Question for the guides and those that have used a guide

[Dave Stewart]

what if you never turn over control of your boat to the guide?

Look at it this way...if money is exchanged or any other thing like equipment for the service...it becomes a commercial enterprise...it could be arguable in court but I would not want to be a Federal Court trying to argue against the Feds or the insurance companies involved.
s

[trifish]

As a captain I can tell you any inshore guide charging $400 for a day trip isn’t making any money. Let me break this down for you:

1.) The captain has a boat that costs money. For the purposes of this exercise assume it’s a financed boat and the payment is $500/month. There are also random maintenance items that come up. The 100 hour service that most recreational people would be lucky to hit in a year the captain can easily hit in a month.

2.) Fuel is a burden for all of us, I don’t think I really have to explain this.

3.) Insurance costs for a charter business are high, much higher than recreational.

4.) Tackle costs are high and charter clients treat it like crap. I have yet to have a trip where a client didn’t break SOMETHING.

5.) Once the rest of the costs to entry are knocked out, consider what else you are paying for. If your trip starts at 7 your captain was on the water at 5 catching bait. He picks you and 3 of your buddies up at the dock and y’all go out and catch 5 mangrove snapper a piece and 5 sheephead a piece. You get back to the dock after your 4 hour trip of catching, using the knowledge and experience of the captain to stay on fish and he cleans fish for the next hour. When he’s done he spends an hour cleaning the boat and getting things ready for the next day.

You tipped him $100 so he got $500 for 8 hours of work. That’s incredible, right? Well, consider that in your area the “season” is probably only a couple months long. Here for example is January-April. The very best captains are booked out for that time frame, good captains are probably 3-4 days a week. The rest of the year is extremely hit or miss.

I absolutely guarantee that no inshore charter captains are out there making millions on people. The absolute top guys are making money don’t get me wrong, but it is an extremely brutal grind and a tough way to make a living. I’ll be honest, $400-$800 for a half to full day of fishing with a knowledgeable guide is one of the best deals out there. Imagine how much time and money most people would have to spend to recreate a good day of charter fishing with a captain. It’s a lot more than that.