From: gcp1815@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing
Subject: Re: Tipping your guide
Date: 16 Aug 92 03:25:39 GMT
Reply-To: gcp1815@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Organization: Montana State University

In article <Bswp06.L2p@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, kenf@siksika.slip.uiuc.edu (Ken Fortenberry) writes:
>In article <92Aug12.212220.34784@acs.ucalgary.ca> powlesla@acs.ucalgary.ca (Jim  
>B. Powlesland) writes:
>> 
>
>I called Avon Outfitters and he (Robin Cunningham) had no problem
>with my requirements. I said, "sounds good, I'll call you back."
>A friend on campus had recommended George Anderson's so I called
>them. They said the standard charge was $225 but since the guide 

      Robin Cunningham is a good friend of mine--fellow guide,
etc. You're in good hands, although late summer heat-wave fishing
usually isn't the best.
     Actually, I'm not a guide anymore: I did my last trip
forever about a week ago, (I got a "real" job, writing 
computer programs, of all things) and boy am I relieved. Fishing 
guiding is fun, and most of your "clients" are good people,
but the hours are crazy and the work is incredibly hard. I spent 
twenty years in the construction trades, before going back to 
school, and I know what I'm talking about. Measured strictly
in terms of physical effort, I'd choose an easy day of roof-
framing before 8-10 hours of wading, walking the boat, dodging
flies and pulling on the oars of a 16' drift boat, bucking an
all-day upstream wind. 
     When you get home, your arms are sore and your back aches 
like hell, and you still have to hose out the boat, swamp out 
the cooler, take a shower, eat some food, wave hello at the wife 
and collapse in the bed by eleven o'clock, if you're lucky. And
then it starts all over again at 5:00 in the morning. To make
guiding pay, you have to stack as many days together as you can.
Paul Rice, who is great guy--and a top Yellowstone River guide--
who also works for George Anderson--once did 89 out of 90 days!
Another good friend, who has been guiding in Montana for fifteen
or so years now, gets an ulcer every summer--from stress, long
hot sun and exhaustion. Trips to the Park are nice, because you
don't have to row, but you seldom get home before 10:00, so it's
midnight, usually, before you can think about sleep. 
     When the fishing is hot, you're a hero. But when the fishing
is slow, as it usually is in late summer, your clients--who came
with sky-high expectations--start talking about the "good guide"
they worked with last summer. And late summer is when too many
people come. The fishing stores won't tell you that, because they
want your money. But the best fishing (excepting high-altitude
stuff, like the Park) comes in spring, before the run-off, then
maybe 2-3 weeks right after the run-off, and then not again until
fall, from about the 3rd week in September on. Late August and
early September is usually awful--only mad dogs and fishing
guides go out in the brain dead sun.
     $200 - $250 a day sounds like a lot of profit, but $20 gas,
a $15 shuttle fee, $15 for lunch stuff, plus a $35-$50 cut to the
outfitter or booking agent, plus 10,000 to 15000 miles of tire
wear, liability insurance, bad clutches and blown engines later
leaves you wondering why you didn't drive nails instead. Fishing
guides earn their tips! 

//Sandy Pittendirigh