From time to time, I hear discussions on whether hiring a guide is a good thing, and since I was a tournament angler and guide, I feel that there are numerous reasons one should hire a guide.

Guides have a lot of money in their equipment, as most of it is the latest and greatest, just coming to the market.

Most guides have a lot of money invested in their boats, gear, electronics and tow vehicle, once that’s figured in to the cost to hire a guide wasn’t all that high.

I know several guides that have as much in their boat, several over one hundred thousand dollars, in their boat, motor and navigational GPS, along with insurance on their gear, so as you can see, it’s, not a business everyone can afford.

Guides, spend almost every day on the water, know where the fishing has been good, what baits worked the best and putting you on the fish, a huge time saver, as you won’t have to pay for the gas for your boat and all the hours you might have spent getting to the lake or river you want to fish.

When asked how many fish we were going to catch, my response was, as long as we have good fishermen in the boat, we’ll catch some decent numbers.

Many guides ask the anglers if they want the guide to fish, or to just handling the netting.

It’s about a 50/50 and as the day goes on, it’s more like 40/60 as the fishermen want to have their picture with a big bunch of fish and to take some home.

Since I was a guide and tournament angler, I’ve heard all the ups and downs of hiring a guide.

Most of the time, they were very positive as not only are the clients put on fish, but they also learn some new methods that they can use to catch fish on their home waters.

All in all, hiring a guide is a smart move and, since you now know several god locations to catch fish and once you figure out what the fish were relating to, you can search for similar areas that will be holding fish.

Guides are a worthwhile expense, saving you, wear on your boat and motors, saving you time, you would have spent running all over the lake looking for fish.

And once the day on the water is done, they’ll even clean your catch, which is a pretty good deal.

Guides can save you a lot of time and money as they know what’s happening on the big lake.Zippel Bay on Lake of the Woods, can put you right on the fish. Gary (Rt) Nick, the owner and one of his charter captains had a great day fishing, with average walleyes being 18”. (Larry Myhre Photo)