If Guides Aren’t Gods….

October 2025 - A Seance for Exorcising Guide Demons (Happy Halloween!)

Monkey Paws

Fishing with good guides feels like fishing with a long lost friend. Fishing with a bad guide can feel like two people speaking different languages. Unfortunately, the good ones will continue to be good and the bad ones might not recognize the problem. Still, I think we need to shed some light on the situation.

Skull and Crossbones

Guides are quick to point out their own limitations when fishing gets tough. The expression "Guide not God" sure supports that. Understandably, tons of things are outside of angler’s and guide’s control for any day. Tides, weather, fish movement, moon phase, wind, each can be unpredictable, and sometimes fish simply don’t cooperate. That’s the nature of fishing.

If things go poorly, a guide may (privately) blame an inexperienced angler, or lament the weather. Maybe they knew going into the day that the going will get tough. On the flip side, if you have a banner day… a guide deserves credit. Just ask any guide.

Ghost Stories

But consider this observation from Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia, and well traveled angler) in a recent interview, discussing bonefish guides:

You know, they've made themselves essential because they've raised that platform they stand on higher and higher to the point they can see a fish 60 feet out and there's no way you [the angler] can see it. And you can't see it till it's about 20 or 30 feet. So they have you cast before you see the fish and drop your fly and then they talk you through it, you know. Here he comes.
He's coming. Okay. Okay. Give it a strip, long strip. I mean, and I've been on a boat with Lefty who's caught tens of thousands of bonefish. And here's this punk guide telling Lefty how to fish. And I'm in the back going, "Oh my god, I don't want to be here. This is so embarrassing." It's almost like they take the fishing away from you.

Yvon is describing how some guides try to place themselves at the center, despite not holding the rod. Ones who micromanage the operation, at times sucking the soul out of the fishing experience for the angler. At the end of the day leaving the angler with no new information, no growth. Only an exercise in how well they could follow direction, that is, if any were given in the first place. So if things go south, who’s really responsible? I’m not suggesting guides push clients in the deep end, unattended. But to think like a teacher more than to think like an angler. Understand the needs of the student, adapt. Push a little at a time. At the end of the day, money goes to the guide, not to the fish, that’s what we’re paying for. Am I crazy in thinking that some guides forget this?

Out of Body Experiences

Still, both sides are to blame. Anglers expect results. Especially when traveling. So guides said fine, let me take control. This leads to situations like Chouinard described, where guides instruct angler movement like an Xbox controller. Things can quickly go sour if a guide expects the angler to read their minds but can’t clearly articulate what they really want.

I’ve lived this. We were fishing for rooster fish in Baja Mexico, the guide was tossing teasers (hookless poppers) trying to identify fish and pull them close to the boat. My instructions, once the fish come in close, were to put the fly in front of the fish. Or so I thought. When I finally got the chance, I made an amazing cast, replacing the hookless popper with my fly, stripped with the same cadence, same direction as the surging fish. But the guide was shouting cast, cast! He (without explicitly sharing this important detail) expected me to heave a cast out the back of the boat, in hopes that the roosters would pick up the fly after losing track of the popper. One problem, he never clarified those directions. I was trying to feed the fish, and the fish was following my fly, for the record. --> Tell me what you want before, not after we missed a shot.

Beyond that, if guides don’t want to be mixed up with gods, they need to work on how they offer their trips. Give some fishing back to the angler: listen, teach, explain, support. Offer options to the angler that reinforces the team aspect of guided fishing.

I recently fished with a guide in Washington chasing sea-run cutthroat who didn’t change a fly all day, and fishing was underwhelming. We we're fishing on the wrong side of the tides. But if I had my own fly box and was fishing on my own, I could think of a couple options to try, instead of repeatedly pounding the same setup. We finally found a pod of baitfish and nervous water after a long search. Yet, no hookups. Only a few short strikes. So what do you do? Downsize fly, downsize tippet, different action? I’d have tried one of those. I wished we had a fly with a stinger hook. I’d have carried that fly… but at least try something, anything! We left that spot after looking all day for that very situation without working the area for more than fifteen minutes. I still think fish were catchable in that location.

Ghost In the Machine

Even if the guide only provides the illusion of choice to an angler, that helps the angler buy into the responsibility of their joined success/failure. Had we tried a smaller fly with no luck, I could accept our failure more readily. Guides, why not give your client two viable options, both flies you’d fish, and let them feel some responsibility over the experience?

Bermuda Triangle

There’s another expression, “listen to your guide”, they know best. But can they own up when things break down? Glory to the guide in victory; but remember, “guide not god” in defeat.

The Grand Illusion

Back to Yvon's description of bonefishing from a skiff, if the guide simply wants to do it themselves, using the angler as a puppet, fine, “guide” just might be the wrong term. At that point it’s remote control. That way there’s no confusion over who’s responsible, who’s pulling the strings, success or failure. Hooking up on a bonefish thanks to eyes in the crows nest before I could ever see the fish’s reaction doesn’t teach me anything. I've been in this situation too, it feels like a triumph of communication between guide and angler, but not a personal angling victory. Interestingly, this set up keeps the guide central to the whole operation. Can’t bonefish without the guide if you never learn what to look for. You might actually catch more wading anyway.

Message from Beyond

Anglers looking to book trips: ask questions, clarify beforehand. If they're uncomfortable answering your questions, I think you kind of found out your answer right there. Be more outspoken, it’s your trip. You may only get one chance for the fish you covet. If you do the legwork beforehand, it’s easier to trust, and listen to your guide. But they're mortals too. So, don't forget your own fishing instincts. How did Chouinard deal with the embarrassing situation from the above quote? He hopped out of the boat, went off on his own. Maybe the guide is only good for the gear and the transport. That's fine too.

Guides, don’t take the humanity out of fishing with your clients. Maybe you need to start with full control, but if you have eight hours, make some progress together. Most everybody booking a guide wants to learn something. Great anglers strive to catch fish in any conditions.

Ouija Board Consensus

If guides aren’t gods, then clients shouldn’t be disciples. Can we stop with this silly expression already?