Striper Guides On Lake Cumberland

I agree as well... asking questions and doing your research when hiring a guide is important. Just like when booking a vacation you wouldn't just pick any ol' hotel.

You're in marketing? Here in Louisville or somewhere else in the state? My brother is an account exec. for an advertising firm in Louisville... you may know him. I do web design/production/editing etc... sorry, going off topic.

Anyways, I wouldn't even know what all to ask of a guide, but a good one will give you all the info you need and more (letting you know of things you didn't even consider). A guide with a good reputation is important as well I believe, it shows others' experiences have been good.

Since this was brought up about selecting a guide I thought I would copy and paste this answer I gave on another site to an individual that had asked about selecting guides...he also asked about tipping so there is some advice there too...not trying to solicit tips, just putting out information that might be of use to you when selecting and using a guide:

NOTE: The answer I gave is geared toward selecting a bass guide but most of it can be used generically for any guide.

Re: Guide etiquette questions (bassclown) » 7:34 AM 3/9/2006 Reply Edit

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I surf the lounge here almost daily but hardly ever post but since I am a guide this topic caught my eye and I felt like chiming in. Here it is from a full time bass guide's point of view:
Communication with your guide prior to selection and fishing is a must. Not all guide's are the same when it comes the services they provide or how they provide the service. You need to talk to the guide (the one that is actually going to take you fishing if you are using a service that has multiple guides) before you book your trip to discuss what you want to get out of the trip and ask the guide how he does the kind of trip you are wanting. You should also ask at this time about any fees above what is advertised as his price for the trip (hidden fees), equipment provided, can you bring your own equipment if you want, how is lunch handled if you want to eat on your trip, is your guide a catch and release guide or can you keep the fish if you want, tell him any disabilities you may have that he needs to be aware of, cancellation policies and basically anything else you can think of that you think you should know before you make a selection.

You should not be afraid to ask for references.....and you should do so unless you already have communicated with folks that have been out with this guide.

Referring back to one of the statements above: you really need to let the guide know what you want out of the trip and the guide should be able to tell you what you can expect. Here are some examples:

If you are booking a trip to try to get a trophy fish the guide should be able to tell you what the best time of year would be to better your chances. The guide should also tell you if you are selecting a time of year that the chances are slim to none. You should be aware that no guide is a magician and can make a trophy fish bite on any given day and that when you specify to a guide that you are after a trophy fish the odds of catching a lot of fish go down....if the guide is focused on trophy fish he is not going to be looking for numbers of fish. You should also discuss with the guide as to whether he allows you to take the trophy fish for mounting or does he expect you get the information on the fish (measurements/pics) for a replica mount.

If you are booking the guide to just have some fun and catch as many fish as you can that day then you need to let the guide know that. There are times during the season that there are spots on certain patterns that can produce numbers of fish but do not on a high percentage basis produce big fish. On the other hand there are similiar spots on the same pattern that may not produce as many fish but have a tendacy to produce a few nice fish. This is not always the case but there are times this is so.

If you are booking the trip to learn as many seasonal spots as you can on the lake then you need to let the guide know that also and discuss with him just how much time you want to spend fishing and how much time you want to spend running and learning the lake. It is a give and take thing...the more time you spend running and learning water the more your future fishing on the lake is going to improve...the more you run the less time you are going to fish so you should understand that you may or may not catch fish that day or if you spend more time fishing the less you are going to learn about the lake.

If you are booking the guide for a tournament prep..ie..to assist you in narrowing down the lake to find high percentage spots and patterns for when you are going to fish your tournament you need to really discuss with the guide how he does his tournament prep trips and specifically how he will approach your trip. The guide needs to know when your tournament is going to take place, type boat you are using, your familiarization with the water, your strengths and weaknesses as far as techniques go (this is so that he can work with you on your weaknesses if that technique is the odds on for cashing a check during your tournament), how much practice time you are going to have before your tournament after your trip. You need to know: is the guide a tournament angler...does he have a tournament coming up or is he fishing against you....if the answer to either is yes the odds are you are not going to see the spots/patterns that he plans on fishing.

If you are booking a trip to learn a specific technique or how to fish a certain pattern then you need to know what to expect for the time you are going...ie..if you book a trip to learn how to fish offshore (ledges, humps) and you book it when the fish are spawning shallow then obviously you should not expect to catch a lot of fish. If this is a problem then you need to find out from the guide when would be a better time to learn this and have a shot at catching some fish. There is absolutely nothing wrong with booking a guide to learn a specific technique but you should realize that you can't force feed fish and if you are learning a specific technique and the fish aren't going for that technique on that day then you are not going to catch fish. and you should not hold that against your guide...here again..what is your focus for the trip...intense learning or catching fish.

Here are some other things I can think of you should find out:

Is the guide a full time guide or just a part time weekend guide? Obviously you have a chance of doing better with someone that is on the water more often than someone that is only out there a day or two a week.

If you are booking with a guide that has other guides that work with him, are you getting the guide you thought you were going to get. I have heard this from so many clients that they booked with Joe Blow Guide Service thinking they were going to fish with Joe Blow because he has such a good reputation to find out at the dock they are fishing with Joe Blow's second cousin who guides part time.

If your guide fully licensed and insured? This can make a difference to you and your family if you have an accident on the water due to the negligence of the guide.

The above is just some thoughts that I had after reading all the posts here. Here is my answer from a guide's point of view on the two original questions you asked:

Should you tip a guide and how much?

Traditionally guides like waitresses depend on tips as a part of thier income. Overhead for guides, especially nowdays, is skyrocketing with the cost of boats, maintenance, gas etc....this of course varies with the type of guide you are booking with. If you are booking a trip to fish for Crappie and you don't get outside the site of where you launched obviously the overhead is much cheaper than if you booked a bass guide to learn water and he takes you on a 50 mile trip around the lake. But, the Crappie guide is probably going to spend an hour or two more cleaning your catch for you after the trip is over whereas the bass guide is going home after the trip.

In my opinion the tip or no tip and the amount should be based on the following:
Service: either the guide provided good service or he didn't. If he provided lousy service you should let him know how you feel and not tip. If he provided good service you should tip accordingly..10-15% is normal. If he went above and beyond in providing service and you can afford it your tip should reflect that.

Going back and fishing the spots the guide took you to: This is something you should discuss with your guide. Some guides do not want you to do this....they even put in their advertisements things like "no gps" or "no maps" are allowed in their boat. Normally these are panfish guides that normally do not cover a lot of water and thus use these spots on a daily basis...or they are bass guides that do not know as much water as they should. Either way, you should discuss this with your guide prior to booking if this is your intent so that you are both on the same sheet of music. Not all guides are the same on this. I for one don't care if you go right back out and fish the spots we caught fish on that day....I am a pattern angler and I know a lot of water so if you are on one of the spots I showed you and I wanted to fish it, then I will just go find another spot..in my way of thinking if I can't find another spot I need to get another job...but that is my way of thinking and not all guides see it that way. The comment I read on here that said that a guide will not take you to his best spots is totally wrong...it all depends on the guide..some will, some won't. I am not a tournament angler so I have no reason to hold anything back....everyone gets treated the same whether you are fun fishing or fishing the FLW. I don't own any spots on the lake and neither do you.

Anyway, as you can see most of what I have said can be and should be addressed by communication between the client and the guide before the trip.

One other thing, looking at testimonials on a website is like looking at testimonials in a magazine....unless the testimonial has contact information with it so you can talk to the individual making the testimonia...hell I could make up 20 neat looking testimonials and put it on my website...lol which by the way has no testimonials...I would rather you talk to folks that have been out with me and get the real scoop.

Dave...you continue to impress....no wonder you're booked all the time.

Kyhorsefly~ I own B&K. [url]www.bkprint.com[/url]

We've been around for almost 35 years and I'm a second generation owner. We got our start in quick copying and have evolved into a full service communication company. However, the bulk of our business is still commercial print. We just built and moved into a new facility in Simpsonville, Kentucky. This divested us of walk-in traffic and the retail presence in St. Matthews. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

Outside of college and a six year stint with a large corporate company this is all I've ever done since I was 12. Perfect environment to take off and fish or just spend the day posting ;^) back to work.

Thanks for the kind words. Just killing time here on the computer today...lost three trips this week due to the weather and am bored...lol. Did get to spend some time this morning with the client I was supposed to be with today teaching him how to eliminate water before he gets on the lake so the day was not totally wasted. Sounds like you have a great job in the family business...so many folks just can't find the time to enjoy the outdoors as much as they would like to due to their jobs, it is fortunate that you can.

"so many folks just can't find the time to enjoy the outdoors as much as they would like to due to their jobs, it is fortunate that you can. "

Ahmen! It is really hard to get out as often as I'd like!

Dave: Thanks for the post - very informative as always (have always enjoyed reading your posts, as well as most everyone on here - glad I found this board). Shoot, I better book a trip soon! I'll email you with some dates here in a sec. and see if you've got openings, I'm bettin' I'll enjoy it.

Bass30: Yep, you're definately lucky to be where you are, in a position to up and go fishin' whenever. Hey, the good thing for me though, I might (might being the keyword - I stay awfully busy, so to bring on more is a bit scarey) be doing a blog for work about fishin' - so I figure that means I can expense equip, gas, etc.! LOL! We'll see...

Been going to the lake for several years and i've never seen anyone bring fish to the cleaning table like Lance Sasser. Doesn't matter what time of year or what method. Some of the others mentioned here travel a lot to fish tourneys. Lance is on the lake day in and day out and always knows what the fish are doing on Cumberland (excluding the first two weeks of deer season...lol). Fished

If you want a true trophy striper then fish the river. Greg Carey(skipjack king) or Randall gibson. The potential for a truly big striper would be in the river.It would take many years to catch a fish in the lake that would come close to those in the river for a few trips.