Are Guides Worth the $$

[snagged in outlet 3]

The question is "Are guides worth the money?"

Good guides are worth every penney and more. Bad ones are not worth it and not fun.

I've paid for all kinds of guides, mostly saltwater. I don't have a boat in New Orleans, Florida, Newport RI or the Bahama's either. For me there is no other choice if you want to fish a new area, especially salt. I not only don't have a boat but I don't know tides or anything else about fishing in or around the ocean.

A good guide will put you on fish and tell you the method's that have been working for them lately. A little history of the fishery and some neat things about the area are expected I think. They should know the fishery and the surrounding area.

I floated the Colorado and the guide told us about an underground coal fire that was still burning after 20 years, a dinosaur dig and the best place to get Margarita's in town. He worked with my son on casting, mending and how to fish from a drift boat. What a wonderful day we had. My son only brought one fish to the net and broke off a big one but he had a great time.

We don't have enough money to get a guide for more than one day but we always do it on every vacation. Every good guide has undestood that and told us area's we could access on our own and what flies and techniques to use.

Really we only had two bad guides out of 25 or so.

Check around with buddies and fly shops you deal with locally. They may know of guides in the area you are looking at. Have fun, catch a few fish and enjoy the outing, then everyone wins.

Snag.