I need some help !! No not the medical kind either. I have been approached by a few friends that have told me that I should start charging people to take them out fishing. I was just wondering if there are a few people out there that would be able to lend me a hand in getting started. I am not looking for handouts but only info on what to charge and what most people look for in a guided day of fishing. Also what most people are wanting to go fishing for. The two species of fish that I really enjoy to fish for are channel catfish and also largemouth and smallmouth bass. I also do alot of crappie fishing before the bass season opens. The biggest problem I have is that I live about 90 minutes west of fridly and most of the lakes around me are vary small but yeild good sized fish. I know that most people want to fish popular bodies of water like minnetonka and mille lacs but is it really worth the trip or should I pick a couple of lakes and specialize in them only? Please lend me a hand in getting stuff sorted out and don't hesitate to give me all the feedback even if it is negative.

Don't know what to tell you about what to charge, but if you are fishing smaller bodies of water it should be considerably less than if you were on big water. There is a lot more overhead for the guys concentrating on the big lakes as they have to run bigger boats to keep their clients comfortable, burn more gas to get to spots, have a back up plan to move to another lake if the conditions are too bad and their equipment takes a lot more beating because of running in the big waves (so they are replacing it a lot more often).

Get some brochures from some of the other guides out there or search the internet as most of the bigger names have their own websites to get an idea of the prices that are being charged out there. Good luck in your new venture.
Brett Erickson

Take a hard look at your overhead. What do you plan to use for fuel per trip, how much will your umbrella/accident insurance cost per year, how much will gear and maintenence cost you per year so on and so forth then figure out how many trips you plan to take out per season? That should give you an idea of basic running exspense, now figure out your prifit margins.