Quinte Fishing

It sickens me to see any occupation regulated or taxed out of existence. I hope that any regulations here at home, are self imposed and suggest that any guides need to ensure that this does not fall into the hands of any provincial or federal regulatory body.

That said, I am equally appalled when I have a guide that is simply a rotten one, which can happen at even the finest rated resorts (I was at a major 5 Star NW Ontario resort and was very very dissapointed to have some schmuck more interested in smoking and seemingly not interested in fishing in the least.

Equally, I occasionally use the services of a company from MIssion BC, and they have all taken some kind of tourism host program, all have first aid, all have solid quality gear, all go through a small safety speal, etc. And....they produce.

My favourite though is a gentleman that fishes the west coast of Vancouver Island. He is demanding and he is foul and abuses himself tremendously. But....he is the most articulate, most knowledgeable that I have seen....anywhere. He gets my vote every time I am going to be in the area, but he is not for the average angler just wanting to have "fun".

As for tipping, I subscribe to a sliding creative scale and can be very generous or very frugal depending upon the trip and services rendered. I want knowledge, experience and hopefully some mutual personality. Of course I suppose this is a two way street.

Just a few notes.

when a guide works very dangerous waters, ie, quinte ice or late season open water, the regulations NEED to be in place.

for the guy who is an inland lake guy, kawartha's for walleye in the summer, I can understand the lesser need.

However, if there is an area for guides to be 100% on the up and up, it's Quinte.

detail, willingness to share tackle tips, right from what kind of line, why your using it, and when you would change your type ,test, color, etc. to crank bait, size , color, dept, etc, there is a ton of stuff to learn. safety, should show where life jackets are, etc, in case of a emergency, it may be the guide that needs rescuing.
i think a guide needs to have 1000's of hours on the water, its takes a long time to be able to read the water, and read the fish based on what you see on top of the water.
i think guides here lack options, i would love to go fishing with scott from west lake willows, beautiful comfortable boat. my wife would perfer to stay home, so i would be going by my self, so i pay a group charter rate for just my self, the salt water guides down south sell seats, i think the guides here should do that as well, even if its just once a week, have a per person rate for that day.
sorry for mentioning your name scott, i am just trying to send you a hint. lol
down south, its normal practise to tip your guide if you had a good time. just like tipping at a resturant, they say 15-25 %, not tipping is sending a message that you didnt have a good day.
just my two sense.. i have a ton of respect for all the guides out there that are whiling to share info, and help others on this board, because they are giving away "trade secrets for nothing"

LOL. No problem, I like the idea. This is actually why we started the trophy hunt weekend. A per person price for an all inclusive weekend, 2 nights accommodations, 2 full days on the water, and all meals. Plus a 1 in 12 crack at getting the weekend free or a your fish mounted for free. It was a blast this year and a huge success. Gonna run it again Nov 19th next year. A bunch of the guys from this year already booked for next year.

I like your idea of advertising one day a week say Friday as a per person day. hmmmmm may have to do something like this.

Scott

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West Lake Willows Resort, Picton Harbour Inn, and Bay of Quinte Charters
Bay of Quinte Charters offers a 26' Charter Boat operating out of Picton Harbour with a fully enclosed cabin.
Picton Harbour Inn offers 31 rooms, docking, and a restaurant on the sheltered waters of Picton Harbour.
West Lake Willows offers 8 cottages and camping at the doorstep of the famous Sandbanks on West Lake.

www.bayofquintecharters.com, www.pictonharbourinn.com, www.westlakewillows.com

this thread is going in alot of cool directions for sure........... im liking it!! ......... Fireball brought up some very intresting comments for sure expessally when you are talking a softwater outting. . what if your not from the area but happen to be in the area and would like a day on the water seems your choice is to book a charter and pay the whole shot alone..... the advantage is no rotation I guess more a one on one for a higher cost perhaps. cant be all bad, but if you knew there was an offer to climb on board a boat for a per seat price. that would be cool, and a good way to meet fellow fisherpeople. out where the action is lol . very intresting concept! probably not for everyone but as Scott said it would be a cool way to fill the boat on a slack day, or better yet a good way for the Captin to pre fish the waters before the weekend chartes he may have and still be able to cover his costs by filling a few seats.
Tipping is also a touchy subject but one im sure most people do think about! I guess when it comes to tipping its usually always based on the service pervided . but usually you tip the mate not the owner the mate is a hired hand, many work for tips alone!! he dosnt factor in all the expences the mate dosnt set the price of the charter........ as a rule you dont tip the owner of the resteraunt you tip the waiter or waitress and thats also dependian on the job they do.

Fireball and others most guides are more than willing to teach you all that you want to know. Take notes and keep in touch with your guide, you may think you are pestering him but we are more than willing to help where we can. I have helped guys buy certain plastics, custom painted cranks and discounts (sales) on a number of products that I come across in my travels. One of my clients went out and bought 50 muskies lures ($1500) after a day of fishing with me. Brought his big Plano tackle box to the maker and said fill it... LOL
The only problem is absorbing all the info and the experience we have as guides to adapt and find fish, with yrs on the water, hundreds of waypoints and knowing migration routes keep us on top of it most times. We also work with other guides we can trust for that information. Remember that is a 2 way street and it is not all take when you are a guide. During the summer I am fishing, walleye out of Leamington, steelies out of Erieau and Wheatley, both on Lake Erie and bass, muskie on Lake St. Clair. I rely on most of my info by experience(waypoints) and those I can trust.
That being said we all have bad days and tournament results have shown us that bad days and adapting to changes do happen. We have all seen pros who went from the lead after 2 days only to come in with an empty bag.
CATCHING fish is easy-finding fish that want to bite is the tough part. Windows open and the bite is on, 10 minutes later you can't buy a fish. How long do you stay? do you fish shallower, deeper, faster, slower, change baits, change colours or do you move to another location. It is all about making the right decision at that time.

As far as discount days, I am little concerned that some can't have "that day" off and then are forced into paying the regular rate. Now if "you" are that guy, how do you feel? Buddy calls or you see a post on the net that someone got a break, is that guide a dick for not helping you on your day off? I give a break to those who book me for multliple days. One of my clients from Mich books me for a minimum of 5 days(alone) in the spring to fish the Det River. For those who only fish a hand full of times during the season it is actually cheaper for you to hire a guide-charter. His thoughts are why make boat payments, storage, and having no time to stay on top of fish it is much easier for him to get out with me with better results. He has been fishing with me for 7 yrs and is thinking when he retires(5yrs) he will buy himself a boat.
I hope I have answered some of your questions.

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Best fishes,
Bob
NPAA#975
www.chartertalk.com