Guide Tipping

[nimrod]

I've been out there on floats the last few years. I generally start with the idea of 20% and think about dialing it down if the guide doesn't really work at it. Thankfully I have not run into any issues yet and have been happy with the guides. I also don't take into consideration the number of fish caught as I feel that's on me and Mother Nature ( though a good guide can certainly help there).

 

[PatrickC]

PennypackFlyer wrote:
Sorry if I bust on you Patrick, You did not tip him, you paid for the extra service he was providing called child care. You are fortunate that this worked out as well as it did for YOU, and that the guide had that kinda patience. My praise goes to the guide. As for you, you did not talk about the fish your daughter caught. Your post above is about ME..ME...ME...read it again if you don't believe me. She may remember that day as "the day dad dumped me onto some guide" so he could catch fish. I KNOW I'VE BEEN THERE...AND MY DAUGHTER HATES ALL FISHING. I was to blind to see what was important to her in an outing. If I could turn back time...if only.....


This does however bring up an important question of how old should a child be before they share in the experience of guided trips?

Oh, you must have been in the boat with me and observed us all day. You should probably get to know me a little better before making ignorant remarks like that. I spent the day photographing my daughter with her fish and helping her land fish and yes, I hammered a few smallies myself. In fact, my daughter caught way more fish than I did yesterday. Maybe you could try asking more questions before making silly assumptions in the future. My apologies for not wording my post to your expectations.

 

[SBecker]

PennypackFlyer wrote:
Sorry if I bust on you Patrick, You did not tip him, you paid for the extra service he was providing called child care. You are fortunate that this worked out as well as it did for YOU, and that the guide had that kinda patience. My praise goes to the guide. As for you, you did not talk about the fish your daughter caught. Your post above is about ME..ME...ME...read it again if you don't believe me. She may remember that day as "the day dad dumped me onto some guide" so he could catch fish. I KNOW I'VE BEEN THERE...AND MY DAUGHTER HATES ALL FISHING. I was to blind to see what was important to her in an outing. If I could turn back time...if only.....


This does however bring up an important question of how old should a child be before they share in the experience of guided trips?



JackM: I would be proud to go fishing with you, just because of your ethical delemma.

Having interacted with Patrick for a few years now, I know how much his family means to him. I feel your comments are way out of line and you should apologize.

 

[PatrickC]

No apology needed. If my post seemed that way, then it did. It is however, the kind of question you ask in a PM. The thought is valid and had it played out that way it would be worth considering. I'm tired and cranky from the long day yesterday. Sorry for being cranky.

 

[JohnPowers]

Number one contender for the cheap shot award 2013. Astounding.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Lots of high horses being riden around here lately...but I double checked. Most of those high horses are just jackasses.

Your pics from the boating trip look awesome, Pat. You and your daughter had a rippin' time. She'll always remember the trip, for sure, in a possitive light.

 

[pcray1231]

I've only ever hired guides twice. Both not in the U.S.A. So not only do I lack the experience, but it gets trickier as expectations are different in different places.

For instance, in Switzerland, there is not much of a tipping culture, apparantly. Wait staff and so forth are paid hourly, and unlike here, not expected to earn much of their money via tips. Prices are thus considerably higher, but tipping is truly optional, and when people do tip it's far less than here (rounding up is common, adding extra is not). Works out the same in the end, just a different way of doing things.

That left me not sure how to handle my guided fishing experience there. And there wasn't much research that could be done, as there aren't many guides! Also, I put a hole in his waders on some barbed wire. Patchable (and it wouldn't have been the 1st patch), but still. And he did do a great job. I threw him an extra $50 francs (which is a little more than 50 dollars), and that was about 10%. He implied it was more than generous, but I'm still uneasy about it.

 

[DanVerona]

Definitely should tip. I thought about going out with a guide to a Central PA stream this year and it was about $250.00 for a full day. If I get 8 hours of fishing out of that, that's only $31.00 roughly to get that service and years of experience/knowledge from them.

In any industry that you are in (my case; Finance), we pay up to $500 an hour for Consultants (might as well call them guides), so throwing a $50 on top for a tip isn't adding much to your hourly rate.

 

[JasonS]

OldLefty wrote:

Compare what a guide charges to what others charge in various technical or professional fields. I believe you'll find a guide is inexpensive in comparison.

That's probably because guiding is not even close to comparable to those fields. A more apt comparison would be a golf caddie, and I think you'll find that guides are expensive in comparison. But I'd tip a caddie so I'd consider tipping a guide.

 

[geebee]

this might sound dumb but the less you charge me, the more i'm going to tip you - if you charge me $180-$200 for a wade trip, then yeah i might hit you with a $50, but if i'm paying you $400+ then i'm going to give you $30 and probably resent that.

having seen guide prices on the Cape and Bahamas go to $450+ per angler, I think they're already taking the ****, so a tip would just irritate me more.

In MA, Maine, Labrador, Newfoundland and Virginia (not to mention Ireland) to can get a day for a $150-$180 all in.

And don't start me on lodges - $4k a week and they want a tip too...

 

[Stimey]

thanks for all the opinions... Now just hope the trip isn't a total bust. Big Hole is closed between hours of 2pm and Midnight due to high water temps, so hopefully the Beaverhead will produce some fish....

Probably not a good sign when none of the fly shops have updated their fishing reports since beginning of July... but it was the only time I could get away.

 

[geebee]

hit the headwaters and/or spring creeks.

you might not be hitting 'famous' rivers but i bet the fishing is still fabulous compared to back East....

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Moderators: After careful consideration, If you would please remove my negative comments from this post. I feel that I have stepped on some toes of those who like to step on other's toes with no remorse.

 

[boychick]

Plan on $50 per man. Add or subtract from there based on effort.

I agree with PK. When I went out to Jackson Hole last summer I asked several guide friends of mine how much I should tip for the couple of floats I went on, their advice was start with $100 per trip and adjust from there based on the guides effort and your expierence. I had good expierences so I tipped $100 per trip.

Almost all guides are independant contractors. They get a small piece of what you pay the outfitter for the trip, but most of the fee goes to the outfitter. The guides pretty much depend on tips to make their living.

I hope that helps.

 

[JF_]

 

[Troy]

Tips are always a touchy subject. I never hired a guide so I don't know what is the acceptable amount. I would think that a total tip of $100 per party per day would be suffice. I'm assuming there are multiple people within one party. If I was by myself I would only tip $50 and feel good about it. I don't think anyone gets into the guide profession to get rich. So if a guide makes an extra $100 (in cash) a day, that is good money considering he probably guides 5 days a week in season.

 

[wbranch]

"I know this will tick some people off, but here it goes. Why a tip period. I mean, your paying $425 for the trip, correct? Its not exactly cheap but if someones willing to pay God bless ya. Do you tip the mechanic who repairs your car, the guy that cuts your lawn, do you tip your lawyer(oops!)we could go on and on. Your paying what the service provider is asking. If the guide is an employee, the employer should provide the proper wage."

You tip a guide for his knowledge, his skill in not only handling the boat but also putting you on good riffs if you nymph or finding rising fish. You shouldn't compare guide tipping with having a mechanic fix your car. Do you tip the wait person when you go out to dinner with your family?

Also the cost of the float may be $425 but if he just works for an outfitter he will probably get no more than $100 for his eight hours of busting his butt rowing you down river, changing your flies, and putting up with your poor line management skills (not you personally) $12.50 an hour is not exactly a great wage so that is why tipping is the right thing to do. If you don't want to tip you shouldn't be going on a float. Except of course if the guide is a drunk or does not know the water where you are fishing and overall you have a lousy day that can be attributed solely to the guides inepptitude. Then you might not want to tip. BTW if you are going to use the same guide for more than one day you could just wait until the last day to give him the gratuity. If you give it to him day by day, and he isn't pleased with the sum, he might work less than if you wait until the end.

I've only used a guide a few times in fifty years and would never, ever, tip more than $50 per day whether there was one or two anglers.

 

[JasonS]

Why is it the sports responsibility if the guide negotiated a crap contract with an outfitter? If guide feels he is being underpaid by outfitter he can go out on his own or go work for someone else.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

What does a guide do during off season?

 

[attackone]

wbranch wrote:

Also the cost of the float may be $425 but if he just works for an outfitter he will probably get no more than $100 for his eight hours of busting his butt rowing you down river, changing your flies, and putting up with your poor line management skills (not you personally) $12.50 an hour is not exactly a great wage so that is why tipping is the right thing to do. If you don't want to tip you shouldn't be going on a float. Except of course if the guide is a drunk or does not know the water where you are fishing and overall you have a lousy day that can be attributed solely to the guides inepptitude. Then you might not want to tip. BTW if you are going to use the same guide for more than one day you could just wait until the last day to give him the gratuity. If you give it to him day by day, and he isn't pleased with the sum, he might work less than if you wait until the end.

I've only used a guide a few times in fifty years and would never, ever, tip more than $50 per day whether there was one or two anglers.

if i tip him and he isnt please with the sum and doesnt work as hard then he didnt deserve the tip in the beginning