Lets hear about guided trips you have been on.

[willierower]

If any of you ifishers have ever taken a guided trip tell us about it. Who was the guide, the loation, success or lack of and tell us what you thought of the experience.
Ive been o 2 trips with guides where I payed.
The first guided trip I ever took was with Kevin Marshal of Marshals guide service. This was in 1993. We fished the S. Santiam for for springers. Even though no fish were caught, I still got my moneys worth. Kevin shared his knowledge freely and I learned alot in that one trip. Kevein is a great guy and I would reccomend him.
The 2nd trip I took was with Bill Herzog on the Skagit for late wild winter steelhead. This was in 1997. My cousin joined me for this trip. For a full days fishing between the 2 of us we hooked 10 and landed 6. I wanted to fish the Skagit for a long time. Im sure glad I hired a guide, That river is HUGE! I would have been totally lost with out a guide. As a bonus we ran up the Sauk and I landed a fish in that river too.
Bill is a great guy, He gets more excited than his anglers do when a fish is hooked. He wasnt shy about showing me where to fish and what to use if I decided to do it myself. He even told me where I could bank it the next day.
Those are the 2 trips Ive paid for, Ive fished with other guides. Steve Deghetto is one guide (now retired from guiding) Ive fished with alot. He has showed me alot and Ive even showed him a couple things. Too bad he quit, He knows his stuff and is a really nice guy.
I sometimes would go with another guide when he didnt have a boat full. I would be an extra person for an extra rod for the paying clients.It seemed like I did alot of the work though. Mike Claffy was the guide, He is done now. I spent 8 days on the Rogue with him in 97. I learned a whole lot about that fishery in those 8 days. I learned enough that I feel confident enough to go there and get into fish. He like dth e idea of having me in the boat, I did the anchoring and rigged rods etc. It was kind of a vacation for him If the fishing was hot I even got to play with them.
Other guides Ive fished around and would reccomend are Mike Kelly of Hells Anglers. Mike is a big burly looking dude, He is one hell of a nice guy and he catches fish. John Riedesel of Humptulips WA is anther guide I would definitly go with. I fished in his bat on the Rogue on day when Claffys boat was full. He knows his stuff.
Lets hear about your guided trips.

[Smily]

The one experience of a guided Service was with Barry Buckland of Sandy River Guide Service. That was in April of this year. Because of him and his techinques I have caught more big fish than ever. However on the guide trip I did land a 10lb Native Steelhead and that was the only fish landed and released unharmed (I hope). I chose him because that was the beginning of drifting along a local river and hoping to catch big fish. The only thing that I have been catching so far is Springers out of that river and I have seen him catch Springers, Summers, Winters, In one trip!!! Very nice Person and very helpful in fishing techinques. I still run into him quite a bit on the river always saying hi and what's working or not. Highly reccomend if your looking for a local guide.
images/icons/smile.gif Smily images/icons/smile.gif

[Bait O' Eggs]

I've never fished with a guide on a paid trip. images/icons/frown.gif Unless you want to count a trip or 2 on the Siggi G charter boat out of Garibaldi.

I did float the Trask with Tim Juarez at Christmas time. It was very different to just sit in the front of the boat and BS with Tim, while he rowed. We fished plugs the entire trip. Tim took my brother and myself on one of his days off images/icons/rolleyes.gif

I actually learned quite a bit about a different style of fishing. I was amazed at his knowledge of what was going on in the sport fishing industry.

And I highly look forward to a trip with Gone Fishin guide service some time this year. images/icons/smile.gif images/icons/smile.gif I know you might not think so Marty, but we will get after some fish one of these days. images/icons/smile.gif

[Killertraylor]

For 5 years in a row now I've fished the Rogue with guide Terry Kennedy in early May. I really enjoy fishing with Terry - one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and he grew up in Gold Beach - he knows how to catch fish and works hard for them. He makes the best breakfast in town and this year he put my wife and I up in Tranidu lodge the first night we were in town - 10,000+ square feet up on top of the tallest peak in the valley - could see the ocean and about 3 miles upriver. We had the place all to ourseleves with indoor swimming pool (hope there were no hidden surveilance cameras!)basketball court, and 11 extra bedrooms that we didn't need. Terry charges $150 per person a day and he'll keep you on the river from 5 a.m. until 7 p.m. if you're willing and the fish are biting. I'd highly recommend him. He's got his own website, but I can't remember the address - just type in his name and "Rogue" in any search engine and it should pop up.

[Pete]

Great topic!

I have only fished with guides a few times. Generally, learning a body of water is part of what attracts me to fishing. Hiring a guide, for me, seems like hiring someone to do my thinking. But there are exceptions. When I worked as a guide I fished out of a lodge with several other guides. It was important to learn the water as quickly as possible to ensure the clients got the best experience they could for their money.

The other time I've used a guide was when I fished in New Zealand. I had no knowledge of the rivers, the patterns, the laws or the runs and I only had four days to fish. Those four days with Peter Church on the Tongariro River were outstanding. My best day only produced 8 fish, but the smallest was 3 1/2 pounds and the largest, still staring down at me from his mount above my desk, was 9 pounds 7 ounces. I never would have known which fields to cross, which were closed to the public, which pools and runs to focus on. I wouldn't have known the names of the pools, drifts and runs etched into history by Zane Grey when he fished the same water 70 or 80 years ago. I wouldn't have known that local fishery management encourages keeping fish to prevent overcrowding and the resultant drop in average fish size if it weren't for hiring a guide. What could have been just a fishing trip became the trip of a lifetime, thanks to the guidance of Peter Church.

[KarenLee]

useful info images/icons/grin.gif

[Rubber Robin]

The last guide that I fished with was Forrest Foxworthy on the Deschutes River in September. First of all, if you have never had a sled trip up the Deschutes then you owe this to yourself. The weather is hot and the water is cold. The fishing is almost always good for steelhead this time of the year. This is one of the premier rivers in Oregon. We float it every September in our drift boats when the sleds are off the River. It is an annual highlight! Lots of fish, sun, horseshoes and cold beverages.
Anyway, back to the topic, guides. Forrest Foxworthy who I believe is semi-retired from the guide business was one of the best that I have gone with. He is knowledgeable, knows how to run the rivers and has an excellent sense of humor. He also gets us into fish. If you have never had a guide trip then you should take one as soon as you can. It can save you hours of trying to figure out the best methods of catching fish and where they live. images/icons/smile.gif images/icons/grin.gif images/icons/cool.gif

[Deleted User]

I have had the pleasure of fishing with Marty Peterson of Gone Fishin' Guide Service in Tillamook. Marty is a professional in every way and works hard to get his customers into fish. If conditions are not favorable or even marginal he will not just collect a guide fee like other guides I have fished with. He makes sure conditions are optimal before taking you out. I intend to fish with Marty again and consider him a friend. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a guide.BUT FOR HEAVEN SAKE HIDE YOUR VINTAGE DRIFT BOBBERS FROM HIM!!!! jk kidding of course.....maybe.
Stew

[ 06-22-2001: Message edited by: BIGSTEW ]

[TH]

I would also recommend Terry Kennedy www.tkfg.com/ (http://www.tkfg.com/)
I have never fished with hime, but know many people that have. Fishing the Rogue as much as I do and being in the business that I am in, allows me the opportunity to get to know who to hire and recommend and who not.
Chris Young www.fishtherogue.com (http://www.fishtherogue.com)
is another wonderful guide, one of the best side drifters there is!
Mark Van Hook is also top notch
All three of these guides work very hard for their clients, they are very polite and best of all the catch fish.
Rick Howard Guide service http://www.howard5.com/rhguide/
yes Rick is my uncle, images/icons/shocked.gif but has one of, if not the best daily catch ratio's on the south coast for Fall chinook. Last year I think he was at 4+ fish per day for two months!

All of these guides on the south coast will put you into fish and make your day enjoyable as well.

Bob Darminento is a great guide out of WA. 360-674-2245 North West Exposure Guide Service..... I personally fish w/ Bob four or five times a year and he has put me on some of the biggest native steelies on the planet.... images/icons/shocked.gif on a consistant basis. Bob also offers as wonderful Oly Pen. springer trip that is second to none..

I hope this helps.
Thanks for letting me play images/icons/wink.gif

[Good to the Last Cast]

I drifted this past Feb. with Dave Johnson,we floated the Clackamas. My brother was visiting from back east and I wanted to make sure we got into some fish. Well it was my first guided trip and we had a blast, my brother hooked and landed two beauts, I also landed two and we lost a few before our final fish were in the boat. Dave was very helpfull,gave me some tips that allowed me to hook several more this year. I haven't experienced buoy 10 since I moved here three years ago,but I plan on going out with Dave again for that too. I think a good guide can show you the little things you may not know or have forgotten. For a newbie fisherman or someone like me who's new to the Northwest it's a must.I'll continue to go out with Dave thru the years to get familar with other rivers etc.

[Thumper]

As one of the older guys on the board I have been out with a bunch of guides. I remember one part-timer, a slender teacher named Steve Hansen, who took us on the Clack in 1984 or thereabouts. We kicked steelie butt. Little did I know that he would grow up to be the famous RT, while I would just grow up (and out). Have also fished many times with Gary Krum, Captain Intense (Steve Ackley), ol' Ralph Fontana, Bruce Gipple, Dan Ross, Ted Howell, and several others. Have learned a bunch from each of them. In fact I have a summer steelhead boondogging trip on the N.Fork Lewis with Ted Howell scheduled for Tuesday. Now, if I can only catch a fish by myself some day......

[rags]

I have been out with a couple of guides over the years and you can always learn something new about fishing. For sure if you want to go with the best guide on the Olympic Peninsula it is George Rose. I think this guy was a Steelhead in his last life. I caught my first 20lber with George. He fishes hard, knows the O.P. rivers and is a great guy to fish with.

[RichH]

I make 1 or 2 trips a year with Bill Urie down on the Rogue for either steelhead or salmon. We generally like to fish the upper river around Shady Cove and I've had some great times and learned alot. Last fall on the first day it opened to bait we boated 22 steelhead with 5 doubles, all side drifting bait.

I've also managed to catch some limits of springers with him as late as the end of July. He knows the river like the back of his hand.

I've also fished the Clackamas, Willamette, Columbia from Bonneville to Bouy 10, and Tillamook Bay with Wayne Priddy. Talk about someone that could catch a fish in a honeybucket. I've learned a ton, especially about salmon fishing from Wayne. He can be a little competetive but thats probably what makes him produce. Nowadays we fish together mostly for fun and I'll frequently host him on my favorite rivers.

I had the chance to fish with Bob Ball this spring up on th OP for late steelhead. Even though the water conditions were less than favorable he did manage to put us into a couple of fish. A good experience overall.

This next year I plan to fish with Marty from this board and see what all the fuss is about. I've seen him for years on the Nestucca and he's always been a class guy.

[Jennie@ifish]

Isn't Gary Krum awesome? Nice guy, Thumper.
Hearing about all these familiar guides is a fun topic!
Keep it up, Bill and I are having a hoot reading them.
Bill knows many of them, and he has spoken often of these guys.
Where are the women guides? Julie? images/icons/smile.gif
Oh, by the way, rags, I keep my guides limited to five, so I can't add anyone new until someone wants off of ifish.
I do have a waiting list, though.
Jen

[Fishin Magician]

I have had the fortune of being friends with Lee Freeman of Triple "S" Guide Service. He is an extremely talented and knowledgable guide. I have been with him on many trips and have always gotten into fish with him. I have purchased large bundles of trips from him to distribute to my customers, All have called to thank me for the trip and said they would go again. All of his gear is top-of-the-line.His boats are immaculate and also top-of-the-line. If you get a chance give him a call @ 503-666-3710 and book a trip with him.~~~~~~~John

[whitewaterbill]

I have fished many times with guide Chris Sessions. Both in Alaska for Silvers at Seward and Kings on the Kenai as well as several trips here at home on the Columbia.

Favorite Alaska trip is Seward with 6 Silvers a day and fish on all day long....sometime 5 rods down at the same time!

Best is last 2 weeks of August for Seward.

At home on the Columbia...Every place from the bay to the Snake. If he is allowed to design a trip for you....You will most likely come home with fish!

Bill

[Thumper]

I think that overall I learned more about fishing from Gary Krum than anyone else. I guided part-time for a few years and occasionally Gary would give me a few of his overflow clients. One time we split a group of corporate client anglers on the North Fork Lewis for spring chinook. Gary always beat me, but this time I got 11 fish in the boat for my four fishermen. As we met at the Island Ramp at 3 PM I was so proud of my achievement, and bragged to Gary that we had landed 11. He was duly impressed and said nothing about his catch. Later I asked one of his fishermen how many Gary's boat had caught and he told me --- 17. Gary never pointed that out to me. A real gentleman, and the best fisherman I've ever met.

[pirk fan]

I've always been a do it your self sort of fisherman, I'd be willing to go fishless, rather than have someone else do the fishing for me - you know - when the guide spends half the day pulling plugs for steelhead while you warm your hands on a cup of coffee waiting for something to happen. I'm pretty sure this has resulted in me catching a lot less fish than my fair alotment.

This was never illustrated better than on a trip to Australia a couple of years ago. One leg of the trip was to Darwin, Northern Territories, and it was clear that this just wasn't do it yourself country, so we set up a guided trip, my first ever. We picked one from a bunch of brochures at the hotel, based solely on the fact that I'd seen the name of the guide service when researching our trip.

Darren Nickolls was the guides name, and he gave us one heck of a day. Picked us up (my wife went along) at 0600 at our hotel, drove us out to the Mary River barrage - about 2 hours away, ran us through a series of canals into another river system, and put us into 3 nice barramundi around 10 lbs each. These are just average fish by NT standards, the world record is somewhere around 100 lbs, but on steelhead gear they were very impressive. And my wife caught one of them, which really made my day. Darren outfished us of course, and tried each time to hand off the pole, but I'm just not going to go that far - I've still got to hook and land my own fish.

But the best part of the trip was the trip itself. Darren was a most affable aussie, worked his butt off to get us into fish, showed us stuff we'd have never seen on our own - wild boar, crocs (big ones, really big ones) and more waterfowl than you can believe. It was a tropical safari from the comfort of a modern fishing boat. Darren delivered us back to our hotel at about 7 PM. Turned out he put in this kind of day every day during the Dry Season, 7 days a week. The whole deal cost $400, but in Australian dollars, so really only about $240 U.S. for both of us. My respect for guides went up immeasurably.

A couple of weeks later I was fortunate enough to land a good solid 10 lb Barra off a dock in Cooktown, Northern Queensland (on a bass hook rigged Fin S Fish of all things). A picture of this fish resides in a place of honor in our trip album - right next to a picture of Darren and my wife with her Barra. That was the most satisfying fish of the whole trip - but the trip with Darren was the most memorable.

[DK]

fished the s. santiam with jim wilson (guide) this sunday 24th and monday 25th in his 20ft willies, what a nice boat lots of room, me and my brother inlaw limited both dayswith mature springers, and a few jacks that were close to the 24" min, i have fished with jim a hand full of times and got limits every time, he also fishes the alsea, and sixes very knowlegable and a good guy to fish with thanks jim, doug

[SteelieSteve]

Way back in 1980 I fished the Sandy and Clackamas with a guide to learn the rivers. The guide I chose was Bill Miller. He still is in business and one the reps for Luhr Jensen. Bill knows his stuff. He no longer guides on the Sandy but he is very active in the Spring and fall Chinook fishery. We fished the Sandy 3 times and this was back when the river had very heavy pressure. I had no luck but Bill hooked a few. I'd fish with him anytime. You can find him this Fall on the Tillamook rivers where he will be getting his clients into the big boys.

[hawgcatcher]

Best guide in my book was Glen Summers out of The Dalles, going for those ole toothy monster walleye. He took four of us out for a day beneath the John Day Dam. He not only took us where the fish were, but he instructed us in how to catch them so we could do the same in the future. We didn't catch a lot (nine fish) but he and his jokes and banter made the trip worth while. I caught my first big one (13#) with his putting us right on the fish. I would recommend him for Walleye, Salmon or Steelhead.

[Fish mojo]

I've dropped a load of cash on guides over the last 10 years. Both Gary (white gloves)Amereman and his son Scott are without a doubt the best salmon guides in the area. Last year, I had a very enjoyable trip with Dennis Stewart at the mouth of the Columbia. I have a trip booked this Aug with him, again.

[Stz ll]

The only guide I paid to fish with was Jack Glass. I floated with him twice from Dodge Park to Oxbow Park on the Sandy River for Steelhead. Best trips ever lots of fish. It is a tricky stretch of river which Jack handled beautiflly. If anyone knows or has fished woth Jack they know what I mean when I say it is truely one of the good guys. I have never done it but would one like to fish springers with him on the Sandy. images/icons/smile.gif