gps with a guide? ethical?

[ThrillSeeker]

It has been years since I fished Old Hickory, but the last time I did the monster slabs were caugh up near he dam area. The man who won the tournament ran away with it using this technique. If it were me I would start by looking at a map and find where primary and secondary channels come together. Do some bottom bouncing in and around those channels and see what happens. If I remember correctly there was also a sharp slopping bank on the north side in the dam area where we caught a bunch of fish. Please note, we all got our hats handed to us in the tournament but I stayed the next day just to fish and caught some. Find the channels and dropoff and get down there where the fish are. It's at least a starting point.

Thank you. So would you recommend fishing w/ a Kentucky rig? Also, the water temp is 65 degrees......am I correct in assuming they should be fairly shallow (5 ft or less) right now?

[EDDY CREEK BANDIT]

I have filled Lake Barkley with brush piles and stake beds. I do not guide but if I took someone with me and out came the GPS. I would not be able to find another spot all day. I think that is classless. Help with a general area to fish is one thing but!!!! THE BANDIT

[Darryl Morris]

Thank you. So would you recommend fishing w/ a Kentucky rig? Also, the water temp is 65 degrees......am I correct in assuming they should be fairly shallow (5 ft or less) right now?

We had 66 degree water this morning and we caught them from 12 to 20 deep in 15-25 foot of water. There might be some small one that shallow but I think the big ones will be deeper still. The rig we used then was an 3/8 to 1/2 ounce sinker on the bottom with a hook or jig tied in intrevals 18-24" above that. Troll the boat over and through the ledge and or channels slowly while holding the pole in hand and bounce the bottom. Go slow and keep you line as verticle as possible. Hang on and set that hook.

[NIMROD]

Good catch. :D

[DENNIS BOWERS]

Yeah! What he said.

Bottom line, if you are hiring a guide to learn places to fish, then that need should be clear to both and agreeable to both guide and customer.
If you are hiring a guide to learn fishing techniques and ways to be more productive, that also should be clear to both.

When I buy a product/service it's usually spelled out what I'm after and what they provide. Do do otherwise is foolish, because someone will be disspointed or angry.

Puller,You hit the nail right on the head there!! Sometimes it"s hard to figure out-but i"ve Found if I"m courtous, Friendly, & informitive[in a nice way] Most Clients are Very satisfied!!

[skiptomylu]

I'm really fortunate to have several good crappie lakes around me that don't get a lot of crappie fishing pressure. I completely understand why guides or crappie anglers in other areas are reluctant to "give away the gold mine" because of their past negative experiences and the heavy crappie fishing pressure on the lakes they guide on. I'm sure if things change here or if I ever feel I've been unfairly taken advantage of I'll change my ways.

Got to say Jerry you are indeed a good guy as well as a sharing one. My only experience with guiding my self was as a bass guide. I have only guided for crappie when the client ask for crappie fishing and had several that wanted to do both. However I was a guide last in 1980, LOL!

Would love to do that now, but physically I can't do that.

I can see where in these times if a fellow has been guiding crappie a long time he would probably have quite a few brush piles to share. I never had brush pile back when because I didn't guide for crappie more than a few times a season of the year. Had a few spots no one fished that were just full of crappie and a few spots that were called community holes for a reason.

Anyway for any guide to feel as you do Jerry is quite commendable and I salute you! Most guides I have known were not so sharing.

Skip

[johnnybub]

Had a great time with our guide saturday,, did NOT bring my GPS or even ask about it,,, (thanks all) he did show me several spots and how to locate them on my fish finder, so in the future Im sure I can locate some beds on my own ( I did put in a few my self and helped a neighbor put in a dozen beds that we can both use,,,,caught tons of fish(75+), the guide was great helping my wife catch her first big slab,,, 15.5" ,,,, cant wait until our next trip to ky lake so we can catch a few on our own,

[eastkycrappie]

About 10 years ago my family went to Table Rock lake for vacation. While there my Dad and I went out with a guide for the day bass fishing. We didn't have a GPS but at the end of the day I had a map with me and he was nice enough to point out a few spots on it that might be productive. What he should us out on the lake was way more productive for us than his spots would have been. Things like what to us depth how to use it and what to do if it stops working. Having the location may be fine but if you can't do what they are doing you are just wasting your time. My 2 cents worth.

[Jeff Schiller]

As I guide, I don't allow GPS in my boat. The lake I primarily guide on is small in comparison to some and almost everything that I fish is introduced to the lake by man. Depending on the wind direction and speed, if I allowed everyone to fish the spots that I know about, on some days (depending on the wind direction), I'd have nowhere to fish. That's the sad story.

On the other hand, a lot of my clients want to learn. Not only do they want to learn how to catch fish, they also want to learn how to find fish. Part of learning how to find fish is how to find cover like brushpiles and condos.

I'll take some time out of the "meat" of the trip and we'll go scout an area of the lake I need to check out. We'll idle around over drop offs and contour changes and in specific depths in order to find new cover.
That does two things:
1.) My client gets to see how I go about trying to find new cover. This is something that they can use not only on this lake, but any lake.
2.) The client gets to see and learn how different things look on the locator. And if we happen to stumble over a brushpile or condo, I'll throw a marker out and we'll fish it.

And like someone said, just because you have a coordinate doesn't mean that someone else can go there and catch fish. The person you give the coordinates to needs to be able to get to that location and fish it effectively in order to put those tasty crappie in the boat.
I can't tell you how many times I've given out a coordinate or two and had that person come back and say there were no fish there.

Likewise, if you go with a guide and go back and fish that lake or those specific loations that he shows you, report back to him on what you found. Keep sending him/her reports on the lake. That goes a long, long ways in building the relationship with that guide.

Lastly, a guy doesn't have to sit and hit waypoints on his GPS to mark a spot. Most GPS systems will show tracks and routes. If I leave my GPS in my tackle bag, I can go back through those tracks and see where we spent the most time.