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Wanna be a fishing guide?

25K views 271 replies 42 participants last post by  Rhithrogena 
#1 ·
#9 ·
Every second angler on the upper Tweed professes to be a guide. We've got so many guides up this way, that we will soon need a guide qualification for someone to look after all the guides!

Perhaps they have all obtained their qualification from the above.

Douglas
How long have there been 'guides' on the Tweed Douglas and do you mean different from the full time ghillies? I have fished the Wessex chalk streams for many years and 'guides' are a relatively new invention as opposed to river keepers that have always been here.

Reg Wyatt
 
#14 ·
Spookily close opening description . . .

Sweetwater Travel Co
For most people Fly Fishing is a hobby, but, for a select few, it is a profession. Unfortunately, trying to get your first job in the fishing business is the most difficult step. The Fly Fishing Guide Market is a very competitive profession. It is almost impossible to get a job without a good connection or specialized training. Sweetwater Travel fly fishing guide school will provide you with the necessary experience to land that essential first fly fishing job.



Fishing Breaks

For most people fly fishing is a hobby, but, for a select few, it is a profession. Unfortunately, trying to get your first job in the fishing business is the most difficult step. The guide market is a very competitive profession. It is almost impossible to get a job without a good connection or specialized training. The Fishing Breaks Guide School will provide you with the necessary experience to help you land that essential first job.
Interesting that Fishing Breaks are unable to spell 'specialise' . . . or has Hampshire moved to the US?
 
#13 ·
Hold on ...... something curious here .....

Fishing Breaks - Guide School - opening paragraph reads:
For most people fly fishing is a hobby, but, for a select few, it is a profession. Unfortunately, trying to get your first job in the fishing business is the most difficult step. The guide market is a very competitive profession. It is almost impossible to get a job without a good connection or specialized training. The Fishing Breaks Guide School will provide you with the necessary experience to help you land that essential first job.
Sweetwatertravel - Guide School - opening paragraph reads:

For most people Fly Fishing is a hobby, but, for a select few, it is a profession. Unfortunately, trying to get your first job in the fishing business is the most difficult step. The Fly Fishing Guide Market is a very competitive profession. It is almost impossible to get a job without a good connection or specialized training. Sweetwater Travel fly fishing guide school will provide you with the necessary experience to land that essential first fly fishing job.
Is there a connection between the two or just plagiarism?

PaulID wrote:
Odd the qualifications of the Guide Instructors isn't mentioned?
They're mentioned here, Paul.
In broad terms the season runs from April to October during which time we run a variety of courses and days that are hosted by resident instructors John Stephens, Alan Middleton, Tony King, Mark Bedford-Russell and Bob Preston.
And here:
All our Guides are true chalkstream experts, with a strong background in fly fishing tuition - indeed they all have nationally recognised qualifications.
What made me giggle is the thought of paying all that money to do restoration work for them. :)
During the week you will have the opportunity to participate in a river management and restoration project ....
 
#25 ·
Could be done with an NVQ, but then you would need to add another zero or two, to that 2K+. For a "hobby" a qualification is very expensive.
FYI - I helped put together the NVQ for Fly Tying, still with the OU, never been used, as it is too expensive to run. My role at the time was as an NVQ Co Ordinator / Assessor / Instructor and ran the companies Train the Trainer programme. I renewed my Training qualifications in 2013, two months before retiring ? The company had to go to a contact company to replace me at 2.5K per week !!!! No way was I going back.
 
G
#26 ·
I am a guide and "moniteur responsable", certified in both Belgian regions. I am allowed to guide individuals and organise group events. Official degrees are given by governmental institutions, signed by ministers or director-generals. But the courses were much more elaborated (legislation, biology, first-aid, etc) and the exams (especially in Wallonia) are no walk in the park.

What do I make of the "final interview"? Is every paying participant a guide after seven days? When you failed the exam over here, there was no deliberation, only better luck next time. And the entrance fee was around 80 euros, I believe. I guess when you pay 2.5 K you expect to get a paper saying you're a guide, but what's in a name?
 
#34 ·
So, as a novice, you could embark on this course and at the end of the week, be qualified to teach
all the skills of game angling to all and sundry. To pay two and a half grand to enable you to start a good going business, doesn't seem too steep to me.

In addition, I see in the small print that room service is supplied by young topless females!


Douglas
 
#37 ·
So, as a novice, you could embark on this course and at the end of the week, be qualified to teach
all the skills of game angling to all and sundry. To pay two and a half grand to enable you to start a good going business, doesn't seem too steep to me.

In addition, I see in the small print that room service is supplied by young topless females!

Douglas
It's an unbelievably cynical attempt at money-making. Words really do fail me. I really hope that no one is drawn in by it.
 
#43 ·
This is great, I'm doing it, not paying two and a half grand though because after reading that its clear you don't need to, all you need is the brass neck to pretend you are a bit of an authority and sell the dream, there is no delivery of the dream because the market is already saturated with dafties doing..ah courses for more fkn guides.

This is from a while back but I think its apt...

I'm working on a new type of 'fly fishing experience adventure break' it centers around drinking a lot of beer and talking rubbish in various highland pubs, before trying to find your tent in that drunk 'I'm sure it was over here' way, then shizzing yourself as your torch settles of a massive thing with antlers chewing on what looks suspiciously like the co op bag that had your breakfast in.

Day 2 begins with scavenging bits of pork pie left by the last nights visitor before setting off on a brisk walk that feels like 30 miles, uphill, includes fishing, a brief sighting of a golden eagle 44 miles up, or maybe it was a sea gull just 12 miles up who knows, I can't see the eye of a fly 6 inches from my face.

Day 3 is a new venue, after an hours drive in a car that smells of wet tent and socks that no one wants to mention incase its theirs, you arrive at..the pub, repeat previous 24 hours with an added waist depth ditch incident after spotting the perfect place to pee in the dark with a midge net on...which then activates all of the midges in the entire world.

Now none of this comes cheap, the bar bill alone is a serious overhead, and your very experienced guide...me....has many years of experience in the skills required to survive such an adventure, but you will experience the famous Scottish highland hill lochs and catch 400 kilo of stunning little wild brown trout, so many in fact that you will be sick looking at the damn things and stink of fish for days, and beer, you will stink of fish and beer, and korma mixed with beans because that pristine highland air and uphill jaunt will have you eating anything..all mixed together and heated in the same pot.

An experience to remember and tell your friends about.

And you get a hand written certificate qualifying you in anything you want, in fact you can write it yourself and I'll sign it for an extra £20.
 
#53 ·
I use guides a lot as I travel to fish whenever I can and they're pretty much essential when you have limited time and no knowledge. I've yet to find a bad one though I've usually done a lot of research and I know I've been lucky.

A good guide will not only put you on the fish with the right tactics but will also help with your casting and be good company.

I know on one occasion when there was really no point fishing, conditions were hopeless but that was the time I had, so we did it anyway. I just had about 6 hours excellent casting instruction on the river. Excellent value for money.

If they're going to be churning out fake guides with no experience, it's going to be even more important to do your research.
 
#59 ·
I only know of one guide/instructor (wished I known earlier before I booked with him myself :rolleyes: ) that wasn't value for money. It wasn't that he was bad, infact he was good, just that he disappeared for half hour out of a 2 hour tuition session. Then there were the phone calls. ☹ This just didn't happen to me. It also happened to a guy doing his guiding/instructors ticket, he used this guide/instructor for mentorship, GAIA. I believe the guide/instructor received some very strong words and docked half hour pay. (y)
 
#61 ·
This can go two ways, or three or even four. It depends on how many clients I have at one time. If more than one then obviously I have to make time to be with all of them and give them equal shares in my time. The furthest away one could be a mile up- or downstream so how long is it going to take to walk a mile there & back plus spend time with each client? Sometimes the main host says that he is experienced and would I give my attention to xxx and zzz. Fine, but I will pop in and see him once or twice as well.

Next, it is often a good idea to leave a client on his own for a while. Not everyone is that comfortable with an "expert" at his shoulder. I often make an excuse to leave them. "Just going to nip back to the hut for a few minutes. Are you going to be OK?" Then when I get 50 yards away I risk a look back and it is as if he has had a great weight lifted off his shoulders. By the time I get back - rarely more than 15-20 minutes - he has started to fish. He has relaxed and the rest of the day is fine.

I keep my phone on, but try not to make or take calls unless necessary. If people call I might tell them I am working and will call back later either at lunch or close of play.

codyarrow,

Seeing fish is half the battle. It has been said that a fish seen is a fish caught, but that depends on the ability of the person at the blunt end.

Back in 2018 I was guiding a chap on the upper Test. A wide bit of river which was very low & clear in bright sunshine and very hot. The far bank was treelined and there was a gap of about 10' between two trees which cast dappled shade onto the water between them helped by small bushes.

Something caught my eye and I stopped to watch. After a few minutes the client asked what I was staring at. I pointed out the gap and said that I was almost certain that there was a fish in there. I had seen a movement which could have just been a patch of dappled shade moving in what passed for breeze but I didn't think so. The client said he thought it was too far for him. It was nearly 20 yards and was certainly a testing cast. I said that he should have a go. Nothing to lose apart from the fly and I had plenty more of those.

First cast stopped about a yard short and a yard downstream. I said it was a yard short and a yard further upstream for the next go. The fly landed and a trout scoffed it instantly. 30 seconds later we had a 1.5lb brown in the net. The client was delighted and so he should be. It was not an easy cast by any means and a lot would have fluffed it. He would not have caught that fish if I had not been there.

That was a day when a single fish made all the difference.
 
#66 ·
Not in Washington state, but most of them can pop a cap off a beer bottle with their. front teeth. All joking aside there are a few truly professional guides that are extremely skilled. But then there are the weekend hacks that are novice fishers trying to pay a boat off with client fees & they sadly make up a large percentage of the so called guides. There is strong thoughts about making a set of required skills mandatory to hold a guides license in Washington state,now to guide any saltwater your need a U.S. coast guard captains endorsement.
 
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