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how much to tip a guide?


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HMMM! So are you claiming all your tips like servers do to the IRS?? Not likely. You dont charge your clients for lost lures?? As far as what you said about hearing about the guide! I SAID WORD OF MOUTH GOES A LONG WAYS! Do you give your boat away when you get a new one? I doubt it! If I'm working at a customers place and something happens to my equipment should I expect a tip. I dont get tips and I have wear and tear on my stuff. I got four new accounts from 1 satisfied customer. That word of mouth didnt cost me a dime! Now it sounds like the same ones making comments about the server jobs are complaining about guiding not being enough! Is the kettle calling the pot black here or what? Well now that I've been convinced not to hire a guide I'm done with the discussion.

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So, if you and another person charter a vessel on the ocean for a day and the bill is $900 for the two of you, is it still expected you'd tip $180?

If he loaded the boat with say 9 people and each paid a hundred bucks for the regular rate, a tip of $180 would be 20 bucks per person, but he would have made 4.5 times the effort he did for the 2 people.

Sorry for the fuzzy math, but the guide, on a Thursday may not have had anyone on the boat, which means the 900 bucks is a huge boost to revenues.

Now, suppose the guide put us on say 50 great fish during that day? Well, then the 900 bucks and another fifty to one hundred might be cool, but I still wouldn't be able to see the $180.

Thoughts from all of you? The spend is rare as it is a honeymoon.

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Dude... you're going fishing on your honeymoon? I guess that's considered dedication. Are you also the type that can stare at a vex/marcum screen for hours and hours at a time?

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I worked for a company which hired a very well known guide in the Grand Rapids, Mn. area for 40 to 60 full day trips every year. This man is one of the highest paid guides in the area, and he earns every dime. His equipment is 1st Class, as is his knowledge of the areas' lakes. He works extremely hard to provide you with a quality experience as do most guides. Broken and lost overboard equipment he has to replace out of his profits.

I have tipped this man as much as 25% of his guide fee. I am not saying that everybody should do that, however, this is what I do and it has been repaid many times with information, offers of being able to be a follow boat should I choose to when we are fishing the same waters. If you tip these guides for a job well done, believe me, they will remember you, and furthermore, if you think the guides don't talk to each other, you had better think again.

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I dont know if one should or can compare jobs and who should and shouldnt recieve a tip. One does not have to tip a guide and that is ones choice. I will tip for a day on any lake with a guide that has gone above the call for service and that also is a choice everyone has to make themselves.

Over the years I have been guided by many guides and learned alot in regards to fishing a lake and the lures to use which has saved me many hours of fishing on that lake to learn what the guide taught me in a day. To me, that is worth a little extra.

Do guides talk to each other, of course and if you were treated well by a guide and you tipped him, then others will know.

I believe that this is a personal choice and if one does not have the extra money to tip, then that also is fine as the guide did recieve his pay for the day.

I have fished in Mexico many times and a tip is considered part of the days fee. I have also learned that if I'm going to use the same charter boat for 5 straight days that I had better tip the first day or the next 4 could be a little slow in the fishing department.Many of these charter boat captions and first mates rely on the tip money as I dont believe they make that much money.

Right or wrong, I do believe that a guide will work harder for you with return trips if you tip him something. I usually have pop and food along for the guide if he chooses and will also tip him for the day. I guess that is what I choose to do for a great day on the water and I also know that if I ever use that guide again he will fish his tail off for me.

I personally try to treat the guide the way I would like to be treated if I were the guide. This is just what I choose to do.

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Ok, I can agree with the "above and beyond", but what does that mean. You are paying him to provide a safe boat, bait, good equipment and knowlegde of the lake and fish habits for that time of year and anything else he says he provides. What is "above and beyond" that?

I'll throw in that in this very competitive business world out there, if any business (other than waitstaff/food service) is counting on my tip to give me their best service they won't ever get a second chance show me, and I don't expect the same service from every price point. The more I pay I expect to get better service compared to the lower cost competition.

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I have had some guides who have worked very hard to find fish and then we find them with a hour to go. Some will then say the day is over, while others will keep you out a hour or so longer so you get into more fish. This would be just one example of why and who I may tip and also how much. They did not need to keep me out longer than the time I paid for but did so I ended up with a nice days catch.

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Harvey, I know just what you mean about tipping in Mexico...tip well the first day and watch the enthusiasm the next day:) I've never hired a guide around here, but in Alaska I have, and I've tipped everywhere from nothing (poor attitude, crabby, no WAY i'm tipping for that) to 20 bucks (lazy, lackluster) to 20% for an informative, engaged, FRIENDLY guide/captain.

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You guys can argue all day till your blue in the face, you're not going to solve anything.

Like what was said before, do it if you want, if not...don't. It's not mandatory, I don't think you'll be blackballed.....but if you want to hire the guide again during a hot bite and he's has the choice of booking a tipper or non tipper, I think you know the choice.

I remember the last time I was in Mexico we hired a shared guide and I overheard the crew discussing that whomever agrees to a mount gets the shot at the biggest fish frown.gif

Remember this is America, a free market and money talks.

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And guides need to realize that word of mouth goes much further than a discussion on a fishing site. (Most probably do.) Stick it to someone for not tipping and you may have a lot of lonely days. If you aren't getting the tips perhaps instead of looking down at the client, one should look into a mirror.

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I have nothing to add to this thread, I just wanted to be the 100th post! grin.gif

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Quote:

I have nothing to add to this thread, I just wanted to be the 100th post!
grin.gif


Now that's funny!! laugh.gif

It's the best thing I've read on this thread yet!

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I would have to say it is in the "free items only" area. Something about elec. fishing programs.

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Okay, I have tried to read through a few of these posts and I have a question regarding a recent expirience.

Myself and 23 friends hired 4 charter fishing boats (6 people on each) for two 6 hour charters on Lake Michigan.

One afternoon trip followed by one morning trip. Going after salmon of course. These boats are all operated by the same company, so the Captains were not the owners of the boat or the equipment.

For the afternoon trip our captain was on his first ever job of being a captain. He had expirience as a mate for 3 years. Our first mate was also a novice so the rookie captain was trying to help him out as much as possible as well as driving the boat. To make a long story short, we boated 6 salmon in 6 hours. The other 3 boats were all around the 20 to 25 fish mark. Needless to say we were a little disappointed. The captain assured us that there would be an expirienced first mate for the morning bite.

Well, 4am rolled around and we were not swayed by our lack of fish the day before. Ready to roll and ready to troll... but wait... Where's our first mate? He overslept!!! Now we are stuck with the rookie captain and no mate. To make this part of the story a little shorter. We boated 13 salmon from 4am to 10am. The other 3 boats were all limited out and in the harbor by 7am. Thats right, 90 fish in the boat within 3 hours.

I realize the Captain was a rookie and did the best he could considering the circumstances. He was a really nice kid. Would you say he deserves a tip? and if so, how much?

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you CANNOT expected to catch alot of fish or limited out.... if it was me i wld give rookie captain tips.. but thats just me.

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Tip him or don't tip him....you make the choice. Keep this in mind though....at least you got on fish, and that's what you paid for. Sometimes guide trips come up with blanks, it's just the nature of the beast. Wanting 30 fish instead of 13 seems to go down the gready path to me though. Just be happy you got out and on some fish.

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Thanks for the quick reply. I understand that we paid to get fish, and yes we got some. However, last year we were with the same company. None of the boats were overflowing with fish, nor were any boats skunked. We were all pretty equal. It wasn't a great time for fishing as a weather front had just moved in a day before. I guess I didn't feel like we had been let down a bit since none of the boats were killing 'em. I understand its not always going to be a great day fishing.

This year however, I guess when one boat in comes in with a 2 day total of 55 fish, and our boat comes in with 18... I don't really think its being greedy to want to be at least somewhat equal with the other boats.

Would you tip him?

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I cannot answer that question for you. I always tip if I have been shown a very good time and learned a few things that day. If you feel that the guide went above and beyond in his service to you, then a tip might be the thing to do. I cannot say that the amount of my tip wont be reflected by the catch for the day, but I try not to tip on how many we caught but rather on how hard the guide worked to find me those fish. One cannot guarantee fish.

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I can say I almost always tip in everything and would have reluctantly on this one, you should have brought this matter to the attention of the owner of the company for possible compensation.

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It sounds like the kid did as good as he could under the circumstances. Sounds like the owner is to blame by putting the 2 rookies together. I think I would have tipped since the kid did his best and it sounds like he had to do twice the work to get you those fish.

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I would tip the young man he did what he could with what he had. Then I would go to the management and ask for a partial refund as you did not actually get what you contracted for././Jimbo

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I would agree with Duckslayer. Since the kid worked his butt off I would tip hime. But I would go to the owner and expect some money back for putting to rookies together and for sure for the second day when they short handed the boat. Doesn't seem right at all that you pay all that money and don't have the people working that are needed.

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I've been guiding fisherman for the past 3 years in North Iowa. I bust my butt and go above and beyond for every client I have out regardless if they tip or not. I think that should be expected. I do, however, get tipped about 90% of the time. My rates are way cheaper than most so those tips really help out. The main thing with a tip is it tells my I'm doing the right thing, so if you don't tip at least let your guide know if you had a good time and if not what they need to do different.

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I would agree that if you are tipped 90% of the time, you are the man and for sure doing your job as a guide. I just believe that a tip is a huge thank-you to the guide for a job very well done.

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I worked as an automotive service advisor for 12 years. I would go above and beyond for my customer’s with out any question of a tip. I had to do this to keep a repeat customer base, second because it lead to many prestigious awards and good money, plus it was just mainly who I am. Amazingly, I did get tipped quite often. Most times it was for plugging a tire for a customer in the service isle that was in a huge hurry or getting something covered by warranty that was not and other things like this. I have even got beer or been bought beers in a bar by my customers. Point of this is, it should never be expected, but sure is nice when it happens. It makes you feel like you are doing well and makes you work harder with the next customer to get that feeling again.

P.S.

The ones that did tip, I would never forget. The next time they came in I would do something special for them to repay the favor, like having their car washed and vac..

This may be wrong, but it was what I did.

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You should get personal satisfaction when tipping a guide, you shouldn't have the midset that "I'm out 50 bucks". You should be thinking that "this guy gave me a great day on the water so I'm going to show my appreciation". I work as a bartender paying off student loans and am the first to say that tips mean more than just the sum of money you make. It makes you feel like people appreciatte your service.

I would tip a guide 15-20 percent on a good day, maybe even more on a day where i felt that i gained much more than i expected out of a trip. I can't believe how many people on here are anti-tip, customers forget that they aren't there to see a guide getting the boat ready the night before, or a bartender or serving scrubbing the floor at 3 in the morning, I'm surely doing more during my shift than "reaching in the cooler and grabbing you a beer."

It seems there are a lot of hard feelings when it comes to this topic. just do what you feel is right and what you feel comfortable with, whether that means leaving a tip or not.

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I think it would depend on the circumstance, and how I was prepaired for it. I feel I dont have to tip, but if I think the person, guide or whoever tried to do his best, was friendly, and if I had a good time, I would. I also think if I was paying $600 for 5 people for a half a day fishing, I should expect a good time, a friendly host, that does his best to make sure his services were top notch. Then at the end of the trip would I still tip? Sometimes it is a financial thing. I dont have a ton of money laying around, if I spend $600 for 5 people to fish, I am going to be a little tight on cash for the rest of my trip, so the tip might be low, or forgoten, not because I didnt enjoy myself, but because I dont have an extra $50 to drop for a tip.

So should I just not go to the trip because I dont have the extra $50, or should I go, and let them know I had a good time?

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