# Guide Qualifications/Credentials...?



## GeorgeHayduke (Sep 13, 2007)

I've had a couple of unsatisfying interactions around here with guides being a bit discourteous and pushy, and in at least one case the guy was a pretty poor caster, with marginal ability to put his client on to fish ( I was catching, and the poor guy paying for fish wasn't...)...I am curious as to what these folks have to do to BE guides in Utah?..Is it licensed?...trained by FFF ?..Coast Guard certificate, or what?...Is there a Guides Association or anything like that?...


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

You are not required to have any kind of certification. Now if you are guiding on forest land you need a permit from the forest service and that's it.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Take up fly fishing and if you're the normal Joe just getting into it, you will think you're good enough to guide after the first few outings. Even if you have never guided, it's not uncommon to lie to others and tell them you used to be one. Some think it makes them a God. I don't believe they belong on many of our waters because they think they own them when they drag a client over. I'd much rather see them doing something beneficial for society, like teaching a young person to read.


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## ScottyP (Sep 12, 2007)

I have never hired one but have had many interactions with them both good and bad. Some have made it a point to thank me when I steer wide around the area they are working which I think is a great thing for their clients to see. The ones that teach on-stream etiquette as well as fishing tactics are doing a great service to the rest of us. I have never actually had one ask me to move as I have heard others talk about (maybe it's because I look dangerous :wink: ) but have had them get much too close for comfort when there was plenty of water to go around. I have had a friend offer me a couple chances to help him guide clients but I turned the offer down. I am not guiding material as I think a guide should be more of a teacher than a good fisherman and I am just too selfish when it comes to fishing to watch over someone else. I did 'guide' my wife into several hookups on large cutts at a back country lake last summer (sight casting to cruisers from shore) but playing and landing them was another matter.... I think the funniest thing I've seen with guides is when they have their client lobbing the balloondicator setup during a heavy hatch when the fish are going nutts on top. What better time to introduce the dry fly?


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Nice post, Scotty


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## Pez Gallo (Dec 27, 2007)

It would be great to see a guide license be required in Utah. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Don't think it will happen in Utah for a while.

Now it is interesting to see people write that they outfished our outcasted some guide's client. I bet 90% of people who hire guides to wade fish a river are there for help and are new to the sport. So basically they are bragging about outfishing a newbie. Go ahead and sow on that merit badge. 

Also, ScottyP had a great point. The world's best fisherman can also be the world's worst guide. A guide needs to be a good teacher, knowledgable, experienced, use various teaching methods, have outstanding people skills, and be PATIENT. Think about untangling some newbie's leader for the 8th time in an hour and still have a positive attitude.


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

Utah IS working on new guidelines for guiding on public land/water as we speak. Right now all that is required is a special use permit that has minimal requirements. 

A guide is not always a great fisherman/hunter, but someone who can teach/instruct/HELP the client improve his experience in the field. The first thing I look for in a guide is people skills, the fishing/hunting skills can be taught, but people skills are much harder to 'learn'. As scotty pointed out, not everyone is guide material. Just as not everyone is school teacher material. It is a mindset as much as an ability.


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