how much to tip a guide?

[TNFL]

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Service personel wether be wait staff or bartenders have to listen and put up with alot of B/S.

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Give an example of the BS they have to put up with. If I don't give them BS should I tip them less?

[palisade1kid]

C'mon guys,this thread has nothing to do with anyhting but how much to tip a guide.Kaz2611 said it pretty good.

A guide can not make fish bite.Not even I can make a fish bite ,but having a vast knowledge of how different lakes react at different times of the year and how each lake has a different bite would send us to up to 4 different lakes in a day until we scored on a good bite.

You know that would be a lot of work but as long as we caught fish and had a good time ,then the goal has been achived. Tip or not, I did not fail & in the end I can feel good about the day.

Nothing worthwhile comes easily.

To be honest it's hard to take money for something I love to do,but the extra doe does keep the lions at bay come bill paying time.

[eyebjim]

I have been reading this post and it has gotten a bit off the question. Here's how I see it. If the guide is the owner operator he can set his price as needed so he should not get a tip unless he provided more service than agreed apon. This would be staying longer than agreed apon or somthing like this. If the guide is working out of a resort and the resort is the boat owner and he just makes a wage from the resort then I can see tipping as long as the guide is helpful freindly and knowledgeable, sharing some of that knowledge with you. In that case I can see a 15% tip being appropriate. If he/she is less than helpful, freindly and knowledgeable then something between 0 and 15%. It is really up to you and how you feel the service was. I don't think anyone should expect a tip period. That is very rude.

[fishinrush]

I had the chance to deck hand on a charter boat a few weeks ago out of Sitka, Alaska. Every client that we took out gave us a tip. Did we expect it, not at all, was it appreciated, absolutely.

I had no idea how much "behind the scenes" work is required to make a day on the water enjoyable, safe and entertaining. Yeah, it's their job and they choose the work they do, say what you want about that. I tip my waitress, bartender, barber and I will tip my guide.

One of the best tips we received was from group of guys who just had a great time on the water. We didn't even land a fish. They simply had a good time and gave us a tip as an additional "thanks"

[311Hemi]

This post reminds me of a movie.......

JOE:

"Okay ramblers, let's get to

rambling. Wait a minute, who

didn't throw in?"

MR. ORANGE:

"Mr. White."

JOE:

(to Mr. Orange)

"Mr. White?"

(to Mr. White)

"Why?"

MR. ORANGE:

"He don't tip."

JOE

(to Mr. Orange)

"He don't tip?"

(to Mr. White)

"You don't tip? Why?"

MR. ORANGE

"He don't believe in it."

JOE

(to Mr. Orange)

"He don't believe in it?"

(to Mr. White)

"You don't believe in it?"

MR. ORANGE

"Nope."

JOE

(to Mr. Orange)

"Shut up!"

(to Mr. White)

"Cough up the buck, ya cheap

SOB, I paid for your dang

breakfast."

with the last line being edited of course!!

[Kidd]

Reservoir Dogs. One of my favorite movies.

[walldoggie]

I have maybe two to three issues with some of this..

I guess first off I never thought to tip a guide as i thought his prices were set by him. So would the tip not be included in the price? Now that being said I am well know for being a good tipper So if i did use a guide and he showed me some new tricks and maybe caught a few fish yes i probably would tip him 10-20%, but for most blue collar familes $325 for a half day trip is kind of a steep price for some one who makes $400 a week. So to then turn around after giving him $325 and giving him another $60-75 might be a little steep for a family that might have scraped up enough just to take a guide. Now I also have never used a guide as i have a boat that works perfectly fine with a really nice electronics set up. And all of that was paid with money from Bartending. As for the guy who said go to college and get a better job!!! Why? I know bartenders that make over 100K a year and they have college degrees. But that being said that is still know reason for being a cheap A$$. I do not expect a dollar tip on every beer that served but maybe a Quarter would be nice. A dollar on 2-3 beers is even ok. As far as claiming tips the government requires you to claim atleast 10% and if you do this this is taken from your 6.15 and hour so a 40 hour work check of 240 after claiming your tips can be like 10 bucks. I know many servers and bartenders that get checks for 0 after claiming tips. When is the last time a guide got a check for Zero after claiming all his tips. I would have to say never. I also do tip my plumber, electrician, carpet layer, and any other person that might come to my house and do me a service. I also tipped the delivery guy that just dropped off my new plasma tv 10 bucks and told him to buy him self some lunch.

Rob

[Sportland_Bait]

It always baffles me when I see folks that are so tight and refuse tipping. I am not in a business where I receive tips on a regular basis, but once in a while I get one. It is a nice surprise. I try to tip service workers whenever possible because most of these folks are hard working and usually underpaid for their efforts. Many occupations restrict employees from taking tips, it isn't that they wouldn't love a tip or deserve to get one. When we meet with our fishing guides each spring for a meeting we talk about rates. The topic of tipping is usually part of the rate setting process. Most of the time the guides don't like to to raise their rates. They usually settle on a lessor rate and hope for some sort of a tip. I know that most busy fishing guides work their butts off and they aren't making a lot of money doing it and have zero job security. I don't know if the guides expect a tip but they are surprised sometimes when they don't receive one. When I've hired guides I've always thought 10-20 percent seems fair.

Jason Erlandson

[Nate McVey]

Trying to compare bartenders, servers and guides is not exactly the same thing. From experience in restaurants in (CO, MT, MI, WI and MN) the tip scale is drastically different. In CO & MT 20% is the norm. In MN, WI and MI 18% is nice, 15% is typical, 20% is something you brag about to the other staff. By saying 20% is the norm, did I expect to get that everytime, no of course not. It just happened more times than not.

On the two guided trips that I have had the pleasure of going on, one was a duck hunting trip on Walpole Island in Canada and one was a fly fishing trip to Mexico. The guides on the duck hunting trip deserved a tip, not because they got us on ducks, but because they spent a lot of time and energy cleaning ducks, calling ducks, making and packing a lunch and by meeting us every morning with coffee and a good boat. I am sure they figured all these things into their price, but it was still nice to have had. In Mexico, we were after permit, bones and tarpon. I had a $20 in my pocket for a bone, a $50 for a permit and $100 for a tarpon. My guide ended up getting $90 on the first day since he put me on a bone and my partner on a bone and a permit. The guy I was fishing with for the week told our guide that he had $100 in his pocket for him if he put him on a tarpon, and guess what.......he caught his tarpon. Did he expect it, no, but when he handed him the $100 he sure had a big smile on his face. I also have learned that guides love clothes. I bring hats, shirts and sweatshirts from the place I work any time I go somewhere new just to give to bartenders, guides or patrons at the bar. Not only is it advertising, but they seem to like it.

Just my $.02..............sorry to bring the server bartender back into it.

[bwtrout]

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What is expected as a tip for a day of guided fishing? Does it vary from walleye fishing to muskie fishing? I am headed up to LOW next week and am just wondering what the guides up there typically get for tips from their clients.

Thanks.

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I would set aside an extra 20% of the guides fee. At the end of the trip use your judgment and go with 0,5%,10%,15%,or 20% based on how it went.

Seems pretty simple to me...

[slotlimit]

I used to be a teacher. I stayed after school many times and went to school earily many times to help troubled youth or students with school work. I coach little league baseball FOR FREE. Where are my tips? I have never heard of a coach getting a tip or a teacher. I also never expected one. I guess I should have after reading some of these posts. Maybe after the next game I'll stand by the fence opening with my hand out. I'll probably just get "five".

[magnumthunder]

WOW! Guess I wont be hiring a guide. Hope I didn’t make a mistake by not tipping the guy at the bait shop for selling me what works on the lake right now and for putting new line on the combo I bought from him. I also forgot to tip the guy at the service station for giving me the key to the restroom after the $70 of gas I just paid for. Goosh when I did some goose hunt guiding 20 years ago I would of never thought of taking a tip for it. I was outdoors, did it when I WANTED to, and loved it!

$250 for 4 hours, they better earn that. Word of mouth goes a long ways in my neck of the woods. If they are no good I'll tell people to avoid them. I never tip the owner of a bar either but have no problem tipping the staff. Ps. I thought if a client lost lures or broke something they had to pay for it. A hole in the boat? They better have insurance. As far as gas and maintenance it's all a write off. Yes I'm a tight wad!!!

[Random guy]

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$250 for 4 hours, they better earn that.

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A hole in the boat? They better have insurance. As far as gas and maintenance it's all a write off.

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Just to step in and put a guides point of view on the comment about earning the money along with they better have insurance and writing off fuel in the same statement.

Yes most guides do carry insurance, three policies. The boat insurance, the liability insurance and the rider. Fuel is a write off, non-oxy fuel is at $3.50 a gallon each run on big water burns about 40 clams in fuel. Someone has to go potty, thats $10 just to run them to shore and back when the bite is way out. How did you hear about the guide he has to advertise. Lets not forget busted gear, lost lures and general wear and tear on the boat. Just think how your boat would look if it was used everyday all summer long. When you do the math guides price accordinly, any guide that is charging drasticly less is either working as part of a resort or some package where the money is made elsewhere or said cheap guide will not be around long. All in all the profit margin is slim.

Now as far as tipping and how much as the first post was asking;

I hire guides on new waters or when I am going for a new species of fish. When I started catfishing I hired a good catfish guide to take me out so I could learn the ropes and yes I tipped him. We only caught a few fish although I cut years off of the learning curve from what he taught me in a few nights of catfishing. That is value to me not to mention he worked his but off. The boat and gear was clean, in good shape and he was very knowledgeable in his field so I tipped him.

Now if you get into a guide boat and the carpet is a mess, rods look like they haven't bean cleaned up in years, he goes right out to a crowd and hunkers along side while blaming the lake and everything but himself for poor fishing and just has a bad attitude I would rethink the tip.

Now I try my best to make sure clients have a good time even when I know the fishing is tough. The boat is cleaned/carpet scrubbed twice a week, every rod is wiped down, line checked along with all tackle after each group. When I have days off with no clients I am on the lake looking for new areas and new patterns to bring the next group of clients to so they can have a good trip also. I work hard at my job and I know I will never make alot of money at it but I can't charge to heavens or the next guide down the road will get all the business and it won't matter how good I am or how hard I work. So limits are set as in any business. Now at the end of the day when I am cleaning fish or digging out crushed soda cans and cigarette buts then the client walks up and hands me a tip a few things happen; One I am reminded why I do this, I made someone happy enough to give me a tip. TWO, I now have a little money to spare for baits or better gear maybe even put it towards replacing the boat as it is only going to make two seasons. THIRD I will remember that client. You can say what you want about tipping, customer service and whether tipping is right or wrong but guides remember who tips and who does not. Just as your career, who are you going to work for the guy paying more or the guy paying less? It is America after all.

So if you are happy with the service and feel you want to tip the guide 10% is plenty. If you don't want to tip don't tip, the day is all about you and if you had a good time or not, that is how you decide how much to tip.

[MuleShack]

Jon,

That pretty much sums it up in a nut shell.

If you would have posted this right away, we could have avoided the previous 80 posts....

If you do hire a guide for new water, your going to learn the new water or tactics for a new species a lot quicker than trial and error on your own. Think of the guide fee as a small tuition for fishing school, as you should be learning as well as having fun.

People only think about the 4 hours that they are with the Guide that the $300 covers. Running most businesses there are lots of hours and costs (working toward the big picture) behind the scenes that get factored into the big picture that people dont realize...and they add up quickly. As a business owner myself, i can relate to the costs. We charge roughly $50 per hour, but that has to cover labor, gas, Vehichle insurance, Contractors policy for liability and to insure equipment, repairs and Maintenance, Taxes, workers comp insurance Etc...at the end there isn't a lot left over. If you raise prices, the next guy gets the business cause most people go for the "bargan" (not sure if that relates to guides, but for a lot of other services)

None of this relates to the tipping, but like Jon said it is totally up to the individual relating to if you enjoyed your self, learned something and felt that the guide was out there to make your day. If so, follow your gut and tip accordingly.

[slotlimit]

You can say what you want about tipping, customer service and whether tipping is right or wrong but guides remember who tips and who does not. Just as your career, who are you going to work for the guy paying more or the guy paying less? It is America after all.

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So if I don't tip you the first time and hire you again your not going to do as good of job for me?

So if you don't tip your kids teacher every day after school should they just teach them what is required or still go above and beyond every day? Should I have just given the students in my classroom extra time and knowledge tha I have for the parents who tip?

Being a coach who works for Free should I just give my knowledge of baseball to youngsters who know very little about the game (just like someone who knows little about a lake or fishing for a certain species) to the parents who tip me?

[JollyT]

Teachers and doctors are a poor comparison to guides or service workers. Many years ago, before the 1930s, teachers and doctors accepted gratuities. Doctor's making house calls went home with extras, teachers often got extras too. When public schooling and large public hospitals and clinics became the norm, tipping was frowned upon in those professions because it led to a supposition of favoritism. Better grades or better medical care for those who tipped. Some of these professions now look at a tip as a form of bribe.

[Nate McVey]

I remember being in school and giving teachers Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, Teacher Day gifts, etc. Are those not "tips"? Maybe not in the cash form, but still....

As a baseball coach myself (a few years ago), I volunteered my time, I was not trying to feed a family or make ends meet by doing it. Not too many guides do it because they have piles of money laying around and they like to take strangers out for fun. As a F&B manager if I get a tip (wich happens) for going above and beyond a guests expectations, I turn around and give it to my servers/bartenders. Why? I could sure use it, but they make minimum wage and it may mean more to them.

I don't think it's fair to compare ALL of these jobs......THEY ARE ON COMPLETELY OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE JOB SPECTRUM!!!!

If your guide, server, hairdresser, paperboy, gas station attendant, etc. goes above and beyond what you expected, then tip them. If they don't, don't................

As far as remembering people who tip, you better believe that is the way it works. Doesn't mean that the people who don't tip get worse service, just that the people who do are remembered.

[eyepatrol]

You know, this discussion can go up/down, back/forth, left/right and certainly in circles.

Bottom line people is....do what you want. If you want to tip, then tip. If you don't, then don't. That's what it all boils down to anyway.

[slotlimit]

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Teachers and doctors are a poor comparison to guides or service workers. Many years ago, before the 1930s, teachers and doctors accepted gratuities. Doctor's making house calls went home with extras, teachers often got extras too. When public schooling and large public hospitals and clinics became the norm, tipping was frowned upon in those professions because it led to a supposition of favoritism. Better grades or better medical care for those who tipped. Some of these professions now look at a tip as a form of bribe.

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It might be a poor comparison when comparing a teacher in terms of what kids get a better education for a tip. But what about when I showed up an hour before I had to be to school or when I stayed 2 hours after school to help students. I didn't have to do this. I didn't get paid extra. So if the parents didn't tip me for this after the first time according to the posts on here I should have not done it again. At the least if I did do it again I shouldn't have given my best effort. What about my coaching tips and the opportunity cost of coaching?

[Nate McVey]

Agreed basscatcher....

Just a tidbit that I have been sharing with my servers for a long time........

The acronym "tip" actually comes from the Roman Empire when they would put brass urns out at doorways of bussinesses. It stood for "to insure promptness." I think it has grown away from that, but it still makes sense in my business.

just my $.02

[slotlimit]

Shiner.

I agree with you on most of those points. My point is about followup service with a guide, mechanic, electrician, etc. Someone who is either setting thier own wage or getting paid a decent amount. Not Min. wage people. If you tip a guide....hey thats fine. But if you don't and the service was great the first time (before they knew you don't tip) it should be just as good the second time. I don't tip my mechanic but if he raised his rates because he wasn't making a go of it I would still take my business to him because I trust him and know he is going to do the job right. Just like the guy we use out in South Dakota for pheasant hunting. If he raised his rates a bit to stay afloat I would still use him. I know what I'm going to get and what the hunting is going to be like. If I went out with a fishing guide and he did a great job. Then the next time his rates were $30 or so dollars higher. I would still use him for those same reasons.

[Nate McVey]

Agree Slot, no matter who you are in my restaurant you get the same good service as I'm sure you do with many guides. And I certainly wish teachers were paid more (or could receive some cash) for the important job they do with today's youth.

Back to the question.............

[double_dog]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it is illegal for a paid public employee, ie police, teacher, etc for receiving additional compensation for something you should already be doing. I believe there is even a term for it.

I completely understand the arguement both ways. My opinion, if you want to keep in touch with a guide for future trips, information, etc give him a tip. If you enjoyed your time on the water, give him a tip.

I don't believe you should ever feel obligated to do it. I don't believe the guide should ever feel slighted if a tip wasn't given. If he doesn't feel he is making enough money, he should raise his rates. Plain and simple.

The problem for the guides is there that market will only put up with slight price varriances. A guide can't raise his rates $150/day and expect to have the same volume.

That's all I have to say about that.

Good ahead, rip away.

[slotlimit]

Whether it is illigal or not for public employees to get a tip they should never get a tip. Teachers don't HAVE to come early or stay after school but it should be required of them when a student needs help. Without getting paid extra for it. Just like a guide doesn't have to give you information about the lake or tips on how to catch fish. It is just part of the job.

[ozzie]

sounds like it was expected when you signed a contract that this type of thing might happen to help a student. quit comparing your teaching job to that of a guide.....then you volunteer to coach and you mention that you don't get a tip for that...Why should you???? That is what volunteering is about....Doing things for free and helping out...... I wouldn't feel obligated to tip a guide but if I had extra cash and a good time I would definaty tip accordingly, but at the same time if I didn't feel like te trip was anything special I wouldn't feel bad at all for not tipping.......

[slotlimit]

WOW!!!!!!!!! I shouldn't get a tip for coaching. Just Like I shouldn't get a tip for extra teaching. I have said this all along. If I was a fishing guide I expect that my fee would include. The use of a boat and all the cost that go with it, all equipment, bait, showing someone how to fish from the ground up for those 3-4 hours, catching 0 fish or 500 fish, running the people to the bathroom, giving some information on the lake, etc. If I'm out in the middle of (Contact Us Please) and someone has to go to the bathroom that just cuts time off the 3-4 hours.

[Nate McVey]

In Mexico, the guides make you get off the boat and "make mud". The only time they took as to shore was when we saw a fin or a cudda

[ocf1]

I know I should tip but, I am getting a guide in Florida and im spending 80% of all my money on that. Sorry but all he is going to get is compliments and reccomendations.

[Nate McVey]

ocf, bring him a shirt/hat from MN and he will wear it till it falls off......or being him a spoon, jig something out of your tackle box that "you" know catches MN fish and give that to him. It doesn't always need to be cash.

[ozzie]

These are on different levels.....like it has been stated when a guide makes a pricing he/she takes into consideration many things in that price that will be competitive and to get by if booked.....but they can't charge the type of money that is going to make them rich so they have to hope for a little tip when they work hard!!! I actually sort of agree on both sides of the spectrum and I see your point of view but the way it comes off at times sounds like you wanted to get tips for what you did.....sorry if I misunderstood your comments!!! Have a great weekend!!!!