Should a guide fish while guiding?

[GiBo]

Went to visit my mom in HI over the holidays. She got me half day guided bone fishing trip for xmas. So we go out and he drifts me over the flats for a couple of hours. Then we tie up and he instructs me on how I should work the drop off. I start fishing and I look over and he's walking off with his rod. He spent over an hour about 100 yards away fishing on his own. Is this odd for a guide? I kind of thought it was. I've only used a guide one time before and he was all over us.

[schwerty]

A little odd for him to fish for an hour! You're paying him to guide you, not fish himself.

[rideit]

Were you crushing it?
If yes, well, he did his job!
If not...you should have given him a bill, and asked for a tip.

If HE was catching fish and you weren't, well...dogshit under the gunwhales!

[GiBo]

No, that's the thing. I missed about five on the flats. Then when he started fishing the drop, he caught what he called a 'little gold fish". You can imagine the feeling of watching your guide reeling in a fish while you're getting skunked. I wasn't happy. If he's getting paid, seems to me his number one priority should be getting me into fish...

[rideit]

There is only one way.
A proper e-lynching.

[GiBo]

Haha! While I was miffed, I don't know if unleashing the maggot collective on him is warranted. That's hardcore, man!

I really was just asking because I've only used a guide once before and don't know the ins and outs of guiding etiquette. It seemed odd to me. Ya, if I was killing it on my own, then maybe...

[criscam]

had a guide for a half day of bonefishing in grand cayman. we were just walking the shallows. he carried a rod but never made a cast. we saw a few schools and i only got a jack so maybe that's why he didn't drop. toward the end i kinda woulda liked to see him throw it in to see if it were me or him .

[icb12]

It really depends on the guide, the client, and their relationship.

In general-it's not all that common for a guide to fish while clients are. Thats the reason so many guides get out of the business, you lose your love for fishing because you're never actually fishing.

Everyone is different. For instance, when I go guided, I prefer the guide fishes. I tell them up front that I am going to treat them like a fishing buddy. Perhaps a much more experienced fishing buddy. I tell them to give me the basics, then leave me alone, go have fun. Truth be told I learn a lot more from watching the guide actually fish during the day than I do with him/her hovering all around constantly peppering me with advice and instructions. I even offer to row through a hole, or pole around for a while while they fish.

For ME; going guided is much more about the learning experience than it is about catching fish. If he/she is catching fish and I'm not I wade over and ask questions. Just like when your fishing buddy is catching fish and you aren't- "hey man, what you got on?" "hey-how deep are you fishing?" etc etc

It's all about the relationship. I treat it less like guide/client, and more like new friend who also loves to fish. Works for me. Won't necessarily work for everyone.

[plugboots]

I've been guided a lot, maybe over 20 guides. Only one time did the guide fish and that was near Rockport Texas. It wasn't a big deal really because the schools of reds came in pretty thick, and didn't spook easy. My buddy and I still thought it was a dickish move and never hired him again. I then heard most of the guides near there fish while they guide. Whatever. Anyway, in Hawaii I've used 2 guides and neither fished. Especially there, I would want the guide spotting for fish. The flats tend to be deeper, and I'd want the extra eyes.
In Ascension Bay you get 2 guides/boat and neither fishes, one poles/spots, the other clears your line as you strip, or takes the boat to the end of a flat while you wade and fish with the other guide.

[ak_powder_monkey]

As a guide I don't fish unless the clients invite me to fish more than once, and they are getting into fish. I also use a technique that is less effective for catching.

Your guide shouldn't fish unless you invite him to. As I client I want my guide to fish with me, or more likely help my dad catch fish. I've caught enough fish in my life.

[Troglodyte]

Christmas Island. Tenaki never fished just spotted.......he did catch the mantis shrimp for us. Midway island.......the captain fished on the last day after we offered several times. It is totally classless for a guide to fish unless for instructional purposes.

In Belize I was on my own.....except for these helpers. Small fish big fun.

[neckdeep]

Guides SHOULD fish if the ? is why aren't the fish biting. But this is just to find the right fly and the taking depth and then its back to tending to the clients needs. Your guide sucked, plain and simple. For flats fishing, the guide should be walking with you to spot fish and to carry a 2nd rod so that he just hands you that one while rerigging the other. He should be there to say helpfull advice like, "hey, thats a stingray. Dont step on it".

[plugboots]

^^^ I know! WTF, I was trying to be nice. I forgot I was on TGR for a second. That guide was not a guide, he was a douchebag.

[irul&ublo]

Flaming Bag of Poo!

[GiBo]

Well, that's kind of what I thought. He literally took off and was off on his own for quite a while. He was a local bra and I'm not sure he was schooled in the finer points of guiding. I almost felt like saying, "Uh, dude. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to take off."

I can see icb's point and if it was a type of fishing I was more familiar with I might do that, but this was my second time bone fishing- the first time not guided and just winging it blind casting. So the whole point of the trip- besides the drift boat- was instruction, tips and sighting.

Oh well. I'll use some one else next time...

[Hugh Conway]

Your guide sounds .... Hawaiian in attitude

[rideit]

I also use a technique that is less effective for catching.

Do you EVER stop talking about your love life?

[Crystal_Mt_Dreamin]

Do you EVER stop talking about your love life?

Legit LOL

[warthog]

OK, you said you "missed" 5. Did he put you on the fish, and you didn't get them to bite? If so, many guides feel they have done their job. They don;t feel they are there to teach you how to fish, only locate the fish. I would say out of the guides I know, I would only fish with 3 of them, ever.

[gretch6364]

Sounds dick to me...I would never use him again.

[GiBo]

I cast too close the first time and they bolted. Next couple of times they just didn't come to the fly. Last time the fish chased but didn't hit.

I wouldn't say he put me on fish due to any special skill. We drifted the flat and came to them where they lay. I would have drifted the same way if alone as that's the way the wind was going. He was a good spotter though- he saw fish way before I did.

I disagree a little on the teaching aspect. The other time I used a guide was for trout- which I've fished for my whole life- but the guide taught me things about that particular fishery and how to fish it that I didn't know. Showed me a couple of things to improve my casting too.

[TNKen]

I don't guide, but I do take tons of folks fishing. Around here, dragging for stripers is pretty simple. Trout or shad, feed them out, run out planer boards and I drive. Rod goes down, reel. Only issue is sometimes newbies can't set the hook. If that's the case, I'll hook and hand off. Pitching bait usually requires a little more skill.

On our trout, I use spinner and small lure. There is one particular retrieve that will boat fish. If I were a guide, I could see working to teach clients the technique. Or not....

[warthog]

I disagree a little on the teaching aspect.

Well so do I, but many guides do not feel that is their job. I personally would only pay for a guide that was willing to teach me something. That is a discussion you have before you plop down the cash. Like I said, there are only 3 I would fish with, and I have met tons. Go down to the Keys and pay Hook to take you around. He knows what's up. Even on the snottiest of days, he'll put you on something.

Now, if you were slapping the water like you were in a bullwhip contest, you might know why he went 100 yards away.

[2nd mate]

I would have been pissed if I were you, you hired him to get you fish. If he were doing his job he would have been helping you LAND fish with all his local knowledge, not off casting on his own. My guide pulled the same type of thing on me in St. Martin and the guy was crap the whole time.

[teleee]

Not acceptable. EVER! That is like hiring someone to paint your house and he sits on the porch drinking your beer whie you tape all the windows.