Will you do a trip, and how do you feel about a trip in the clients boat? Liability/insurance concerns?
Anyone who may have done a guide trip in your own boat feel free to chime in on how it went.
I'm asking because I'm considering a saltwater inshore trip in my boat mainly for navigation help around our bay system.
I did a guided trip here locally and we took my friends boat..and the guide came with us and helped with the graphs and showed us waypoints etc...no issues
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Last edited by fishinarc; 11-03-2022 at 04:08 AM.
I’ve done it several times where they came and my boat and it was great. But the poster above does bring up a good point. On saltwater the regulations could be a lot different, I wouldn’t know.
2000 Triton Tr21
2002 Mercury 250 Pro XB
Anytime you accept payment for services it changes a few things, boat insurance and your vehicle insurance for starters as you need to make sure you are covered for all possibilities for you and your customers. I mentioned your vehicle as unless your are mooring your boat somewhere you will have to tow it back and forth to the lake, which makes your vehicle part of your business. Number two is how does your state fish and game, which was TPWD here in Texas, determine what license you need for what body of water you are going to guide on. All I did many years ago was fresh water guide service at Rayburn and Toledo Bend so the Captains license was not needed just a yearly fee for a Guide license. It could have all changed by now, it has been over 10 years since I got out of the guide business. I always kept records of everything, I even kept records of all the gas I used in the boat so I could get my road tax money back from the government cause the boat never got drove on the road, not sure if that is even around anymore.
Jerry "Rat-L-Trap" Lehman
Never Enough "Traps"
Triton TR-21 Merc Optimax 225
Living Life Large at Toledo Bend
What you are referring to here is depicted in USCG regulations as a "bare bone charter"....having a guided trip in your boat and not the guide service boat. There is a caution statement in the regs about this kind of trip for the boat owners and licensed Captains. Once you turn over control of your boat to the Captain providing the service, the trip becomes a commercial enterprise for the Captain and thus typically your boat owners insurance will not cover your boat or you unless you have a commercial insurance rider for this. The only way to do this and have insurance coverage is to either buy an insurance rider to cover the commercial use of the boat (which nowdays you won't get unless you have a Captain's license in most cases) or the Captain you are hiring has insurance that will cover any boat he is guiding out of....I can tell you this is very unlikey that he will have this type policy...it is extremely expensive and typically requires prior approval from the insurance company for the boat to be used.
Also there is no such thing as getting around the need of your guide to have a Captain's license if required on that body of water by saying it is an instructional trip. The USCG regulations clearly state that if one receives any type of expected payment for providing a service on a body of water that requires a Captain's license then that person must have a Captain's license. There is nothing in the USCG regulations about guiding being different from any other business that provides a service on the water for an expected payment.. The only exception to this law is that the people involved in the trip (to include the boat owner) can share the expense of the trip ie..gas used etc. This exception was put in there to allow boat owners to take expense money such as from a coangler in a tournament or just a friend without the operator of the boat having to have a Captain's license which basically means the sharing of expenses is not considered a commercial enterprise.
Use caution if considering using your boat for a guided trip with a guide. I would not do it unless the guide could show me that he has insurance to cover a bare bones charter. It only takes one accident to put you in the poor house without insurance to cover the liabilities that could happen.
what if you never turn over control of your boat to the guide?
Originally Posted by PsuHntr
Several guides around Fork, Rayburn and DFW will do this. The guys that have hired some of them rave about how much is was worth it just from understanding their electronics better.
I did that once down at Table Rock. Hired a local guide and went in my boat with the specific goal of getting my graphs set up so I could see my drop shot bait. Was a great day and money well spent. I of course cleared it with him ahead of time and then paid (and tipped) like I would've if we had been in his boat.
No advise but i'm curious what a guide cost where you are at. I checked over the weekend here and it was $450 for 4 hours or $850 for 8 hours. This is for inshore guide. Sounds high to me.
There are a handful of captains here on the SE coast of NC that do this all the time. There's one that I know of that got rid of his boat and exclusively does them on your boat with your stuff in order to give you a better idea of what you can be doing later.
He/him
Kayak fishing in a Native Slayer Max 12.5
Lowrance Elite 9 ti2
Very, very, high. Freshwater bass guides generally run around $300-$350 for a full day
I'm in the wrong line of work! Guys I know that guide grind for 10 hours straight and charge $400/day doing it.
-b-
I did it at Fork with Lance a few years ago, learned more in four hours then I could ever imagine .
I've done several trips with Roy Greer over the years here on Fork. He specializes in going out on your boat, adjusting your electronics, and teaching you to catch fish. The man has a wealth of knowledge on this lake.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Very informative...thanks for the reply.
Call around to see if it's high. Navigable waters require a coast guard license, freshwater bass guides generally do not as they are probably on inland waterways. Huge difference in the amount of training required for both. Not to mention saltwater gear is way more expensive.
$300-350 is a bargain for a good bass guide. They are getting $100 or more per trip than that around here.
A guide I had fished with on tablerock said even though it's an inland water way he still had to have a true coastguard license too.
The basic rule of thumb is that if you are guiding on commercially navigable water, then you are required a Captain's license. There are a few exceptions to this where it the lake is not commercially navigable but still required. This is due to those waters having been commercially navigable before dams without locks were built. One of those is Lake Cumberland here in Kentucky and also Dale Hollow. I know some years ago a guide on Cumberland that did not have a Captain's license after having been warned by the CG that he needed to get one...this was back when the decision was made by the CG to include guides in the requirement to have one and they gave us a couple of years to go through the process to get one...anyway, this guide did not get a Captain's license in the time frame given...he had a bad accident with clients in the boat. Not sure exactly how much the final toll was he had to pay but the Coast Guard fined him 80,000...of course there was the liability of injured clients and of course he had no insurance because no insurance will cover you when you are breaking the law. He had a very nice home etc...there at Cumberland. Last time I heard he was living in a small travel trailer. Personnally, I took a few folks out in their boat when I first started guiding but I was covered by my insurance back then to do so....but was required to get approval from the insurance company every time prior to doing so. I made the decision years ago to quit doing that as the insurance was expensive and it was a hassle to get the approval so that I would be covered.
Yes there are guides that do it. Unless they are required by CG regulations to have a Captain's license on the water they are on, it is not a big deal. Heck, I know some guides here on Kentucky Lake that do not have a Captain's license even though it has been required for near on 20 years or so. The only reason not to get the Captain's license if required is you are willing to take the chance that you will never get caught or heaven forbid, have an accident. The Feds can fine you 138,000 for each day they can prove you guided without the Captain's license. Personally there was no way I was going to risk losing everything I have by not abiding by the law. Think about this....if a person does not have the Captain's license and it is required it makes no sense. Either they are too stupid to pass the written test (unlikely) or they have felonies in their background or DUI"s and they can't pass an FBI or state records check, or they cannot pass a drug test or survive a random drug testing program (required by the CG). Of couse what I am talking about here is Federal Law...if they are guiding on waters where a Capatain's license is not required, they only have to meet state requirements for their state guide license...not sure if there are still any states that do not require a state license but certainly possible. Tennessee finally implemented a state guide license requirement about 3 years ago.
Last edited by Dave Stewart; 08-19-2019 at 06:33 PM.
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