dap306

Mid to late Oct. in my opinion

It excites me to see these big fish returned to the lake as much as seeing them caught. Maybe someday they will be alive for me to catch

Nice fish again Phil. About the guys using worms and keeping out of slot I have to say I come down from KC on average about once every two to three weeks all year long. I get up at 2 drive down and fish till I am tired and go home. I fly fish the trophy area only. I rarely ever see anyone abuse the lake. I can only recall 1 man keeping fish this year and all he caught he measured. Nothing wrong with someone keeping a few at all. Anyway yesterday my fishing buddy and I decided to try Bennett for the first time in many years. I read the forum on here to see what people had to say about it a few days before and all people had to say was how bad the fish size was and the hatchery manager had really been bad there. So anyway I actually very much enjoyed the fishery and caught a lot and some decent size and saw nice fish all day but I have never seen a fishery so abused. I won't go into all the rules I seen broken and all the fish taken out but I about cried when a man came walking up behind and started cleaning a 4 to 5 lb trout. Wonder why people complain about the fishery. Now Phil I have stayed at your place many times and you and I have spoken a few times at the Inn and on the lake. I would not claim to know you but I see you catch these nice fish and I can see it in you that after they are landed they are cared for the best you can. I compliment you on that sir just as much as the great catches you had the last 2 weeks. Nobody more deserving. I also compliment all my fellow fisherman at Tanney. 99.9 percent of you all care for this lake a lot and make it what it is.

Congrats and ty for caring for the fish and the place so many of love to fish. Your a great sportsman

Thanks Bill is nice to hear from the horses mouth. Our guide was everything you said he should be. You guys works your butts off I can tell you that. I think I was right about feeling a little cheap but like I said it was my first guide trip and next time I will be a little more educated. At least my heart is in the right spot. Before I left it never dawned on me to tip him but when I noticed how hard he tried to make it great day I was thankful for him. Bless everyone down there that has helped me and made my transition to a fly fisherman a great experance.

My guide was Chuck the owner of Anglers and Archery close to the dam. I have just started fly fishing this year and this was my 4th trip down. A coworker of mine that has just started with me goes also and we always stop at his store and pick up a few things and he has helped us and given us good advise so we decided to go out with him and we had a great experance. He made the trip fun and ribbed us when we deserved it. He was not impatient with us when we broke lines or tangled them a few times. He knew we would be wade fisherman by ourselves most of the time and he pointed things out to us that would help us. The most important thing was we had a blast. I am not a rich man so I can't afford these kind of things often but it was worth it. I have to say as a newbie a lot of people down there have helped us and treated us great and we now feel as if we may not be the best fisherman down there but we are able to show up down there and wade and catch fish on our own. Fly fishing is on my mind all the time now thanks to guys like Chuck and Phil Lilley and others we have met on the river.

So I had a nice 4 hr trip and I gave him $20. Was I cheap?

I tipped a guide $20 the other day and afterward I felt a little cheap. He worked his behind off for us for four hrs and did a great job and put us on a lot of fish. I feel better Mr Lilley but still cheap.

Should they be tipped and if so how much?