too, it's better for teaching inexperienced anglers. Lots of people don't know how to properly fight a fish once it's been hooked.

 

Also, on Lac Seul at our lodge the guests are cathing a lot of fish and don't take offence to me joining them. I still take care of them in the boat, tie jigs, bait hooks, net fish, you name it. Some applications lend well for the guides fishing and our lodge is one of them. We also fish 120 days straight and I couldn't not fish for that long. I wouldn't work for a lodge where I couldn't fish, that's just me. Down the road if I do start a 1 boat guide service I would do like gbaygiant said and take it group by group.

 

Other applications, like guiding on the BOQ for example, if I was guiding there I would't take a turn when a rod pops.

 

Hope you can see that it's not all bad.

 

Cheers,

ben.