Should pro barramundi guides fish with clients, without first being invited to do so?

Or is fishing a legitimate job perk for a pro guide?

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I'm confused........

NO

Sorry MF,

In a bit of a VB haze and have had a moment of clarity - NO, but with an invite from the client for sure

I recently had the pleasure of going on a guided session with Rod Harrison....wouldnt have minded in the least if he had picked up a rod and fished side by side with us



Harty

I fished with a fellow, Dave Newman in Weipa for a week. Got this sweet deal, 1k per person including airfares from brisbane and accom and lunch. There was only me and a friend on this tour and one of him so the boat had plenty of room. He was taking us to real prime spots and trying new spots as well for the next year. We let him fish as much as he wanted.

I thought it only fair he fish. He just worked so hard to get us to the right spot, set us up to get our lure in the exact spot for the best chance, and he never ever cast before we had and it was obvious he was not targetting the better spots with his unbelievably accurate casting (well compared to my casting 15 yrs ago)

He still outfished us about 3 to one but he would always try to hand his rod over if he was hooked up. He was a really good bloke, I was happy for him to relax a little and have a chuck.

But everyday he waited for us to ask him to fish if he wanted.

I had actually met him once previous (not that he remembered) Me and the same bloke who went on the tour with him were in Weipa fishing out of my little 11'6 savage with a crappy old evinrude. While he was catching fish on a charter he told us where to go,(no not like that) pointing out a collapsed bank and told us to have a troll there. We did and hooked up big time each pass. It was a great session and I really appreciated his help. Just a good allround bloke both times I met him.

Sorry got a little off track there

Chris

I suppose there are different schools of thought here. I fish every year with Geoff Corry (Barrabase.com) and mostly get Jason (Back-cast) as our guide. Their charters are mainly casting (little trolling) There has been plenty of times when the fishing is slow, we shoutherly clients feel "heat stroke" and casting is sparse. Jason bags the shyte out of us, grabs a rod and says "they're there boys, just keep on casting". After a few cast he usually bags a Barra or 2. The reaction is contageous. All grab rods and start casting again. So with out invite, he starts fishing...the end result is we all start fishing & catching fish again. So is that wrong????????? We certainly don't complain

It's been a well-discussed issue for years. There's some good perspectives on it here

The late Russell Butel told me he took a tourist on a reef charter out of Gove years ago.

As there were only the tourist (and maybe his wife) on the boat Russell thought nothing of dropping in his line and he pulled up a nice red emperor.

The tourist asked to be taken home straight away because Russell "caught the fish he would have caught".

I guess you gotta ask first.

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'bout right

K'noath.

They should fish
The mechanic should use your car
The pilot should relax in business class with a Jim Beam
The rapper should throw cans at the drummer from the mosh pit
and chefs should sit down and enjoy the meal with you and your date

They gotta ask first, it just p..s’s clients off if the guide helps themselves.
Many years ago I used the services of a guide on the Tongariro in NZ, he fished without asking, amazing how he always got the prime position in the pool, always got the best drifts and surprise surprise out fished me 10 to 1. I should have known……..his advertisement literature was full of photos of himself with fish, none of any clients. He also got the narks when I told him I didn’t need him the next day.
Last year I got a guide at Rotorua, he was completely the opposite, he refused to fish even when I invited him to get amongst them. His response…..You’re paying to catch fish, I’m paid to help you catch those fish. That just about summed it up.

Yeah let ‘em fish and we can just stay at home and eat what they catch and watch their videos.

I've been with 6 guides throughout Oz from Tassie to NT and only 1 fished but there was only the two of us. He did show me a few tricks though. I'm not sure that he would have been able to ‘show’ me verbally.

I still can't catch a bl..dy fish though

Guide should only fish if invited to, show technique or show that the fish are there to be caught. Even then would only expect them to fish for a very short time.

G'day all

I have guided for a living & still do so on an occassional basis to help out friends & have a bit of a break from my full time job. I don't fish whether invited to or not, personally I focus on the client's overall trip, when you're fishing you can't do that, whether it be positioning the boat, working on their casting technique or lack there of & a host of other areas that come into their overall experience. Teaching techniques is a big part of guiding, such as casting technique, working lures etc personally I don't think you need to catch the fish to do that, take the hooks off etc, different way, same result & no chance of the guide catching the biggest fish etc. I use different ways to motivate clients to continue fishing. For me I work on the basics, find out what the client/clients want out of the trip are, try to cater for their expectations & or let them know the realities (some clients expectations aren't realistic), then put in 110%, if they bag you after that I don't lose any sleep over it. I've also been lucky to guide in some great areas with some great guides like Geoff Corry, BackCast, Mal Miles & a host of others which you always learn from & thats another part, just because you guide doesn't mean you can't learn or stop learning & or own the water ways. I'm sure there will be plenty of different opinions to me, but these are some of the basics for me & its worked for me, treat it like the job it is, its usually long hours, persistance & attention to detail which shows in the guides who are usually highly rated & have a repeat business clientelle & there only my opinions, cheers Balls.

I beleive that there is a time and a place for a guide to fish. They should definatly ask the clientel first and the subject matter should be benificial to the client. Sometimes you have to physically show the clients how to do somethings. In my experiance as a bluewater guide and a barra guide there are just some people that dont get the idea from verbal instruction. Maybe thats my down fall in english skills but maybe its thiers on other occasions and with a visual demo once is usually enough to aid verbal command so to speak. The saying is that one picture tells a thousand words. And yes there are some clients that are impossible to satisfy but like balls said that if you as a guide give 100% it shouldnt really matter what happens after that. If 100% means I have to hook a fish and pass it on for an elderly person or child or someone of that nature who just cant cast exactly right to hook a fish well then thats what I would do because you get more happy people than not giving them this aid. It all comes back to the punters you have onboard and prior communication on what they want to happen .

I beleive that there is a time and a place for a guide to fish. They should definatly ask the clientel first and the subject matter should be benificial to the client. Sometimes you have to physically show the clients how to do somethings. In my experiance as a bluewater guide and a barra guide there are just some people that dont get the idea from verbal instruction. Maybe thats my down fall in english skills but maybe its thiers on other occasions and with a visual demo once is usually enough to aid verbal command so to speak. The saying is that one picture tells a thousand words. And yes there are some clients that are impossible to satisfy but like balls said that if you as a guide give 100% it shouldnt really matter what happens after that. If 100% means I have to hook a fish and pass it on for an elderly person or child or someone of that nature who just cant cast exactly right to hook a fish well then thats what I would do because you get more happy people than not giving them this aid. It all comes back to the punters you have onboard and prior communication on what they want to happen .