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> > Tipping the Guide
| Shanti | June 13th, 2012, 8:15 am | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | I'm going to Yellowstone this year too. A two week-trip. This year I'm going alone, so there will be some days with a guide, both float-trips and walk-wades. The question I have might seem skimpy and inappropriate. But I'm always quite short on cash. Working part-time, with just enough money to sustain a healthy (un-healthy some would state) relationship with trout. Oh, and budget-trips to the American west. What is the customary tip after a full day of guiding? Off course, if the guide lost his arm while netting a rainbow or passed out after 2hrs of drinking beer, that affects the ammount. But I don't want to hurt any feelings by going to low, and I want to be able to eat the next day. I am quite generous when it comes to leaving tip. But I remember a ghillie in Scotland who did nothing but sitting in the hut reading papers and beeing grumpy. He did'nt get that much, but I doubt he cared. | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
| PaulRoberts | June 13th, 2012, 11:53 am | |
 Posts: 1776 | I think you need to budget that in. I don't know going rates. You can most probably Google that. | |
| Wiflyfisher | June 13th, 2012, 12:17 pm | |
| Wisconsin Posts: 663 | I would guess the general rule in the USA is some where around 15% if they do a good job. Some shops may even recommend you to tip the guides a certain percentage. | |
| John S. https://WiFlyFisher.com | ||
| Crepuscular | June 13th, 2012, 4:15 pm | |
 Posts: 923 | 15-20 % is standard. | |
| Shanti | June 13th, 2012, 7:12 pm | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | Thanks for your answers! Very helpful. Over here, leaving tips isn't that common. I've worked in bars and when we splitted the tips we were lucky if it covered the bus ride home. | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
| JOHNW | June 13th, 2012, 8:07 pm | |
 Posts: 452 | I'll second the 15-20% but I think guides still understand that a gratuity is earned (as oposed to other industries where the employer pays so poorly it is the only way to make a decent wage but that is another soap box). I have had a guide or two who worked so hard we tipped close to 30% and then bought him dinner and a round of drinks. I have had other guides where I shook his hand at the end of the day and that was all because poor attitude/ work ethic. However I never base my tip on how many fish I caught since a good bit of that falls on me. The guide can only control how hard they work the rest is a craps shoot. JW | |
| "old habits are hard to kill once you have gray in your beard" -Old Red Barn | ||
| Wbranch | June 13th, 2012, 8:49 pm | |
 Posts: 2733 | I've seldom ever used a guide while in Montana but when I have I would base the amount of tip on how much the guide did for me and my buddy to help us get into fish. Did he show us some nymphing techniques that were awesome? Did he bust his butt rowing in place while we made a couple of casts in a difficult lie? Was he polite and friendly or was he a grumpy SOB who should never of called himself a guide? I've had guides who pressed me to use his flies and when I declined he pretty much blew me off for the rest of the day. When my friend used his flies (thinking they were free) the guide told him on the way back to get our vehicle "By the way you owe me $25 for the flies you used". Well whatever tip he was going to get was reduced by that $25.00. I think though 10% would be the minimum I'd give if the fellow just rowed the boat all day and provided a nice lunch. If he does more then 15% would be more appropriate. I would think if the guide worked for someone you might want to give him a little more than for the guide who owns the business and is getting to keep the entire $300 - $400 for the day. The guy who is an employee for an outfitter is doing all the work but is likely getting no more than one half of that daily fee. | |
| Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years. | ||
| Shanti | June 14th, 2012, 2:21 am | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | Good thoughts, both John and Matt. Somewhere around 15% seem to be a good place to start. My father- and brother-in-law went to Florida a couple of years ago to see some NHL-games. They had heard that in US, you should give the waiter/waitress a good tip. So after their first dinner out they gave, what they thought, a lot of cash. The waiter just stared at them and said "-Oh, was there something wrong with the service, SIR?" | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
| Wiflyfisher | June 14th, 2012, 5:31 am | |
| Wisconsin Posts: 663 | Oh, was there something wrong with the service, SIR?" Unfortunately, that is an annoying trait with some waiters/waitresses and high tips are expected in some of the fancy restaurants. I can remember in a nice Las Vegas steak restaurant a guy gave a "small tip" on a $600+ dinner with friends. Management for the restaurant came over and verbally abused him about his small tip of $70 even though he felt he left enough for the service he got. By the way, I was told out West by a guide the "best" guides get around $280 out of the $450 per day. Their season is short and some really do work hard for the customers. My pet-pieve is when a guide moves a client real close to where I am fishing. Like they have the right to catch the fish I am focused on. | |
| John S. https://WiFlyFisher.com | ||
| Shanti | June 14th, 2012, 8:58 am | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | Oh, was there something wrong with the service, SIR?" Sometimes when I leave tip here in Sweden they look at me wondering what planet I came from. But the wages is generally higher here. I've had guides come real close my spot too a couple of times, at home as well as in the West. | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
| Martinlf | June 14th, 2012, 9:55 am | |
 Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Shanti, I don't have anything to add to the excellent tips above, but I wanted to commend you for checking out the customs where you'll be fishing. Best of luck on your trip. | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Shanti | June 14th, 2012, 12:56 pm | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | Shanti, I don't have anything to add to the excellent tips above, but I wanted to commend you for checking out the customs where you'll be fishing. Best of luck on your trip. Thank you! This is the first time I'm hiring a guide alone. | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
| CaseyP | June 14th, 2012, 10:11 pm | |
 Posts: 653 | Shanti, you are certainly the right kind of touring angler! if you feel you'd like to give something more that the money you can afford, and the guide deserves it, be sure to e-mail the guide copies of the photos he's taken with your camera of you and those fish. then add a note saying thanks and mentioning specifically what you appreciated most: really good flies, outstanding knowledge of the fishery, excellent lunch, patient and effective instruction--whatever. if you hire the guide through a fly shop or outfitting service, send them the e-mail as well. reputation is everything in guiding, and those notes really help. | |
| "You can observe a lot by watching." Yogi Berra | ||
| Shanti | June 15th, 2012, 1:34 am | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | Shanti, you are certainly the right kind of touring angler! A really good advice, CaseyP! Thank you very much. I will definitely do that. | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
| Noreaster | July 1st, 2012, 7:12 pm | |
| Posts: 3 | You could give him a nice piece of your kit if money is tight. | |
| Shanti | July 2nd, 2012, 7:00 am | |
| Sweden Posts: 95 | You could give him a nice piece of your kit if money is tight. Perhaps some swedish flies? Yet, my flies are so ugly he'd probably take it as an insult. Good idea though, but I better bring the $.. | |
| Somewhere, right now, a fish is rising. And you´re at the computer.. | ||
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