Tipping a Guide
- Thread starter Rayc
- Start date
coastalmarinesafety
Active Member
6 years ago mid range lodges on the coast were suggesting a minimum tip of $50/day per person on the boat. That was guided 10 hour days. And it often went up from there. So for an okay experience $100 tip if 2 anglers on the boat. $200 if 4 on the boat. More if the experience was above and beyond, which usually was the case and thus the expected tip was much more. That was for lodge boats. Private guide/owner operated, suggested tipping might be different?
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
50-100 per day per guest is about right, atleast im my experiences. Obviously gratuities are at the guests discretion, so if you feel they went above and beyond dont be shy about rewarding them for it. If you had a **** guide, tip him accordingly. If you stiff a guide at a lodge theres a good chance you wont be invited back unless there was good reason for it. I know a lot of people think guiding is a cakewalk but it can be quite a grind and theres a lot more to it than just "fishing".
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wildmanyeah
Crew Member
This comment kinda implies that lodges are purposefully underpaying their staff in the expectation that guests are required to tip and make up the difference.
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
The same could be said about a lot of jobs in the food/beverage, hospitality, and tourism industries.
I can only speak for myself, but the gratuities definitely help in making it a livable wage.
I can only speak for myself, but the gratuities definitely help in making it a livable wage.
hippaisland
Well-Known Member
Can’t comment on day trips as I always had the same guests for 3 or 4 days. I enjoyed it because it gave me an opportunity to actually get to know them, have a beer with them at end of the day etc. There isn’t an “appropriate” amount in my opinion. Take into consideration how your guide treated you, talked to you, was he putting in an effort? Was he too lazy to run bait when fishing was slow? Was he late getting to the boat because he was piling beers the night before? Did he encourage you to get involved and show you how to bait and run the gear?Guided on and off up north for better part of 10 years and can count on one hand the amount of times I was “disappointed” by what I received. Did have plenty of guests that were surprised I didn’t yell at them when they lost a fish which always blew my mind. Other guests who were surprised I let them set the hook. Who yells at their guests though... don’t get it. Nothing more rewarding in my opinion than teaching someone thats new to fishing how to cut and rig a cut plug, set their own gear and then play their own fish from start to finish. Guiding in my opinion is 25% skill and 75% people skills and interacting with your guests in a positive way. Many lodges do “underpay” their guides though if you weren’t to receive any gratuities. Most of the guides that I worked with that bitched about their gratuities just weren’t great at their job and didn’t enjoy interacting with their guests and it becomes pretty apparent to their guests. Your interaction with them on the water and being professional and prepared(example: guides calling the lodge for extra bait at 10am because they didn’t bother preparing enough the night before) for the day in many cases is what matters.
just my 0.02
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adanac
Well-Known Member
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
Thats a great take mister hippa, and thats coming from a guy who ran spoons 95% of the season last year (not due to laziness, spoons just work) 
Wow! U sound like a great guide.
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Should you tip them the same for catch and release?
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
Realistically the guide is putting in exactly the same amount of effort, save for cleaning fish. We dont get many C&R guests at the lodge I work at, but the ones we have had tend to tip well and the part I enjoy most is that they have a respect for the resource that others sometimes dont.
Aces
Well-Known Member
Exactly! It's nice to see someone who gets what being a professional is. I developed life long friendships with many of my guests and we still hang out after my retirement. I always considered the tips a bonus
Please ask them what they do for salmon enhancement. Not "DFO, damn seals, Fn's, We, Fraser Slide, etc." What they actually do to give back.
Unreel
Well-Known Member
This is exactly what happens at most lodges especially high end ones. **** day pay and they expect the clients to fill the gap with large tips.
hippaisland
Well-Known Member
Same here, always just tried to have a good time and the other stuff usually always worked out fine. Some clients I’d fished with 10 years in a row from out east we’re taking me to Peregrine this year as their guest. Got pushed to next year sadly. Was looking forward to “guesting” it for my first time.
Unreel
Well-Known Member
Theres a few threads on here about tipping guides and at lodges. As an owner operator of a charter business and also having worked at a couple lodges i'll give you my opinion. As an owner operator, It is different than getting tipped at a lodge or if you are a hired guide working for someone else. It also depends where you are guiding out of and the length of trip. When i worked at a few basic lodges, $100 a day regardless of how many people was considered a base tip. As a owner operator guiding out of the east coast of the island, im usually lucky to see that in a day. With alot of tourists and first time fishers most dont know what a reasonable tip is and may think handing you 20-$40 bucks is sufficient for a 4 hour trip. Over the years ive learned that whatever it is you accept it graciously and say thank you. If they didnt enjoy the trip you can tell and don't need a tip to tell you that. Years ago when I did some trips out of Port renfrew I had a group that did a 3 day trip, first guided trip they had done. I got them limits of hali and springs and they had a blast. They tipped me $100 cash at the end and said they would etransfer another $100 later which they did. Sure that may be considered very low of a tip but they had no idea and assumed it was good. Shortly after I walked over to one of the other charter boats and chatted with a guy who just finished a charter and was counting some cash. I asked if it was a good day and got a good tip, he said ya got them lots of fish but only got a $150 tip for the day. Only? I said. He then said well we're trying to make $200 a day tip the minimum. I laughed and said buddy i just got $200 for 3 days and they limited out. Anyway I could go on about this but ive probably said enough, try to base your tip off of how well you enjoyed your time on the boat, did the guide interact with you and your group, did you feel safe and know where all the safety gear and lifejackets are? Was he helpful and teach you things, if you have kids was he good with them and teach them, was he putting in consistant effort to get you into fish? As a guide we cant control the fish and whats around on a day to day basis, but we can control the experience you have while out on the water and on our boat and the overall experience is what its all about, especially for those that are new to fishing. I've actually had lots of people ask at the end of a trip what a good tip would be, I just say whatever you feel comfortable with is good with me. And kudos to you for asking before you go out, hope you have a good experience.
