How do I get started in guiding?

JD,
Could you could possibly give me a hand on how to get started in the guiding field (or you could laugh at me that would work too)? It would much appreciated — this is a dream I would like to make into reality.

–Chris W.

Chris,

To get into guiding, you need to make sure you have all your licenses, bonds and insurance taken care of ahead of time. Here in California, you’ll need a DFG license and a Coast Guard Capt.’s license depending on what waters you’re planning to run on. You also need to post a surity bond each season.

Then, don’t expect to make a full-time deal out of it for a few seasons. Do it part time and have a back-up income source for awhile until you get a good client base built up. It takes t-i-m-e! Figure a good 5 years before you’re full time.

Also, keep in mind that when you’re guiding, you suddenly don’t have any time for fun fishing anymore. People think it’s all fun (which it is!), but there’s a lot of stress that goes along with it, too.

I thought I knew a lot about fishing…until I started having to do it every day, under all kinds of conditions, with people of all skill levels. The more I did it, the more I realized that I didn’t know so much.

Honestly, it’s a tough time to get into the field, with declining fish populations, ever-increasing crowds, expensive fuel and a recession. When times are tight, fishing trips often get axed out of people’s budgets.

If you’re prepared to hang tough and give it some time, you’ll do fine.

I’ll leave you with what I think is the most important aspect of being a guide:

It’s what you do between bites that makes or breaks you.

Good luck!

–JD

Spend the extra $$ on a fish finder?

Hey JD,

I was reading your recent report on the Lowrance LMS 527C sonar and have a question for you. I know that you have fished for kokanee and trout, so I wanted to ask your expertise on is this unit for these gamefish.

Do you think this unit is more than adequate, or would you recommend spending a few more bucks and go to the next level of sonars like the Lowrance X-27C with 8000 watts and the most pixels?

The goal is to fish smarter with the sonar, but do you think the added cost would be worth it for trout and kokanee as the target fish?

–Andy

That LMS 527C is more than adequate — unless you’re hankering for a huge screen. I’ve got a buddy with one of those jumbo graphs that looks like a 52-inch flat screen plasma TV and we kid him about having to sit on a phone book just to see over it! The big screens are nice, but I don’t see the huge advantage.

In this day and age when everything is getting more expensive, I’d say save the money and use those extra couple hundred bucks for something like, oh maybe a half tank of gas or something…

Steelhead Rods for Bass?

JD, I mainly fish for salmon, trout and steelhead. I’ve never really had any desire to fish bass fish and have thought of them as kind of a boring fish. As I get older, however, I’m really finding myself wanting to go after the bucketmouths more often. I only live about half an hour from Clearlake and want to get good at bass fishing. I’m not worrying about figuring it out, I just want some help with rod selection for different techniques. My question is this…which of my steelhead and salmon rods will work best for crankbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, jig fishing, and fishing plastics with different rigs, etc? I know most of my rods are long, but oh well, I’ll make due. Thanks very much for your help!
–Kevin

Kevin,

Without going into every rod you own, let’s keep it simple. Yes, most of your steelie sticks are going to be too long for normal bassing, but if you’re trying to save a little $$ by not buying a bunch of new stuff, you can get by with some of your current gear.

For crankbaits, use any Kwikfish or Hotshotting rods you may have — ones with a soft tip and some good backbone. For flipping jigs, stout back-bouncing rods should do the trick. Heavy salmon back-bouncers will also probably suffice for topwater frogging and tossing big swimbaits.

For finesse tactics like drop-shotting, use a light spinning rod.

Hope that helps!

–JD

Which rod for divers & bait for steelies?

JD — I fish a river that is +90% hatchery steelhead. The last few years I have started backtrolling sand shrimp using Brad’s divers. What rod would you recomment for this? Also how do you like your drag when backtrolling bait or when you are backtrolling plug for steelhead?
–Eric T.

Hey Eric, depending on how big your steelies are, the GLoomis HSR 941 is a dandy stick. I’ve also had lots of fun with smaller spring-run fish on the HSR 9000.

I run a really light drag setting because I’m using braid most of the time when pulling plugs or bait divers. Since braided line doesn’t stretch, the light drag builds in some “give” that helps keep the hooks from pulling free on the takedown.

Which rod and reel for coho fishing in Alaska?

Hey J.D. — I enjoyed your writing about fishing for coho in Cordova, Alaska. One question I have - what rod & reel do you suggest for that fishing?
– David M.

David, I ran a GLoomis STR1165C and my buddy fished a STR 1025C. Both worked great. As far as reels, go, the new Shimano Curado 301 is sweeeeeeet!