flyman

Excellent lineup. I will be attending a few of them for sure. It's also nice to meet some of the folks face-to-face as well. Look forward to it! Thanks!

Thanks for the report!

Went flying with a friend on Saturday afternoon and made a pass over Table Rock. To my surprise we saw very few boats out. With such a nice day I thought we would see more people out. I would have been if we hadn't been flying Anyway, not much to do with fishing... but here are a couple pictures. (The dam and Indian Point). The haze made it difficult to get a good quality photo but these two are not bad

This is a good tip. That stuff adds up quick.

Yep. I like them too. I started using them for drifting on Taney last year. They have a slim profile less likely to get hung, are easy to adjust and if you do manage to get hung they come off fairly easy so you don't lose your whole rig.

Nicely written Bio. Also, a very nice rainbow.

Thanks, Bill I appreciate the reply and it has been an interesting discussion. It was nice to vent. I don't know if you read my followup with a little more detail on the day... after summing it up and thinking about it, I feel I was not treated professionally and received horrible service. I do have the patience for this kind of fishing. I have done quite a bit of homework on walleye fishing and I can tell you I knew going in that it would be like you said... an exercise in absolute patience. My expectations for the day were not a stringer full of fish. My expectations were to learn the lake and put into practice and compare what I have been learning on my own. That was not even close to being accomplished. One thing that I thought was strange right of the bat was that he instructed a retrieve quite the opposite of what you describe and what I have been studying. The jerkbait retrieve he showed me was pretty fast for any winter species. I thought right away that we needed to slow down a little but I'm not the pro so I did what he said. He also said it was the norm to catch 3-6 keeper walleye for him each trip and he has been catching them like that for the last several weeks. I should have listened to my gut then, I thought that was extremely optimistic... Hopefully this discussion will allow people to learn from my mistake. Ask around, get a guide with a good reputation. Also, maybe some guides will read and give thought to what good service means. (All the guides that have replied have all sounded very reasonable with service that I would expect). It was helpful just to vent. I'm really a fair and laid back person in nature. I feel I'm justified in feeling disappointed in the service I received. There are great guys on here and it was good discussion. I may go on trip advisor or some other review site. I have not decided that yet. I don't want to start any hostility. Don't think for a minute that I was ungrateful for being out there on the water or mad at the good Lord for the conditions for the day. I LOVE each and every minute I spend fishing even if it's terrible!!! I appreciate greatly what you guides do and for other fishermen who lend a hand for us looking to learn. Excellent advice and discussion. Tight lines everyone!

Thanks guys, I appreciate the discussion. Quillback is right, just learn from it and move on. Find someone more reputable. I definitely question this guys ability to catch walleye. He is mostly a guide on Table Rock with bass being his primary target. His website showed glowing reviews, mostly from Table Rock. But he claims knowledge of all the area lakes. I chose him mostly because he was one of the only guides that guided the specific area I wanted to fish and because of the reviews on his website. I have no question his abilities as a bass fisherman. He's probably great. He was very friendly no question about that either. However, there were some red flags during the day that made me question his confidence in catching walleye. Just some of the comments he made, etc. I will say there is no question in my mind that he was fishing for pleasure. I get that guides might need to dial in on them, sure. Case in point, about 30 minutes into the trip he hooked a monster, we didn't get to see it because it broke off. He was cussing after losing a 30 dollar Mega Bass jerkbait (ouch, I feel that pain). Did he tie on the same lure for me? No he did not. He tied on another Mega Bass for himself and kept me on a Rogue jerkbait. Later he saw some fish schooled on the graph. He switched to a grub and caught a couple spots. He switched back and forth between lures and rods trying to catch a few more. Did he lures for me or ask if I wanted to catch a few bass? No he did not. Is that testing the waters? I don't believe it was. I would be the first to invite a guide to fish with me and it wouldn't bother me a bit if he fished with the same equipment and lures as me. It was completely obvious that he cared more about boating some bass than guiding me. It gets even better. Not that I cared about it at the time but... when I got there he was still at the ramp unsure what to do. The courtesy dock was out and he said he didn't want to beach his boat. I offered to back him in, go park the truck and meet him at the marina. I did it on the way back too. I went and got his truck backed it in so he could load up. Are you kidding me? It was my idea to help him out no big deal. I'm always willing to help. Whatever. But if you really fished the area much you would probably know that the dock was out. Combined with the rest of my experience it really paints a bad picture. I have been with other guides. I went with Mike Webb this summer to TR. When I arrived he had the boat on the dock waiting for my arrival. The first thing he said was "You're here to learn, what would you like to learn today?". His knowledge of the lake and the fish was obvious. He shared so much information that it was difficult to absorb it all. He went over everything. Had me at the bow showing me tips on electronics. He even asked me if I wanted to GPS the locations where we caught fish so I could come back on my own. He didn't fish one time. He is an awesome guide and fisherman. Phil, I honestly doubt it's a guide that you have in mind. You may possibly know him but it isn't anyone that is primarily known as a walleye guide or that I have seen recommended here on the forums. I would be open to suggestions if you have a good one. I appreciate people defending the guide and giving him the benefit of the doubt. Normally, I would be the first to side with the guide. I know people can be difficult to please. At the same time, there are going to be people lousy at what they do. There are lousy guides and I think I found one. I'm over it now but I will never recommend that guide to anyone. I will always try to find a recommendation (for the fish and location) from here on out.

Ducky nailed it on the head. That's the service a paying customer should receive. I don't think I had completely unrealistic expectations. I know how difficult walleye fishing can be. I knew going in that it would likely be slow. I just wish after 4 hours of no fish he would have offered an alternative or more advice, suggestions or some other information I could take with me. The guarantee expectation was my own ignorance. I know that there are several in the area that do offer a "next trip free" guarantee, so I assumed incorrectly that it was common. So, perhaps the amount disappointment I had toward the guide was undeserved. I am still disappointed however because I feel more service could have been offered. I'm less upset now after venting a bit and reading the thoughts of others. Maybe I was a little unfair. Still, I don't feel I learned as much as I would have liked.

Thanks, MFU. Good insight. He was on time, boat insured and very friendly. I'm not questioning his character. He did catch a few bass but that's not what we were after (at least not me). I guess I did learn possible locations I could try later but that's about it. It didn't really give me confidence on the species I want to target.

Well, Jerry I wanted to open this up for discussion not to be insulted. How would I even know if they are good areas if no fish were caught? I mean, sure I'll try those areas again on my own but as it is right now, no, I didn't get good areas. Not without investigating which I could have done myself. The lake maps gave me more information. I was not rude to him, I didn't reveal his name here and I didn't expect 100% satisfaction. I don't even know if he knows how upset that I am. If it were me in his shoes yesterday and that was my policy, I would have asked the customer what they wanted. I would have also explained as much as I could about, locations, lure selections, etc. as I could so the customer could have taken something home. That was not done. Barely a word was spoken the last couple hours unless I asked a question. I don't expect that just because I'm with a guide they will just be jumping in the boat. You have a lot to learn about being friendly.

I was looking for a guide to show me the ropes on catching seasonal walleye on a local Ozarks body of water. I found him through his website. We arranged to go yesterday after It was recommended by him that this time of year is his favorite time to go. I actually thought it peaked a little bit later but I agreed to go (he's the professional not me, right?). After a six hour long day, I managed to not catch a single fish. Not a walleye, not a bass, not a crappie, not a thing!!! At the end of the trip I still had to cough up $250. I asked about some kind of guarantee and he said he didn't offer a guarantee. I was under the impression that most guides offered a guarantee (next trip free or something). He came down $25 and that was it. The other thing that I thought was really unprofessional was, during the trip, he fished the entire time. He managed to boat several bass. He changed lures on his own rod but I fished with the same darn lure nearly the entire time!!!! Sure, I understand, walleye can be difficult to catch and guides can't control the conditions but I just feel more professionalism was in order. If that is your policy, fine. What about bringing that up 3-4 hours into the trip and and ask whether I would like to target a different species or just going with a half day rate? I feel like I could have had a much better time just going alone and saving my money. If alone, I could have given up on walleye and gone after species I'm more confident in or at least just thrown in the towel and went home. I hired a guide to give me a head start on learning. I'm now less confident in fishing for walleye than before the trip. I have no idea if he even knew what he was doing or if the small amount of advice was even accurate. I learned nothing (except to be a little careful when choosing a guide). I am furious. He seemed reputable but I feel like I was ripped off. So, should I be as angry as I am? I know there are a bunch of guides here... what are your policies on a fishless day? Is that pretty standard to not have a guarantee? I just wanted to vent my frustration and open this up for discussion. Thank you for letting me vent.

I know you're planning to try Cape Fair. The Finley is muddy right now. I imagine the James is too but I haven't looked yet. I don't know what this will do to Cape Fair over the next couple days. Just a heads up in case you come up this way.

Thee have foundeth thy fishing rod. Go now and angle.

Oh, and thanks for the report, Josh!!