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Posts: 102
| It has been many years since I have been out with a guide. What would an acceptable tip be for a decent full day on the water where the guide provided good instruction, conversation and fishing? |
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Posts: 1671
| For a very enjoyable educational day I would say 25% of his fee.
For a day to watch him fish for free I would say $10. |
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Posts: 1516
| I have usually tipped about $50.00 if I am alone maybe a bit more with two. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Same scale as one would tip for any skilled service, where the person you hired brings his own 'tools & equipment' to the jobsite. m |
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Posts: 1197
| Years ago I fished with a guide for a day and it was a slow day at best and at the end of the day I tried to tip him and he would not take it. The last time I fished with a guide we fished a very long an hard day with a hour and a half break in the middle
(Fished from 8am to 2:30 then back out 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm) Long October day and he was tipped for sure he really worked hard to get us a fish. We got nothing but had good time on the water! |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | mikie - 7/3/2020 4:27 PM
Same scale as one would tip for any skilled service, where the person you hired brings his own 'tools & equipment' to the jobsite. m
So we should be tipping carpenters, plumbers, concrete finishers and electricians now ? What about doctors and dentists ? |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Ha...! I use my own tools/eq. and 43 yrs. of Professional experience and Never have
been tipped  Perhaps it's the way I smell ? 
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Posts: 536
Location: deephaven mn | I agreei think the tip is allready included in the cost. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | dfkiii - 6/26/2021 8:14 PM
mikie - 7/3/2020 4:27 PM
Same scale as one would tip for any skilled service, where the person you hired brings his own 'tools & equipment' to the jobsite. m
So we should be tipping carpenters, plumbers, concrete finishers and electricians now ? What about doctors and dentists ?
I am not sure about all those others, but certainly plumbers.... |
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| 14ledo81 - 6/29/2021 3:32 PM
dfkiii - 6/26/2021 8:14 PM
mikie - 7/3/2020 4:27 PM
Same scale as one would tip for any skilled service, where the person you hired brings his own 'tools & equipment' to the jobsite. m
So we should be tipping carpenters, plumbers, concrete finishers and electricians now ? What about doctors and dentists ?
I am not sure about all those others, but certainly plumbers....
Ha! A completely objective observation. |
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Posts: 1023
| Interesting conversation, always has been.
My belief? It's a tip. Discretionary. Not automatic.
Bring a bunch of cash, tip as you see fit, if at all. There are no hard rules on this one. |
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Posts: 17
| The way I look at it is if it is a sole proprietorship and they set their own rates they better ask for what they need up front and not depend on tips.
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Gottagofast - 6/30/2021 9:52 AM
The way I look at it is if it is a sole proprietorship and they set their own rates they better ask for what they need up front and not depend on tips.
This is interesting.
I wonder if the idea that we need to tip a guide came from back when many guides worked out of large resorts for hourly pay? |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Minnesota. | I'm gonna BE "THAT GUY" here.
I totally HATE tipping. It simply is expected from a guide or you'd best not hire him again. Why??? You paid him his fee, he should give you a good days guiding, period!
"IF" if behooves you to feel generous and you wanna pony up more cash, so be it, it's totally up to you but IMNSHO it's out of line for a guide to "expect" it. And they all do!!!
I've hired three guides in my life, one on the Madison R in Mt fly fishing. He worked his arse off and it didn't bother me to tip him pretty well! Another was Dick G. aka The Grizz for a walleye trip on the St. Croix. Also worked his arse off and got tipped accordingly. B/C I "wanted" to and the river was new to me.
Last was a fellow on Vermilion who also gave us a full day out and was tipped accordingly b/c he worked pretty hard imho even though we said we didn't expect to boat a fish per se' but wanted to learn much. My friend and I both had fished muskies on Vermilion for 30 yrs so....we knew what to expect! Learned some good stuff, mostly about figure-8'ing.....
That said imho tipping..."expected" tipping sucks! It be on a merit basis only. If I weren't happy with my experience there would've been no tip. Just the same if you get poor or worse service in a restaurant.
It's gotten out of hand when the talk turns to mail carriers, you carpenter, the yard guy etc etc. I'm 100% against it! You pay for a job to be well done and it should be well done for the contractual amount. Period...
Tipping's a royal PITA and has gotten way out of hand...unless YOU WANT to tip.
Sorry but I'm a point blank sort's boy.
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Posts: 2280
Location: Chisholm, MN | Jeremy - 6/30/2021 3:36 PM
I'm gonna BE "THAT GUY" here.
I totally HATE tipping. It simply is expected from a guide or you'd best not hire him again. Why??? You paid him his fee, he should give you a good days guiding, period!
"IF" if behooves you to feel generous and you wanna pony up more cash, so be it, it's totally up to you but IMNSHO it's out of line for a guide to "expect" it. And they all do!!!
I've hired three guides in my life, one on the Madison R in Mt fly fishing. He worked his arse off and it didn't bother me to tip him pretty well! Another was Dick G. aka The Grizz for a walleye trip on the St. Croix. Also worked his arse off and got tipped accordingly. B/C I "wanted" to and the river was new to me.
Last was a fellow on Vermilion who also gave us a full day out and was tipped accordingly b/c he worked pretty hard imho even though we said we didn't expect to boat a fish per se' but wanted to learn much. My friend and I both had fished muskies on Vermilion for 30 yrs so....we knew what to expect! Learned some good stuff, mostly about figure-8'ing.....
That said imho tipping..."expected" tipping sucks! It be on a merit basis only. If I weren't happy with my experience there would've been no tip. Just the same if you get poor or worse service in a restaurant.
It's gotten out of hand when the talk turns to mail carriers, you carpenter, the yard guy etc etc. I'm 100% against it! You pay for a job to be well done and it should be well done for the contractual amount. Period...
Tipping's a royal PITA and has gotten way out of hand...unless YOU WANT to tip.
Sorry but I'm a point blank sort's boy.
I think you're right in that the product should be 100% every time regardless of tip and I think any good guide realizes that. However if a guide does go above and beyond, they should expect a tip. For example, the fish weren't biting for the 8 hour trip you paid for so the guide gives you 2 more hours. That deserves a tip. I guided for a few years and I was almost always tipped nicely. Sometimes more that I would ever expect. But I had no problem giving my all to get them a fish or 3. I would change lakes, go extra long, wake up extra early, stay late, and in 1 instance I guided all day, then all-night and into the morning. Those were the guys that didn't tip me. I was a little thrown off by that. I felt 21 hours of fishing for 2 guys that didn't try very hard was worth a few extra $ but I guess not. It was their idea to do a marathon. I learned my lesson. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Minnesota. | Kirby Budrow - 6/30/2021 3:49 PM
Jeremy - 6/30/2021 3:36 PM
I'm gonna BE "THAT GUY" here.
I totally HATE tipping. It simply is expected from a guide or you'd best not hire him again. Why??? You paid him his fee, he should give you a good days guiding, period!
"IF" if behooves you to feel generous and you wanna pony up more cash, so be it, it's totally up to you but IMNSHO it's out of line for a guide to "expect" it. And they all do!!!
I've hired three guides in my life, one on the Madison R in Mt fly fishing. He worked his arse off and it didn't bother me to tip him pretty well! Another was Dick G. aka The Grizz for a walleye trip on the St. Croix. Also worked his arse off and got tipped accordingly. B/C I "wanted" to and the river was new to me.
Last was a fellow on Vermilion who also gave us a full day out and was tipped accordingly b/c he worked pretty hard imho even though we said we didn't expect to boat a fish per se' but wanted to learn much. My friend and I both had fished muskies on Vermilion for 30 yrs so....we knew what to expect! Learned some good stuff, mostly about figure-8'ing.....
That said imho tipping..."expected" tipping sucks! It be on a merit basis only. If I weren't happy with my experience there would've been no tip. Just the same if you get poor or worse service in a restaurant.
It's gotten out of hand when the talk turns to mail carriers, you carpenter, the yard guy etc etc. I'm 100% against it! You pay for a job to be well done and it should be well done for the contractual amount. Period...
Tipping's a royal PITA and has gotten way out of hand...unless YOU WANT to tip.
Sorry but I'm a point blank sort's boy.
I think you're right in that the product should be 100% every time regardless of tip and I think any good guide realizes that. However if a guide does go above and beyond, they should expect a tip. For example, the fish weren't biting for the 8 hour trip you paid for so the guide gives you 2 more hours. That deserves a tip. I guided for a few years and I was almost always tipped nicely. Sometimes more that I would ever expect. But I had no problem giving my all to get them a fish or 3. I would change lakes, go extra long, wake up extra early, stay late, and in 1 instance I guided all day, then all-night and into the morning. Those were the guys that didn't tip me. I was a little thrown off by that. I felt 21 hours of fishing for 2 guys that didn't try very hard was worth a few extra $ but I guess not. It was their idea to do a marathon. I learned my lesson.
Kirby, I totally agree with you. You went WAY above and beyond. I'd have happily tipped you very well in that instance!!! Wow, what a guy!!! Thank you...
Jeremy. |
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Posts: 8722
| I'd say $50 is "standard" for a guide. I've paid some as much as $100 for what I felt was well above what could reasonably expected from them in terms of time and effort. I've failed to tip some, too, for reasons like:
Showed up an hour late
Didn't say anything about where we were fishing, why, what sort of structure, etc.
Didn't even pay attention to what I/we were doing and just fished all day like we weren't even in the boat
Spent half the day on the phone
And one guy who didn't get a tip because quite frankly he was an a-hole
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Posts: 32801
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Jeremy - 6/30/2021 3:36 PM
I'm gonna BE "THAT GUY" here.
I totally HATE tipping. It simply is expected from a guide or you'd best not hire him again. Why??? You paid him his fee, he should give you a good days guiding, period!
"IF" if behooves you to feel generous and you wanna pony up more cash, so be it, it's totally up to you but IMNSHO it's out of line for a guide to "expect" it. And they all do!!!
I've hired three guides in my life, one on the Madison R in Mt fly fishing. He worked his arse off and it didn't bother me to tip him pretty well! Another was Dick G. aka The Grizz for a walleye trip on the St. Croix. Also worked his arse off and got tipped accordingly. B/C I "wanted" to and the river was new to me.
Last was a fellow on Vermilion who also gave us a full day out and was tipped accordingly b/c he worked pretty hard imho even though we said we didn't expect to boat a fish per se' but wanted to learn much. My friend and I both had fished muskies on Vermilion for 30 yrs so....we knew what to expect! Learned some good stuff, mostly about figure-8'ing.....
That said imho tipping..."expected" tipping sucks! It be on a merit basis only. If I weren't happy with my experience there would've been no tip. Just the same if you get poor or worse service in a restaurant.
It's gotten out of hand when the talk turns to mail carriers, you carpenter, the yard guy etc etc. I'm 100% against it! You pay for a job to be well done and it should be well done for the contractual amount. Period...
Tipping's a royal PITA and has gotten way out of hand...unless YOU WANT to tip.
Sorry but I'm a point blank sort's boy.
I guided for 25 years, and just entered the fray again this year. I never 'expect' a tip, but if the client is inclined to thank me additionally for my work, I'll happily accept. From a guide's point of view, there are clients I won't book again, too. All of the above diatribe is just that, because ALL tips are voluntary, and that sums it up. I'm a guide, and do NOT expect a tip, so there goes that line.
My clients don't tip me because of anything anyone says here.
By the way, I will only guide muskies for previous clients on the 5th Saturday of a full moon in December, and it's been 10 years since I have guided a client muskie fishing. |
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Posts: 32801
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | dfkiii - 6/26/2021 8:14 PM
mikie - 7/3/2020 4:27 PM
Same scale as one would tip for any skilled service, where the person you hired brings his own 'tools & equipment' to the jobsite. m
So we should be tipping carpenters, plumbers, concrete finishers and electricians now ? What about doctors and dentists ?
Those professionals don't deal with clients hands-on for 8 to ten hours expected to entertain, educate, etc. and they most certainly are not going to teach anyone much. According to a simple dental procedure (replace a filling)I had yesterday, if guides charged accordingly it would cost about $3500. That's more along the line of an outfitter. My 'tools' cost about $35000, and that's cheap, I charge about $50 an hour, nothing for expenses, parts, etc. My mechanic charges $67 plus extra for anything he owned that I go home with and that's not bad. If he had to put up with me learning how to do his job for 8 hours straight, provide the tools to me to do so for the day and not give a crap if I lose, take home, or break anything, entertain me and make sure I left with more than I came in with, you better believe I'd tip the guy. |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | sworrall - 6/30/2021 11:09 PM
dfkiii - 6/26/2021 8:14 PM
mikie - 7/3/2020 4:27 PM
Same scale as one would tip for any skilled service, where the person you hired brings his own 'tools & equipment' to the jobsite. m
So we should be tipping carpenters, plumbers, concrete finishers and electricians now ? What about doctors and dentists ?
Those professionals don't deal with clients hands-on for 8 to ten hours expected to entertain, educate, etc. and they most certainly are not going to teach anyone much. According to a simple dental procedure (replace a filling )I had yesterday, if guides charged accordingly it would cost about $3500. That's more along the line of an outfitter. My 'tools' cost about $35000, and that's cheap, I charge about $50 an hour, nothing for expenses, parts, etc. My mechanic charges $67 plus extra for anything he owned that I go home with and that's not bad. If he had to put up with me learning how to do his job for 8 hours straight, provide the tools to me to do so for the day and not give a crap if I lose, take home, or break anything, entertain me and make sure I left with more than I came in with, you better believe I'd tip the guy.
Operative phrase in the post I responded to: "any skilled service".
I have no issues tipping guides. In fact, I've done it every time (as I had the good fortune to have good experiences). |
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Posts: 32801
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Me either! |
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Posts: 1023
| Running down memory lane here....
I've been fortunate enough to expense a lot of guide trips for my clients throughout the years. Probably hired 10 different guides at time or another, for multiple species of fish.
One guy sticks out to me as a "bad" guide. Bass guide. Told him that the the goal of the trip was to get my wife on fish and show her how to work the baits. Told him that I didn't care if I caught fish, so long as she did.
The guide fished all day, kept quiet and kept to himself. No help for my wife. I think I caught 12 bass, the guide got 15 and my wife got nothing. Halfway through the trip, I had to show her how to work a bait. Not the guide. He just handed her a rod and told her to cast.
And...he was 45 minutes late to the launch. (Cardinal sin for a guide.)
No tip. And I'd never use him again.
Flash forward, we hired another bass guide this spring. Dude worked his tail off. Explained structure, time of year, baits....etc. And he worked a lot with my wife to get her using multiple baits effectively, even when the fish weren't exactly "on".
Even gave us an extra 45 minutes quick fishing around our cottage and showing us good spots to hit.
He got 7, I got 4, she got 3. Tough day, tougher year. But we knew that going in. We rebooked him for next year during our vacation as soon as we were back to the launch.
We went out two days later, hit a few of the new spots we learned. Used a few new baits, she got 20, I got 10. Yah, she usually outfishes me for bass. Texted the guide and he was thrilled.
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