Tipping A Guide

[Njardar]

Is there a general rule on how much to tip a guide for their services? This will be for a 1/2 day fly fishing for three prople in Colorado in case in makes a difference.

- Charlie

[ness]

From zero to 25%, depending. But good ol' 15% is the norm in my book. For 3 people, he's probably gonna work pretty hard...

[eric1978]

Guide Tip Calculation:

(Y + 5L + 3F + 4N - 2G - 10M + 6P) / 9E

　

Y = amount of fish you caught

L = amount of lunker fish you caught

F = amount of guide's flies you lost

N = nightmare snags or knots the guide fixes for you

G = number of fish the guide caught

M = number of minutes late the guide was, if applicable

P = on a scale from one to ten, guide's personality in general

E = number of fish you expected to catch (be reasonable)

　

Practice equation:

So you went on your trip and expected to catch 100 fish. You ended up catching only 40 fish, but 5 of them were what you consider quality fish. You lost 12 of the guide's flies, and he had to pull over the drift boat to fix a mess you made with your line three times. He neglected your needs long enough for him to catch four fish himself, but he was on time and he was a nice enough guy, so you gave him a personality rating of 8/10.

His tip is calculated as: 157/900

Which comes out to 17.4%

Or you can just give him whatever you think seems fair, which is what I'd do.

[Bird Watcher]

I've never worked as a fishing guide, but I've spent a couple seasons guiding deer, turkey and waterfowl. I am always thankful for whatever a customer wants to give. There are a lot of guys who will not tip, for whatever reason, so I appreciate the ones that do very much and I make sure I tell them so.

Bottom line, IMO, tip what you can afford and what you think the guides effort was worth. Then again, I'm not an outfitter. I only work for one occasionally. I might have a different opinion if I was a one man operation like a lot of fishing guides are.

[Randall]

Guide Tip Calculation:

(Y + 5L + 3F + 4N - 2G - 10M + 6P) / 9E

　

Y = amount of fish you caught

L = amount of lunker fish you caught

F = amount of guide's flies you lost

N = nightmare snags or knots the guide fixes for you

G = number of fish the guide caught

M = number of minutes late the guide was, if applicable

P = on a scale from one to ten, guide's personality in general

E = number of fish you expected to catch (be reasonable)

　

Practice equation:

So you went on your trip and expected to catch 100 fish. You ended up catching only 40 fish, but 5 of them were what you consider quality fish. You lost 12 of the guide's flies, and he had to pull over the drift boat to fix a mess you made with your line three times. He neglected your needs long enough for him to catch four fish himself, but he was on time and he was a nice enough guy, so you gave him a personality rating of 8/10.

His tip is calculated as: 157/900

Which comes out to 17.4%

Or you can just give him whatever you think seems fair, which is what I'd do.

Uhhhh... ... yeah... no. I'd go with the second suggestion.

[Njardar]

Guide Tip Calculation:

(Y + 5L + 3F + 4N - 2G - 10M + 6P) / 9E

　

Y = amount of fish you caught

L = amount of lunker fish you caught

F = amount of guide's flies you lost

N = nightmare snags or knots the guide fixes for you

G = number of fish the guide caught

M = number of minutes late the guide was, if applicable

P = on a scale from one to ten, guide's personality in general

E = number of fish you expected to catch (be reasonable)

　

Practice equation:

So you went on your trip and expected to catch 100 fish. You ended up catching only 40 fish, but 5 of them were what you consider quality fish. You lost 12 of the guide's flies, and he had to pull over the drift boat to fix a mess you made with your line three times. He neglected your needs long enough for him to catch four fish himself, but he was on time and he was a nice enough guy, so you gave him a personality rating of 8/10.

His tip is calculated as: 157/900

Which comes out to 17.4%

Or you can just give him whatever you think seems fair, which is what I'd do.

That was a hoot, thanks for the laugh I mean advice.

[eric1978]

That was a hoot, thanks for the laugh I mean advice.

In all seriousness, I don't think there are any hard-and-fast rules. I'm sure any guide would be happy if you threw him an extra $20. As mentioned before, a lot of people don't tip at all, and I probably wouldn't either unless it was just a phenomenal day and the guide went above and beyond the call of duty somehow. They charge you what they think is a fair price, and I don't really think a tip is necessarily expected.

[Al Agnew]

Guides mostly do expect or at least hope for a tip. I generally go with the 15% rule more or less, as well as how pleased I was with their performance. That does NOT mean how many fish I caught, but how hard that I perceive the guide worked to put me on fish and make it as great a day as possible.

[eric1978]

Everyone hopes for a tip, but to expect one is a little presumptuous IMO. Most guides already charge a substantial fee for their services, and if they want to be paid more than that, they should say so up front and adjust their original price accordingly. Besides, I have trouble tipping anyone who makes the amount of money in a half day of work what I make in a full day, especially when their "work" is what I consider heaven. It would be different if I were a millionaire, but I'm not.

I quote Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs:

"I don't tip because society says I have to. Alright, I'll tip if someone really deserves a tip. If they really put forth the effort I'll give them something extra, but I mean this tipping automatically...it's for the birds. I mean as far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job."

I'll save the rest of the scene for another forum. And just for the record, I always tip waiters and waitresses because their salaries depend on the tips. If they were making $20 or $30 an hour, I wouldn't tip them either.

[FishinCricket]

Everyone hopes for a tip, but to expect one is a little presumptuous IMO. Most guides already charge a substantial fee for their services, and if they want to be paid more than that, they should say so up front and adjust their original price accordingly. Besides, I have trouble tipping anyone who makes the amount of money in a half day of work what I make in a full day, especially when their "work" is what I consider heaven. It would be different if I were a millionaire, but I'm not.

I quote Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs:

"I don't tip because society says I have to. Alright, I'll tip if someone really deserves a tip. If they really put forth the effort I'll give them something extra, but I mean this tipping automatically...it's for the birds. I mean as far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job."

I'll save the rest of the scene for another forum. And just for the record, I always tip waiters and waitresses because their salaries depend on the tips. If they were making $20 or $30 an hour, I wouldn't tip them either.

I was under the impression that tipping was a city in china..

Seriously though...... As you noted, the only thing Mr Pink had wrong with his speech is the 2.13 per hour the waitress was recieving from her employer to wait on him.. Presumptuous jerk.