how and what needed to start a guide service?
Posted by Best Bass Fishing Lures on Thursday, August 26th, 2010
i have a 01 Ranger bass boat, LOTS of gear and lures, but need to know about insurance,advertising,etc. all fresh water-i live in the ozarks and regularly fish bullshoals,beaver,table rock,grand lake , ok. ,so on so on! any advice would be appreciated.
hey stop what exactly is ouapt or what ever u said?????? plus please give xtra info if you would PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanx guys but lookin for fresh water bass mainly!!!!
i have quite abit of time on my hands so this is for extra $$$$$$ and i know most of the tackle shop owners that woould be glad to help out! and don’t need to prefish much since have fished all these lakes for the last 15 years have a great (milk run0 ON ALL THE LAKES not to boast but have not been skunked in ten years —— knock on wood lol:)
Filed in Bass Fishing Guides | 3 responses so far
stop_makin_centson 26 Aug 2010 at 10:19 pm 1Not sure but I think you will need some type of OUPV/6 Pack “Captains” license.
Along with “accidental death/dismemberment” insurance & insurance on your gear & boat.
Although you will definitely need to advertize, (phone book, local/regional fishing report mag, local paper, local baitshop, & online), a good idea is to offer 10-15 “free” trips to local “big dogs” in your area; the mayor, an influential city councilman, chief of police & fire dept, the head of the local B.A.S.S. club, Etc.
A good idea is to contact a local guide and ask him questions & see if he will allow you to join HIS business. More than likely he WON’T, BUT, it’s worth a shot!
PS- Having tons of “tackle & gear” means (not trying to be rude) nothing! Guides must have very functional reels & rods that are super durable, easily repaired, Etc.
Your average client won’t KNOW the difference between a baitcaster and a spincast combo! (lol) And the most successful guides I’ve ever known were fantastic SALESMEN & “characters” NOT amazing fishermen.
I had friends who tried to become guides, (and they did), and they LOST there @ss, (money !)
By the way, a Ranger boat is excellent for tourney fishing, but not nessarily excellent for guiding.
Thouroughly investigate this business opportunity before “jumping”.
(Hopefully Steve S & Capt Brad will answer your Q)
UPDATE: You should listen to Capt Brad! He IS a guide. An OUPV (or slang-term 6 Pack) is a minor “Captains” license MOST guides MUST have to function on the waterways of America.
To be honest, you sound like you are “desperate” to make money off your equipment & boat. If you ARE desperate and either need extra money to pay your monthly payment on your Ranger, Etc. DON’T expect guiding to support you or your family the first 2-3 years! In any business, careful planning is KEY, ESP for a tricky business like guiding the public to good catches of fish!
UPDATE 2: Your a lucky DOG! The 2 premiere fishing guides (Capt Brad & Steve S) on YAnswers have answered your Q!
Listen to ‘em.
UPDATE 3: FYI- You will need a license to fresh OR saltwater guide. If you intend to strictly guide Bass you will have to “shiner/bait” guide as well as “lure guide”. If you intend to ONLY Bass guide you will go “hungry”! (lol)
Probably a good idea to Crappie, Striper?, Hybrid?,Catfish?, guide as well.
Good luck!
Capt. Bradon 26 Aug 2010 at 10:54 pm 2Stop_making_cents pretty much already hit the nail on the head!
For sure, you will need the Captain’s License. You can look up different schools for that online. You may find one locally you can attend or you can do it over the internet.
Also depending on what your states regulations are, you may have to have a guide license. Check with your state regulations for that.
Insurance is a must. If someone was to get hurt on your boat, You could be in deep trouble.
You may also have to get a T.W.I.C. card. Its something they are just now coming up with for anyone with a captain’s license, that basically says your not a terrorist. You’ll have to look that up through google for your area. I just came up with it a couple months ago and I just heard about it last week, so I don’t have to much info on the TWIC card at the moment.
As for the fishing and getting clients, Definitly give out a few free trips. If there is a tourist information center, give some of the people that work there a free trip and leave you cards for them. It can make a difference if there are other guides in the area.
Also, I would suggest that when you start guiding to do it part time for the first few years. You may not have enough business coming in to live on for a while if you do nothing but guiding.
And from my personal experience, No matter how good a fishermen you are, doesn’t mean you will be a great guide. You need alot of patience, and for lack of a better term “Idiot proof” your fishing techniques. Sometimes I’ll get customers who don’t know how to fish and I’ll teach them how and show them a few things. 10 minutes later, they’ll be doing it completly wrong, and occasionally you get those guys who think they know what their doing and won’t listen to you, so sometimes its up to you to hook the fish and pass the rod off to the customers.
And to be completely honest, Im a younger guide and this was my first year guiding. The biggest thing that helped me get clients was to offer a No fish, No pay policy. If the customers don’t come back with any fish, they get the trip free. And alot of guides in my area from what Ive been told from clients are complete jerks. When you get a trip, just go out there and have a good time. Ive had clients tell me they’d rather go fishing with guide who’s nice and fun to be around, rather than a guide who’s a complete jerk and catches a limit.
Another thing, Set up some sort of deposit for booking trips, otherwise you will be driven nuts. I don’t know how many times Id have customers tell me they’d meet me at the boat dock in the morning, then they call me saying that they changed their mind after I unloaded the boat and bought live bait for 6 people!
Good luck and have fun with it. Its alot of work, but once you get things going, Its worth it.
steve son 26 Aug 2010 at 11:48 pm 3Stop making cents and Capt brad hit alot of it all on the nose. I’ll just add a few things that might help. I am a current guide in the Pacific Northwest BC of 5 years now. I use to have a small charter buisness in Freeport Tx about 15 yrs ago. I can say it was alot tougher getting a guide liscense here in BC then in Tx… In Tx., I used a 22ft Bayhawk/150hp Yamaha/center console/sonar. I worked a full time job in the plants and fished my boat on the weekends and plant shut-downs. My dream was to have a full time bay fishing charter instead of offshore fishing like everyone else was doing. As Making Cents said, it can be a hard buck to make, so I was happy knowing I had a job in my pocket to pay the bills. I know the Ozarks and Tx are probably simular in some ways in getting set up for a charter buisness so here’s how I started. First get in touch with your local Game and Fish Dept. so they can point you in the right direction of getting your permits and liscense. Get to know these guy’s, you will probably be seeing them quite often. You will probably have to get a boat inspection every year as well as equipment inpections(lifejackets,flares,ect.). Besides the guide sticker from DOF you will probably have to get a buisness liscense(usually get a buisness liscense from the court house). I had to get a BL even though I was not fishing full time. With the buisness liscence you now purchase your insurance for the guide buisness. This is not cheap especially for passenger insurance. I advertized in the local papers and started getting alot of repeat customers from then on. A job to good to pass up put me on the West coast near Oxnard,so I left the East coast. My wife being Canadian showed me Vancouver Island where I fished pristine waters around the Queen Charletts for Hali and Salmon. I saved hard to get to semi retire and run a small charter buisness up here. Im pretty sure my one small boat operation would have a hard time standing on it’s own without good finances backing it up in the bank. Up here in BC I run a 20 ft welded aluminum boat/center cosole/GPS-sonar/ downriggers/100hp Yamaha 4-stroke, that I had built when I first moved up here. I run with 4-5 passengers at a time. I reserve 4-5 trips a week but actually book 3.2 trips due to weather or other downtime reasons. I charge 65.00 a head for a Salmon trip and 85.00 for a Hali, Ling Cod trip. This sounds good but don’t forget your overhead and don’t forget to pay yourself. I supply all fishing equip, lures, and bait. I provide a lunch and depending my location, I beach my boat and dig and cook fresh steamed clams for the cutomers. I left alot of my freinds back home that come up every year for Hali. Right now Im booked through 2009. If you have a specific question feel free to email me. 40 yr exp. EDIT: I really can’t help with the fresh water charter except to say to get with DOF and they will point you in the right direction.