Tipping Guides

[dna]

I am heading out on a guided trip in a few weeks with the owner of the guide service. Can anyone tell me whether there is an expectation for me to tip? I assume that since he is the owner, I don’t tip. Please shed some light. Thanks!

[NorcalBob]

I tip all guides if they render exceptional service, and it doesn't matter to me if they are the owner or an employee. Since many guides I utilize own their guide business, it would be hard not to tip the owner in many instances! The amount of tip varies, depending on the level of exceptional service. I have had 9-5 guides, and I've had guides that fish from dawn to dusk. Needless to say, the 9-5 guides get far less of a tip from me (usually around 0%!) than the dawn to dusk guides! I have tipped any where from 0% (very rare) to 20% (also rare!) depending on the exceptional service and hard work I have gotten from the guide. I would guess that the average of the tips I have given over my lifetime would be around 10%. The majority of my tips fall in the 8-15% range.

[Danny McB]

I have no clue of what % to tip is common, but I dont think there should be a differentiation between owner/employee when it comes to tipping. In actuality, especially in these times the owners are the ones that are probably the ones making the least in the company.

I say tip regardless unless you get bad service. (% should vary on how you feel about the service) From thier point of view if you dont tip at at all they will think you are a cheapskate and not get your point of feeling unsatisfied but if you were unhappy with them and tipped 1% they would get the hint. This also applies to heavy tipping for good service



Danny

[Papasequoia]

Midcurrent is a great website with some very good articles, including one on tipping fishing guides:

http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/trips/tipping.aspx

My homepage is a my.yahoo page that has news headlines, a few political cartoons, weather, the stock market report, etc. etc. but right at the top is the link to the five most recent Midcurrent articles. Good stuff and I have found the owner, Marshall, to be a very nice guy through a couple of email contacts I had with him. Good place to get current events in the fly fishing world. Jon

[dna]

Well, it seems like I am armed with a good set of criteria for throwing down some cash or not. It seems it is like a regular service, e.g. going out to dinner. It's seems to be kinda like dinner: you usually tip regardless, unless it is overwhelmingly bad, and throw in a little more if the person goes above and beyond. Definitely reasonable.

Thanks for the replies, fellas. I am glad that this got hashed out a bit as I don't think it has ever been really discussed explicitly.

TL

[RubiKinda]

I agree with all these guys... It shouldn't matter if the guide owns the joint or not. But I do disagree on the pecentage factor. Why should I fork out more of a tip to a guide who's rate is higher than another guide's who gave the same service. It's all relative in my opinion. I had a guide in Belize who showed up an hour late, took an hour nap during the trip, and brought 4 waters for 3 people all day. Guess who drank the extra one? Same guy who didn't get a tip. I've also had a guide in Arkansas refuse to take a tip because he felt the fishing wasn't as good as it should have been.

[beachbum]

My benchmark is usually $50 American. If the guide goes above and beyond, or he puts me on a huge fish, it might be more. It's rarely less, as the guides I have almost to a person, gone above and beyond. Also, if you take good care of the guide, they will take good care of you, next time you fish together.

[midger]

I agree with NorCal. I won't tip a guide who provides poor service, but that is rare. Generally around 10% is what I shoot for, and even then it depends on what the guide is charging as a base rate. I'm much more inclined to tip higher when the trip is a $300 day as opposed to a $450 day, which seems to be the direction rates are headed.

BTW, I've actually learned more from the more reasonably priced guides as they are the ones who seem to bust their * too make sure you have a good day and actually learn something. One of my higher priced (and well known) guides even laid on the bank and took a siesta while I fished the Madison. What do you think his tip was?

[RichardCullip]

I plan on 20% as a tip. It's what I tip at restraurants and the few guides I've been with worked a lot harder for me than any waiter ever has. Granted I usually don't drop $300-400$ on meals so the actual amount I give a guide is bigger but I still use 20% as my guide. I've been fortunate enough to avoid poor guide behavior so far so I haven't wrestled with the decision about reducing my tip. All of the guides I've been with over the years have worked hard for me, taught me a lot and made the day on the river or bay very very enjoyable. I look for a low key day on the water -> Let's go out and have fun and teach me something new and I might even catch some fish. All of the guides I've been with have delivered that type of day for me.

[lucfish]

I have a good friend (brad Mcfall) thats the head guide for the trout fly in mammoth. Most people don't know (or understand) how much effort they put out to get people on fish. They have to get liability insuance, all sorts of permits to fish certain waters in calif. They make the lunch, tie the flies that they need, get the rods if you don't have them and all sorts of other things too numerous to mention. A full day of guiding is $350.00 +- They have a 6 month window for their income, then must relocate if they want to continue to guide. Family life is hard. Most of the time the wife has to work and she better have health insurance. Even though Brad is a friend, I fish with him as a guide/client and even though he doesn't want to charge me full pop I know he loses out a a trip When I come up there. As for a tip Wildfly is dead on, 20-30% or more should be in your mind when you go with a guide. All this of course is dependant on how hard he is willing to work for you. In Brads case it never ends, he'll fish as long a you want, you'll have a very good chance of catching to largest or most trout(or steelhead) in a day or both. Lucfish

[briansII]

Guide? You mean you pay somebody to show you where the fish are??

I haven't had the pleasure of using a guide very much. Wish I did, because it would mean i'm away from homewaters and trying out a new species, or waters. Anyway, i'm pretty much in line with everyone here. I've tipped 10-20% or a flat amount of around $50. I like the flat fee, since it's more or less, a no brainier. [edit] Just to add, I haven't paid more than $250 a day for a guide. Rates have gone up since my last trip.

Since there are a couple bad guide days posted already, i'll share one of mine. Fishing the Togiak in AK. for a week. We rotate guides each day and on this day we get the new guide that came in on the float plane we did. Really nice guy, but...... Up early to beat the other boats. At O' dark thirty we take a boat ride(very cold boat ride)down river and you have to know the channels, because there's shallow gravel bars. First we have engine troubles, that the guide is clueless about. We stop/stall a few times and fall behind the other groups. Finally, we chip in and make some 1/2 butt repairs ourselves, and get going again. Then we hit a gravel bar. Then he gets lost, and I have to direct him to the side channel we're looking for.....already full because we were late. I didn't mind much, but my fishing partner wasn't too happy. The other guides had a cache of spots to try. This guide just followed around the other guides. On this trip, we all made one bulk tip at the end of the trip. I assume they evenly split the bulk amount amongst the guides. Might not be fair to the guides, but that's how the outfitter preferred it.

briansII

[209er]

Hey lucfish,
Sure the guides have to do this and that but hey, that's guiding. That's part of the game. We all like to fish and so do they. Don't make excuses for them, they chose this line of work. If they can't make it, get a real job like you and me. We have to put up with co-workers, a nasty workload, and finally a boss that didn't get any last nite. As an alcoholic, yes I'm starting my 2nd martini. You may not like this quote but " A waterway owes NOBODY a living ". Think about it. I'm really not jumping on you, please don't take it personally like many have. 209er

[beachbum]

Ha! I worked as a guide in one of my former lives of employement. There was no better workplace enviorment in my 40 some years of work experience. It's a good gig, and guides should remember that. Because I did the job, I tip well. When a guide put me on a giant salmon, it reflected in his tip. I have taken $120 custom wood fly boxes, made by a good friend, and given them as gifts to guides that have helped me over the years. I have been blessed enough that I have had fly fishing guides on 3 continents. I hope to make that four soon. Here's the thing I learned in managing people. Take care of foks. and they take care of you.

Much like 209, I had a drink or two this evening (Duke's Malibu rocks), but I think his point was valid. If the guide provides an exceptional experience for the sport we all love so much, reward him, or her. If they don't, tip accordingly.

[StevenOjai]

15% is usually my average tip. On the multi-day trips, I tend to do something more personal like a box of flies or some personal flyfishing gear. The overall tips are usually greater when we have more than one in our party, too. I don't expect more than a 8 hour period for a full day guide. They usually have to take care of personal business and keep tight hours. My only bad experience with a guide was in Alaska on the Kienai River. My guide overbooked and asked a fellow guide to assist. The guy came with his wife and both had hangovers from partying all night. He brought a case of Red Bull with him to try to keep awake. My original guide was in contact with him over the radio and I could hear how * he was when the substitute guide ignored his instructions as to where to fish on the river. I got * on the umpteenth "Bar Joke". Surprise...no tip. And I gave my original guide an earfull over my bill.

[STMFlyGuide]

Thanks for sticking up for the guides Wildfly... Yeah unless you have been a full time guide it would be hard to make an assumption that we dont have "a real job" .... Its high water, the guys are on their once a year fishing trip and they show up like they just stepped out of an orvis catalog, besides high water, the fish just are not hungry, but they paid $485 for this three person trip and they have brand new high dollar fly rods..their fishing skills leave something do be desired and they seem to not want to listen to the guides advice..after all, they do have brand new orvis gear and they know it all.. why are the fish not biting when we paid you $485 to get us into fish, huh Guide?... just one of many examples I could give you.. Yeah sometimes guiding is JUST as stressful as any job.... but time sure seems to fly by on the water and those days seem to be somewhat rare !!! I love my job!... David