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Question for our professional anglers


Newt

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Your Public Liability does seem very reasonable Charlie.I too think that being proffesional is a lot more to do with the guides attitude and ability rather than the amount of guiding he does.Charlies points about the poor standards of some are very true.I wont mention names but some of the "guides" I have come across on the Ebro have certainly left a lot to be desired.Their antics alienating the locals,authorities and potential customers alike.Most of these were not guides at all just people trying to make a fast buck at the worst or just get suckers to subsidise there own fishing trip at best.These "guides" were notorious for rule breaking and not having the corect paperwork.This wasnt done out of bravado but out of pure ignorance.Too many horror stories to tell.

 

Anglers from the UK have acepted guides for overseas trips but are still a bit reluctant about guides in the UK.In the States as Im sure Newt can tell us the use of a guide is common.The reasons are as Charlie and I believe Gerry mentioned.ie proffesional people having no time to organise their fishing but earning enough dough to pay some one else to.I think things will be slow to change here.Respect to the guys who can get away with it in the UK.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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I make full use of the TV Guide when I'm bivvied up.

 

Er...don't 'spect it's quite the same fing, though. :rolleyes:

 

Terry :D

And on the eighth day God created carp fishing...and he saw that it was pukka.

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I am toying with going on a trip to British Columbia, I only have 2 weeks and also have to take the wife with me, so it's a case of getting the services of a professional guide for a few days. Not just for the locations but also for the use of tackle etc.

Perhaps if I go again, I might try it without a guide.

So yes guides do have their uses! LOL

 

Colin

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Budgie - it may well be a matter of scale & over here. Scale in two ways.

 

I will happily tow my boat to a new lake if it is within a days drive. Small lake and I'm good to try it. Larger lake, same if I can get a good topo map showing the bottom contours. Now that I've got a good GPS to go along with the sonar, I'm sure I can make it back to the landing I started from. Wasn't the case pre-GPS though.

 

If the area I plan to fish is far enough away that I need to fly, then by the time you consider renting a boat and tow vehicle, I'm lots more likely to opt for a guided trip. If I plan to stay for a week or so, probably a guide the first day then rent and try for myself later unless the lake is large and you have to run too far before fishing.

 

Larger lake like many of the Western US impoundments and a weeks stay there and it becomes a matter of weather conditions. I'd for sure hire a guide for day 1 on something like Lake Meade where you might have to put the boat in and then run 50-60 miles before starting to fish. After that, it would strictly depend. If condidions were fairly stable and I could fish the same area later, then the hand-held GPS to figure out where we went and probably try solo. Changing conditions and it's a guide every day since otherwise I'd spend way too much time trying to locate fish.

 

Given the smaller size of waters in the UK (excluding the Lochs though), I can see why guided trips are less common.

 

Truth be told, I have one local water where I'd happily hire a guide if there were any. 25,000 acres and no topo maps of the bottom. As it is, I'm trying to pick the water apart myself but it results in lots of blank days and it will take me several years to begin to get familiar with the lake. It's fun but ....

 

In fact, I'm planning to get a much larger boat in a few months because this lake can get nasty when the weather gets up and my boat is a little small to be comfortable on several of the local lakes. 17ft which isn't bad but the sides aren't very high and the beam isn't very wide. I really hate to pick the lake I fish based on the weather guys predictions but without more boat, I gotta.

" My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry Truman, 33rd US President

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There is another factor Newt as to why guides, especially pike guides, are sometimes frowned upon by the 'establishment' here in the UK. The simple fact is that many see the pike as a species totally unsuited to the constant exploitation/attention that constant guiding can sometimes create on a popular fishery.

 

There is also quite possibly a resentment factor involved. We are only just coming to terms with paying to fish, let alone paying someone else to do what we do for free.

 

It's the same in the photographic profession, keen amateur sees being a professional as some kind of accolade, good for their sometimes inadequate egos. I have no doubt that the same applies to some angling guides. Infact I know it does.

 

We have one such self professed guide who comes up to the Broads at odd occasions, he has a very high opinion of his ability. Ever such a nice bloke though!! But such folk, even when very well meaning, do nothing to enhance the general reputaion of the profession.

 

I do know that our local Broads Authority receives complaints about the activities of some Broadland guides. That said some UK/Broadland guides do offer excellent value and an excellent level of expertise.

 

My own feeling is that the way forward in the UK is more to angling coaches rather than towards guiding services. We don't have wilderness waters like you do in the US Newt, other than in Scotland. We just need people to learn, and that needs people who can teach! But only time will tell.

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Peter - I'm afraid the sad reality is that if pike cannot survive being pressured and caught, they may be in big trouble. OTOH, with heavy pressure, it would seem the 'smarter' fish would avoid angling captures pretty well and the 'stupid' fish (and mostly the younger fish) would be the ones to suffer frequent capture.

 

Granted, an angler fishing with a really competent guide would stand a better chance of landing a smart fish but hopefully said guide would also try to ensure proper handling.

 

As to more coaching and less guiding - great idea but as I understand the structure, a coach makes little or nothing while a guide (if good) can make a living at it.

 

Absent some sort of ban on fishing for pike in warmer weather, I don't see any good answer for you folks short of a law making it illegal to take money for guiding and I'm really not sure that would be a 'good' answer.

" My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry Truman, 33rd US President

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