tipping "guides"

[PEATMOSS]

Our group has always fished at resorts that have drive-to houses and generally not an awful lot of expected service other than some guy in a plow truck poking his head into the shack once a day.

This year we booked with a place that has bomber transport, bait and fish cleaning included. We're not getting old and lazy, just didn't book early enough elsewhere

The resort we're staying at refers to their bomber drivers as "guides". With the increaded level of service, I'm assuming that some sort of gratuity is more or less expected. My dilema is that I don't want to be a jerk and stiff some poor working guy, but at the same time I'm an ordinary working class guy myself and don't have a wad of cash to be throwing around.

Any advice appreciated.

[clamtrap]

I think that its right to tip but you have to tip to the service that they give and your group has to be happy and willing to go back.

[Scotteye]

If you feel they help put you on the fish and/or gave you some additional help, I would tip them; especially if they move you and/or move your house to get you on fish. If they just drove the bomber, and you didn't feel they added to your trip, don't tip them. I know they call them "guides", but I really do not think they give the level of service of a "guide"....or at least that has been my experience on the South Shore. Now on the NW Angle, I have and will tip the guide as I feel he really works hard to keep us happy and on fish.

[dogs]

If they just drop you off and pick you up, don't really see the need to tip. If they stop in and check on you and nothing is going and they move you around, I would tip 20.00

[Walleyehooker]

They probably call them guides because they probably run their charter boats in the summer.So in a sense they are guides.However there is a lot more involved in running a charter boat and they are taking care of you for hours in the summer.Running you out to a house in a bomber isnt much guiding involved.Im not a big tipper myself but if I go to a resturant and the waiter is very friendly and comes around to ask if you need anything and does a good job I leave a tip.Same with a bomber driver.And of coarse if your calling yourself guide and the fishing sucks well dont expect a tip.

[Josh_Flem]

"Service is key" they call them guides and yes they bring you out to your house, drop you off, and check in on you throughout the day. What a lot of people don't realize is there is a lot of work that gets done behind the scenes to put houses on fish. I have fished Lake of the Woods for many years and can tell you in the winter fishing out of resorts it a crapshoot as to which houses are catching fish. Sure there are times that every house out there catches an abundance of fish but its in the minority. some houses are slamming fish while 100 yards away "same depth" nobody is cathing a thing, moral of the story is the "guides" (yes a lot of them guide in the summer as well) spend their time in between checking on houses; moving houses to areas that have been producing. There has to be a feeling of being taken care while on the ice reguardless of catching fish, as any fisherman knows there is no guarentee of catching fish whether you know a lake like tha back of your hand or not. I believe they deserve a tip regardless but the amount of tip depends more on the service as it does on the amout of fish you catch.

[holmsvc]

If you are catching fish and they are cleaning them I think $20 a person is the min. I have tipped between $25-40 on trips like you are talking about for 2 days. We have always caught fish so idk what to say if you don't do at least ok.

[LakeoftheWoods]

i agree. some guides bust their asrses on the ice, some are worthless. if you get a good set of guides do tip. you will definatley know when you have good guides or not.

[Maker Of Shoe]

I'm sure each resort is a little different but do you tip per day or just at the end of the trip?

[mrmanners]

Depends on what the guide provided for you. Last time we were up at Arneson's I had a malfunction with some batteries in the camera and a beer shortage so the guide ran more out. He got a nice tip that day and then the next he gave us some tips on what to use for a rig and bang we caught quite a bit more so another decent tip again.