Screen guides before you fish

[Hamilton Reef]

Screen guides before you fish

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/i ... xml&coll=6

03/23/07 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor hmeyerson@grpress.com

It's spring and the new fishing season is just around the corner. Fishing guides are busy booking trips into the summer and fall.

Anglers who hope to hire a guide for the first time -- whether for trout, smallmouth bass, steelhead or salmon -- need to get a start on their homework.

Great guides can be found all around the state. Finding the right one, however, can take a little work.

Selecting the right one requires an angler to be clear about what he or she wants. There are guides who specialize in fly fishing and those who fancy spinners, hardware and bait. They service large and small streams, famous and not.

Defining what makes a great fishing guide is not as simple as saying: "someone who puts me on fish." It's more like defining "beauty." Much rests in the eye of the beholder.

A guide may be too chatty for one client or too quiet for another. An angler with conservative values may find this one or that one too salty or impolitic.

Some cater to anglers who keep fish while others practice catch-and-release. All of these things should be kept in mind when interviewing guides for the first time.

Anglers who need instruction typically are happier if they say that up front when screening a guide. There are guides who prefer not to spend their day teaching and others who excel at doing just that.

"You hear horror stories of people getting yelled at," said Paul Eberhart, an avid fly angler and board member for Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited. "(Guides) in the Keys are notorious for being intolerant of amateurs."

While stories of guides yelling at clients are few and far between, most professional guides agree that it helps if clients make their expectations known. That's easily done with a phone call or by mail.

It helps when anglers are clear about whether they want to fly fish, spinfish, backtroll or bait fish.

It helps to specify whether they want a relaxed, easy float or a no-nonsense day with trophy fish.

Outfitters who book guide trips say the conversation is important for several reasons. It helps to match a client with a guide and it makes clear any other business at hand.

For instance, the length of a trip: Does a six-hour day mean six hours on the river or four plus one hour between the shop and the river? It makes it clear whether a guide provides food or gear and whether flies are free or not.

It establishes whether a guide is CPR certified or whether a client has eating restrictions or medical needs.

"It's up to them to ask as many questions as possible when they call," said Ray Schmidt, owner of Schmidt Outfitters in Wellston. Schmidt's fly-fishing lodge, with its eight guides, was named by Field & Stream magazine as one of the top 25 best fishing lodges in the Midwest for 2006.

"They will quickly get the flavor of a guide operation: Are they professionals with the customer's interests at heart or one of the cocky bums we've all hired from time to time."

Attempting to best match a client and guide is standard operating procedure for outfitters with a professional guiding staff. Schmidt says his staff asks their own battery of questions to make sure the match is good. The angler who is well paired usually comes in happy and returns.

"We try to read the expectations of clients," said Rusty Gates, owner of Gates AuSable Lodge in Grayling. "Some are grinning and happy just to be out in a boat all day and could care less about who is poling. Others are disappointed if they don't catch a 20-inch fish every time they are out."

If the first step in hiring a good guide is determining how and where you want to fish, the next step is finding a guide who services that area. Guides may work for outfitters like Schmidt and Gates or on their own.

Word of mouth is worth a pound of gold if you know your sources. Friends who fish or belong to fishing organizations often can offer several suggestions. Area Chamber of Commerce offices are another source for information. They often have lists of guides who work in the region.

Asking a guide for references also can be helpful. Just remember they are likely to be limited to happy customers.

Anglers with Internet access also can hit the Web and search for guide services in various regions. The Internet can give you a feel for a guide's business. Is it professionally done and up-to-date? What do you see in the photos, on the faces of people shown.

The Michigan River Guides Association at www.mrga.net is a good resource for finding guides on some of the major Lower Peninsula rivers.

The site has links to important news topics, its member's Web sites, and even the MRGA code of ethics it expects it members to follow.

"You don't want to fish with someone you can't stand, no matter how good they are," said Mike Patterson, a Grand Rapids fly fisherman who has been hiring guides in Michigan and out West for the past 10 years. "And to be frank, I've had some great days with lousy fisherman."

Which makes sense when it's just you and a stranger floating together for eight hours. There's more to picking a guide than whether they can find or catch fish.