The first thing to remember is to be honest with the guide about what you need and how much experience you have walleye fishing. The more information you provide, the better off you will be with the guide. If you are a beginner and using a guide, they can show you some great tips for fishing the walleye. If you are less than honest, you may not catch anything. If you have any limitations, do tell the guide so they can accommodate your needs.
Talking to other people about the different guides they have used is a excellent way to find a good walleye fishing guide. You can plan a fishing trip that might be similar to their trip and have the same fun and excitement. You can also ask the guide for referrals of people who have used their service. Keep in mind that you cannot just talk to one person, you need to have a few people to talk to, to see how their fishing experience was and if the guide was as good as he or she has said. This is very important when choosing a fishing guide.
If you are reading this article, you can access the Internet, find many reviews of different guides, and see what guides are available in different areas. You might be planning your trip to one area when you find a walleye fishing guide with perks in another area that meets your needs. You can search by state, city or by finding some reviews of the specific lakes or rivers. The Internet is a great way to find out information. The walleye fishing forums are also a great wealth of information.
Two important things that make a guide credible are the insurance and license. Always ask for proof of insurance and a license. If the guide has insurance and a license great, if not, they are not recognized by that particular state as a reputable walleye fishing guide. Every guide should have insurance in case something would happen to the boat or to your equipment as well as yourself. The license comes from the Coast Guard and means that the boat was inspected and the boat owner has the proper training needed to run a guide service. This includes first aid training and boating safety.
You should pick a guide by what is included in the price. If you do not ask questions about what the guide includes, you may find some added costs when you arrive for a day of fishing. A good guide service should have the bait, gear and tackle that you need if you do not want to bring your own. You should find out if they buy the fishing license or do you have to as well as do they provide any lunches or beverage. In most cases, you are responsible for your food, beverages and fishing license.
Find out if there any discounts or special package deals. If you have a group, you might find that some guide services offer a discount for more people. If you book more than one day, will you receive a discount should also be discussed. Just because the guide service does not advertise a discount, you should still ask the question just in case they have one in place that they give to customers upon making reservations.
There are several good reasons to use a fishing guide. The best reason is simply to catch more fish! With a good guide, you will definitely go home with more cats. You can also learn a lot from a fishing guide. Whether you are just starting out angling, or are an experienced catfisher with years under your belt, you can always learn something new. Let's face it; fishing is not something you can learn about from reading textbooks or even watching videos. You can get a lot more out of one day with a good fishing guide than you would with a whole library of fishing videos.
Getting a guide is a little expensive, ranging anywhere from $100-$500 a day, but you can cut down costs by splitting it with a couple of good buddies. Fishing guides can also be offered along with fishing vacation packages.
How To Find A Good Fishing Guide
The best way to find a good guide is through recommendation. If a fishing buddy of yours mentions that they've gone out with a guide, and was happy with the trip, that's your best bet.
Another great way to find a fishing guide is to ask at the local bait shop. Bait and tackle shops do much more than just sell you gear. Think of it as your local fishing information center. They'll probably be able to recommend several good guides for you and you can take your pick. You can also check out the local yellow pages.
One good way to find a fishing guide is to get fancy and high tech, and look online. There are websites like Cyberangler that have listings of fishing guides by state. You can also simply type in "fishing guide" and the name of the area where you'll be fishing into Google or any other search engine, and it will show you some fishing guides in that area. Fishing guides are mostly local, and mostly operate in out of the way places, so the 'net offers a great tool for finding them.
However you decide to find your guide, make sure that they are licensed before you hire them. There are two reasons for this. For one thing, an unlicensed fishing guide may not know his left from right. If he's licensed, that guarantees that you've got somebody who knows something about something. The other reason is that you have to make sure you are fishing according to local and state regulations. A licensed fishing guide will do everything legit and by the book, and that's to your advantage.
What Your Fishing Guide Will Do
Basically, your fishing guide knows their fishing, and they know the local angler. If you are a novice angler, they will be able to impart some priceless catfishing knowledge to you. They can give you some tips and techniques, and you can learn quite a bit from just one trip with a good fishing guide.
If you're a more experienced angler, a good fishing guide can help you find catfish in their local area. Every body of water across the country is different, and a local fishing guide will be knowledgeable and experienced in their area. Just think about it - a fishing guide spends most of every single day out on the water fishing. Not only that, his career depends on how much he knows about catfishing. This means that a good, licensed fishing guide will be able to teach any of us weekend anglers a thing or three.