how to become a fly fishing guide

[Yotrout]

Lol Buffalo.

*Assuming you have the knowledge and experience required.

It seems to me that if you want to guide all you need to do is get the liability insurance and apply for the permit. 250k of liability insurance is pretty cheap. My company has a million covered and i pay $48 bucks a month. Now factor in website, marketing, phone lines, tax id's, and employees etc. Its all relatively cheap to do and you don't have to get it all at once. For instance you obviously will start with a website, your cell phone, and business cards. Then as your clientel grows so will your business and it's image. BUT, and i stress this, Don't quit your day job! Your business will literally become like a child. It's a gradual progression and takes time to grow healthy. You wouldn't force feed your baby, you would feed it when it's hungry. I applaud you on your efforts to make money doing something you love and can tell you that you CAN do it no matter what ANYONE says. I truly hope it all works out for you. If you need any assistance (With the business aspect) please feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

[Yotrout]

gfen wrote:

jdaddy wrote:
Ya, they say you should turn your passion into a career for ultimate success, but I don't know about this. Seems turning your passion into a job would suck.

I used to love all things technology and computers.

Now I hate everything about them, and pick hobbies in which I use a computer only in the most tangential way.

Find a job that involves your passion, sure, but making a passion into a job is a surefire way to find out you hate it.

I have to disagree. Each person is an individual. Trust me, i love what i do but i could grow to hate it anyday now and if i do ill change it but ill never do something i do not enjoy doing. Making someone else money while constantly wondering if they were going to repurpose my cubicle is not my idea of a life. Those days are long gone. What if you start a guide service yourself? It would be easy to discard the idea that you would just eventually grow to hate it but you'll never know unless you try.

I have to agree with tech and computers as a source of profit. I too made that leap in college organizing my first business. It was mildly successful but i lost the love so i moved on. It's called adaptation. Not only to your market, but to yourself as well.

 

[buffalo7]

I've never did check on it, but a now extict fly shop that I used to go to, had a guide service and I was told the National Parks require 1million in insurance to get a permit from them. I'm only going by his word. I would not get into it Ive given it a long thought over the years and things have changed also. there is one fly shop 30 miles from me that has everything tied up around here and includeing fishing trips in New Zealand and Patagonia and all that. I'm waiting for sandfly to come down here and open a shop.

 

[Yotrout]

A guide service is assuming an individual has all the knowledge and experience attained to be able to teach. I would feel weird having a guide younger than myself (31) as i would feel put off that he or she had not attained the proper knowledge or experience to do so. However, thats where your marketing skills come into play. Shoot video of people you know catching fish. Add music make it exciting. Show yourself teaching. Show different locations. Marketing will get you the clients, it's your skills that will keep them and get them to tell there friends.

 

[gfen]

Yotrout wrote:
What if you start a guide service yourself? It would be easy to discard the idea that you would just eventually grow to hate it but you'll never know unless you try.

Don't sh*t where you eat. This axiom applies not only to people you yearn to know Biblically, but to all things that give you a modicum of pleasure.

 

[Yotrout]

True, but would you grow to hate fishing or operating a guide service? I still enjoy these forums which requires a computer and apparently so do you.

 

[TDB]

I guess it just depends on ther person whether they love or hate it. As far as becoming one, get a ton of experience, target an audience and some venues. The tough part is marketing, but over time things will work out. It likely will not be something that is fruitful enough to warrant full time initially but could grow to that.

I've been guiding my buddies for years for free so just decided to branch out!...

Best of luck!

 

[stevehalupka]

in pa, doesn't insurance only encompass those operating drift boats and the like? Are you sure a simplistic wading guide needs insurance?? Couldn't you have non-liability statements signed by the parties being served??

i thought you only had to have your cpr certification and the 100 dollar license fee?

 

[stevehalupka]

gfen,

your dreams about me are just fine, I'll be that guy for now, but when it comes your turn, don't get sour on me

 

[buffalo7]

stevehalupka wrote:
in pa, doesn't insurance only encompass those operating drift boats and the like? Are you sure a simplistic wading guide needs insurance?? Couldn't you have non-liability statements signed by the parties being served??

i thought you only had to have your cpr certification and the 100 dollar license fee?

When I was talking about insurance, I was referring to my area, Shenandoah National Park. I would guess that all the national parks would be the same, That may not hold true for the Alleghany National Forest. The Parks are under U.S. Park Service and the national forest are under U.S. dept. of acgriculture U.S. Forest Service.

 

[TDB]

U also need insurance in PA to be a registered guide. This is in addition to the application, $100 fee, and CPR/First Aid Certification

For boating, whether drift boat or motorized - you need to have completed an accredited Boater's Safety Course (in addition to everything else).

I've always thought all this was a bit excessive seeing that I can guide deer and turkey hunts with no license or anything...?

 

[gfen]

stevehalupka wrote:
gfen,

your dreams about me are just fine, I'll be that guy for now, but when it comes your turn, don't get sour on me

huh? dude, my tractor don't plow that field.

 

[stevehalupka]

lol you're in left field picking daisies, that's for sure...

you can make fun of my leader formulas and single spey casts all ya want buddy. If it makes your day that much better, then I would be a bummer to rain on that parade.

 

[Squaretail]

How to become a guide?
One of the first things you must learn to do that arent required by law is to put down your rod, except for instructional purposes. And if a trout should come to your fly, it should be pulled away to save the feeding fish for your client, no matter how nice the fish.
You prepared to do that?

no matter how nice the fish.

Its alot easier to say it than do it, and you cant get frustrated (or atleast show it) when they miss those beauties time after time.

 

[stevehalupka]

needs half a valium and less coffee.. square, why you always so serious?

 

[willdeb]

This was a question not for willdeb it was for my friend who has been fishing alot longer then i have

 

[gfen]

stevehalupka wrote:
you can make fun of my leader formulas and single spey casts all ya want buddy. If it makes your day that much better, then I would be a bummer to rain on that parade.

I'm terribly sorry if this keeps you up at night, but I have to say I have no idea what you're going on about. Stick with it, though, if you will it it is no dream.

 

[Yotrout]

Square makes a vaild point that i previously didn' t think about. If your a guide and your fishing while guiding your taking potential bites away from your clients. Your rod would literally become a training tool only.

It would be really nice if fish would tip for catching them. Nothing crazy just say ten bucks a fish. They flip you a high five with one fin and hand you a ten in the other as you send em back in. Every now and then random hot women show up with beer and wings and even better yet know when to leave. Man, My heavens so much cooler than yours.

 

[stevehalupka]

if you are ever a guide and have not been told to fish by the client, then you shouldn't have a a rod in your hands in the first place. some lodges ask you to kindly reply no thank you even if asked.

 

[fishingkidPA]

@ gfen me and my friend had a face to face encounter with a mountain lion about 3 years ago fishing oil creek, i was like 12 or 13. good thing it ran off!