Crappie Guide

[Camdog38]

I live in East Tennessee right out side of Knoxville. I’ve been crappie fishing all of my life known my Lake forever and I can catch crappie consistently. However I have a 6 pack OUPV captains license through the coast guard. I was thinking about opening up my own business and doing it. In a couple more year I’m moving to Florida to charter there. But I want to make money with my license now and I think I could do it! I’m going to Guide ppl and my buddy is going to help out also! I have the equipment, boat, and all to do it!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[Wadenthebushes]

Good luck to ya! Hope you do well.

Sent from my QTASUN1 using Tapatalk

[lowe175]

Good luck, there's a few guides on the site and I'm sure they will chime in and give you advice. This is my a easy way to make a living but if you're willing you can do it. The biggest thing s you have to put people on the fish every day all year. That's not easy. People tend to act different when there paying for a fishing trip. I wish you the best if you're willing to work hard it will work for you.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[Camdog38]

Thank you guys. Any advice works!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

[M R Dux]

That's a start. Now go to your insurance company and set up your boat as a commercial vessel and drop your drawers. You will have to get a TN commercial guides license, assuming they offer one. In KY we have to fill out an application form, submit 2 references from people who know your fishing and boating abilities, get a police background check,and drop our drawers again.

No doubt the OUPV is the hardest and most expensive part.

Lots of folks think being a guide is just going fishing with clients and taking stacks of $$ to the bank. I wish that was the case. I do not know a single person who is a guide who uses that as their sole source of income. All have pensions, retirement or disability payments, or have other jobs or businesses like myself. You had better have great people skills and a thick skin. Plan on spending countless hours in preparation that pay zero$$.

One other thing, you will have to completely change your approach to fishing as a guide. You might be great at spider rigging or vertical jigging brush. Put a couple of clients on the bow, hand them a jigging pole each, and tell them to fish that brush pile. You will get a deer-in-the-headlights look 95% of the time. Honestly, you will deal with many folks who barley know which end of a pole to pick up. Putting clients in a situation that they have zero skills will be sitting yourself up for failure.

I tried power trolling last spring with 2 clients who were decent fishermen when it came to dunking a minnow under a bobber. Within 2 hours I had seen 2 of my Southern Crappie SCR143T poles reduced from 14 feet to 6-8 feet when wound up in the trolling motor even after me warning them repeatedly to keep the lines away from the front of the trolling motor. That's well over $100 that I had to eat. That's also why trolling is what I try to do with clients 95% of the time. They catch on quickly and most often have good results. Of course some days I'll eat the price of several crankbaits or roadrunners/jigs.

Don't get yourself caught up in the idea that you are going to take clients fishing with you. You should have the mindset that you are taking the clients fishing. I see some guides who will sit on the bow of their boats and jig fish brush while the clients are sitting in the back of the boat watching the guide. Sure, they might get a few more fish in the box that way but in my way of thinking, that's not what the guide has been paid to do. My clients pay me to teach them how to fish in ways they may not have fished before. I think of myself more as a teacher than a guide. I rarely fish at all when I have clients. They paid me for the use of my boat and equipment and to learn while having a good time. Many clients have no expectations of numbers of fish in the box but there will be some who you could never catch enough to make them happy. Get ready for that.

Don't take my post as me trying to discourage you from pursuing your dream. You just have to take everything into account before you start taking client calls.

[scrat]

I am no guide for sure and I have enough trouble guiding myself to find and catch fish. I would think that being a guide is harder than it seems to be. Good luck and let us know how you are doing here on Crappie.com. We will be looking forward to seeing your clients fishing reports and pictures.

[Camdog38]

Sure will I appreciate your all input. I have my guide license already and captains first aid and all. I just need to get my TN business license and I’ll be ready to go. I’m going to make website also too. Any other considerations put them out there please. I just want to do it the right way


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

[scrat]

Don't forget to go to membership above and become a member sponsor here also. That way you can be listed as a guide in the Tennessee forum guide section.

[huntinslabs]

When you come to Florida, what do you intend to guide for? Not many folks come to Florida seeking a panfish guide. Most come for trophy bass and exotics, inshore saltwater or offshore saltwater. Unless you have connections to the resorts or private lodges like Bienville Plantation it will be a large undertaking. Not impossible, but tough. And Florida has a pile of water quality issues going on now from Central Florida south on both coasts.

[Camdog38]

Offshore saltwater got somecbuddies that are charter guides


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com