Tips on How to Book a Successful Fishing Charter

There are many places across the country to find great fishing .Whether you’re on family vacation and decide to book a fishing trip at the last minute or fishing is the main focus of your travel. There are some steps and advice you should follow.  First step should be to decide your destination and what type of species and fishing its known for if you don’t already know. When looking for a guide most folks will do a google search if they don’t have a guide they already know or who has been recommended . When doing a google search many options will come up for renowned fisheries . A lot of those searches will lead you to booking agencies and not individual fishing guides directly because these agencies have large advertising budgets. Be careful of these services fake reviews or “no fish – no pay” gimmicks . If they tell you fishing is great everyday , you’re booking a salesman not a fishing guide. These booking services line you up with a guide and take a percentage of the guides fee. Most often these guides are whoever they can come up with. They will give you the option of “ best availble “  which means who ever we can muster up ,not necessarily a great choice . The booking service gets their percentage no matter who they pair you with . You will get much better honest feedback speaking directly to your guide which will lead to a much better fishing experience.  He can tell you what the current conditions are and how the fishing has been, along  with what the best  fishing techniques have been.  His reputation and his business along with him wanting you to be a return customer are dependent on his honesty and far more important to him than getting a percentage of money from an outside party. He will be much more likely to be honest and forthcoming with you. When using a booking service you will speaking with or emailing with an office person who has no knowledge of how the fishing is and is trained to tell you its’s great.  They most likely don’t even know the guide or the fishery and quite often aren’t even in the same state. They are trained to get you to book at all cost .By choosing to speak with your guide first hand you will get a chance gain knowledge of his experience ,a feel for his personality and what he offers . Ask important questions like : Is he full time ? , many are not.  Has he been on the water in the last few days? Will we be fishing livebait or artificial lures?  What type of equipment does he use and what boat will you be fishing out ? some guides will give you old beat up gear and fish out of old beat up boats,  Is the time of the trip dock to dock or actual fishing time? Is livebait included ? What’s the cancellation and refund policy? Is he family or child friendly ? Does he mind novice or inexperienced fishermen?  if that’s your situation. And  a VERY important question to ask is does the guide fish ? I see MANY guides try to outfish there clients . The trip is about you catching fish not the guide. A good guide will spend his efforts helping you, not catching his own fish . The only time the guide should fish is if he is teaching you how to use a lure or a specific technique or conditions have changed and he needs to establish a pattern for the day .  I have fished when the fish aren’t biting or have quit biting and I think they should be or I am searching for something that will work to trigger the fish that day . I have also had people request that i fish with them usually when it is a single person . My job as a guide is to do exactly that ; guide, help, teach if necessary ,encourage and hopefully net your fish .  The guide catching 20 fish and you catching 1 or 2 is not a successful fishing trip . Following these few tips will help you book a great fishing trip with memories that you’ll want to talk about for years to come.

lead to a great fishing adventure!