psyclops Loc: East Central florida

My self, my son and two other gents are going on a guided freshwater fishing trip to the St John's headwaters here in Florida. 4 fishermen, two boats. My question for all who have previous experience with this and care to respond is; what is an appropriate amount for a tip to the guides? ( I've read posts regarding this topic but not recently).Is it based on the cost of the trip which my son won't tell me or a flat minimum? I realize that fish don't always want to be caught so if the guides are invested in trying to put us on fish I'm good with extra compensation. Not sure of the amount and don't want to unintentionally be a douché.
Have to get up at 10:00pm for a concrete pour at midnight so if I don't respond until tomorrow it's because I'm in the sack.
Thanks to all who read and those who respond.

ripogenu Loc: norfolk, MA

My fishing partner and I always base the tip on a couple of things. is he working at finding fish? did he put us on our target fish? did we have fun? we've had guides that did none of those (tip $50 for fuel) on the other end lots of fish and fun $200+. I assume your in the 400-600 fee range, so I would think $100 minimum if you had fun.

JDFishes Loc: Atlantic County

Not sure there is a rule. I’ve never given less the $125 for a 6 hour guide and tipped as much as $250 for 8 hours in Everglades. I try to be generous and usually by the time I’m done fishing all day w someone I like them and want to give them a good tip. Also depends if you go w an independent guide or someone who has others booking for them. A lot of those guys are only making a couple hundred a day by the time broker takes fee.I was in Headwaters and Stickmarsh in September and had a blast! Tight lines.

ripogenu Loc: norfolk, MA

as an extreme example: saltwater fishing for stripers with my grandsons (first time) trip was $1,000. they caught plenty of fish over the slot size, we tipped him $600

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

Well, I usually tip 20% and I give him/her the fish caught unless I can take them back home, if I keep the fish, I will give them 25%. If they worked at it. I relize that it is fishing, and not always catching.

Joecat Loc: Florida / Rhode Island

I was a mate on a 6 pack saltwater for many years and the standard tip was 20% for the mate very rarely they would tip the captain

whtoak Loc: South Carolina

I probably shouldn't weigh in on this. My wife says that I'm old fashioned and out of date. I feel that when I ask a person how much they charge to do any service, that's what I'm expected to pay. If I ask a carpenter how much he charges to build me a barn, I understand he has years of experience and knowledge to accomplish the task. If I ask the doctor how much it costs to suture my cut arm, I fully understand that he has years of time and money invested to have the knowledge to do the job. When I ask the mechanic to repair my car or truck, he has years of time invested to do the job much faster and better than I could. When I ask a fishing guide how much he charges to take me fishing for half a day or a full day, I expect to pay what he ask before we go. I have no problem at all if someone wants to pay more for anything than the agreed upon price. That's none of my business. I did tip a guide recently. He did more than what he said he would do. He made it more enjoyable and successful than he said he would. He spent the entire time teaching us how to fish as much as catching fish. And he provided us with the best deer balogna on this earth! I guess if the carpenter, mechanic and doctor did more than what they agreed to do, I may consider a tip for them too.

JDFishes Loc: Atlantic County

My own thoughts, I never tipped a doctor, but I do tip every delivery driver who brings products to my job. I tip the friendly guy who pumps my gas in the cold, I give a generous tip every Christmas to my postman, trash man and the gentleman who does my payroll.If a tradesman working for a business does an exceptional job, I tip them. Why? In a world of mediocrity, I like to show appreciation for those who excel in what they do and make my life better.Most of these people are far from wealthy and a tip can really make their day. Just me philosophy.

Joecat Loc: Florida / Rhode Island

We’ll if you didn’t tip the mate on the boat I worked on you never book another trip with him mates are up early before you get to the boat and there long after your gone also paid a very small amount from the captain so without tips not worth doing and showing people the right techniques to increase there odds of catching.

Roger Renne Loc: Washington state

20-25% if you enjoyed the outing and the guide tried hard to help you catch fish and taught you something you didnt know about the place you were fishing, or the method used to catch fish. 0-10% if none of these things happened. Numbers of fish caught is not relevant for me; that's why it's called fishing, not catching.

psyclops Loc: East Central florida

Just got in, good pour with great finishers. On to business. First, thanks to Rip,JDF, fly, Joe, whtoak, Roger for your thoughts and experiences. I was in the correct pond with thoughts of $100 for a starter for each guide and to be prepared for double plus. Going out Sunday morning, I'll post pictures and anything of note assuming there's pics/notes worth posting. Second, I truly am grateful for this forum and all the people that gather here. Thanks to all the stagers on the forum and to all those who went before. Psyclops out.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

When I had deckhands, I paid them well. It is just part of doing business. We worked as a team and split the tips 50/50 regardless of who was given the tip. A tip is a thank you for a job well done. No job can be well done if the skipper and deck hand don't work as a team to provide above average service. I am speaking of a six pack boat. Maybe things are different on the large puke boats. It is a bit offensive to here so many saying charter skippers short their deckhands. I am sure some do, but I don't think it is a standard practice. I also would like to think a skipper ad deckhand would have salary and tip sharing all worked out before the the hiring process was finalized. As for deckhands working for just tips; not on my boat.

WiBob Loc: NE Wisconsin

Great finishers? How much did you tip them?

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

The truth be told, the hardest guiding days are when the fishing is bad A good guide will work himself to a frazzle trying to make his clients successful. The better the fishing is, the less a guide has to work. Being able to drop anchor and watch clients haul in fish is like a day off.

Chuck56 Loc: Texas

I would tip 15% if: guide new what they were doing , acted in a safe courteous manner , put me on fish , offered advice if asked ..
My2cents