Your guide will bite his or her tongue, and calmly remind you try to do a strip-set instead. Here’s one of many brown trout I brought to the net on my last trip. I don’t trust online reviews—call it a healthy skepticism. And it’s been said that skepticism is the chastidy of truth.
Still, be sure to check in advance, as in some more remote locales they may not be able to convert dollars to anything they can use. Also note that in some countries they may have trouble cashing/depositing torn or otherwise damaged bills, so make sure your American currency is crisp and clean. Not valid on sale items or items at Orvis Outlet Stores, previous merchandise purchases, or services. My goal is to discover something new each time I hit the water.
It also shows you want him to be in business next year so you can book with him again. If you don’t catch a lot of fish and are considering an appropriate gratuity, consider how far out of their way did the crew go to try and find the fish or entertain you in other ways. Did the captain move the boat around in search of fish? Did the mate try different techniques, perhaps with different equipment or bait? If the answer is yes, than the crew likely did everything they could, and may have even worked harder than on an ordinary day.
How Much To Tip A Fly Fishing Guide In Montana (And Other Tips)
Most folks who hire a guide are hoping for a great day of catching, and so a lot of times a good tip is given when that happens. What a lot of them might not realize, however, is that the guide’s job is much more difficult when conditions are less than ideal. Success on a tough day usually means having to dig deep and work hard to overcome high water, bad weather, uncooperative fish, or any of countless other factors that make the game of fishing what it is. To me, being able to keep customers engaged, having fun, and learning when fishing is slow is a crucial skill set for a fishing guide. Getting a really good tip for working your ass off on a difficult day is always a great feeling. Any guide worth hiring is going to want their customers to catch fish as much, if not more, than the customers do.
Bad weather, changes in water flow rates, temperature, rain, or the amount of fish coming in the river — It’s not what you catch, it’s how hard the guide worked for you. He’ll bait your hook, adjust a reel’s drag, net your fish, take your photograph & fillet your catch at the end of the trip. Tip based on what the guide can control, don’t withhold a tip because of things that are out of their hands .. Suggestions for total tips will range from 5 percent to 15 percent, however, depending on your booking agent, the destination, and the total package price, so be sure to ask the agent or the lodge manager. Don’t let anyone convince you that you will be expected to pay more than 7-8 percent in gratuities on an $8000 trip. And just in case you were curious, percent of these tips typically end up with the guides, and the rest is distributed to the non-guiding staff.
I will be sure to tip them properly if they provide a good fishing experience for me. Just went fishing with a guide and I couldn’t put it any better. You fly fish for a couple years and think your good then go with someone who’s guided for a 15 years and it blows your mind at the knowledge and just skill they have, and realize you have so much more to learn. Fly fishing is an art and each form from nymphing, streamer, dry fly is all completely different. Spending the $300 for me and my buddy to get 4 hours in a boat and learn countless things was beyond worth it.
Where do we meet our guide?
There are days when it’s $0-$50, even though they caught multiple fish with a ton of work by you. However, there are days where everything just isn’t there working right—no fish, bad weather, wrong area, and so-on. If I haven’t done my job or performed as a professional guide, I turn down the tip. That said, it’s important to not punish the guide with no tip or bad reviews for not catching fish when he or she put you on them all day. It’s our job to give you the opportunity to catch the species you are chasing. I feel that people that bait fish and switch to fly fishing and go on trips often don’t understand how much more goes into our side of the sport.
The truth is, there is a lot more to a day-in-the-life of a fly fishing guide, and all of that happens long before you set your first hook and reel in the big one. Gratuity is a large part of a guide’s income so it isn’t something to be taken lightly or worse, skipped altogether. A tip is NOT required, although less than 10% can indicate dissatisfaction. And it will leave the guide wondering what he did wrong to upset his clients. If you would tip the guide if you caught fish and the guide worked hard for you, then you should tip if you didn’t catch fish.
Bonny Fryer has always been interested in animals, even since she was born. This interest led her to get a degree in Veterinary Medicine and start working as a veterinarian when she was only 22 years old. She is now 44 years old and still works as a veterinarian. She loves her job and finds it very fulfilling to help animals stay healthy and happy.