Guided trips

Just wondering what everyone’s opinion is on how my recent trip shook out. Not gonna publicly name names here cause I’m not that guy.
Recently took a trip to Grenada lake with a buddy of mine on a guided crappie trip. We loaded up and drove 6 hours from Georgia to fish with a guide and thought we were gonna really load up on some slabs. Two days before we were supposed to fish we had a storm with lots of rain that pretty much covered all of the south, the water levels were definitely up and it was sure to have some effect on the fishing. We got to the ramp met the guide turned out we were livescoping which is a method neither of us had much experience with but we planned to make the best of it. After a cold boat ride the guide grabs a pole and starts fishing telling us what to look for on the graph while he is fishing, we thought he was trying to figure out the fish and it seemed normal so we waited patiently. After 4.5 hours into an 8 hour trip and us watching him dropping jigs on 100 plus fish (according to livescope) he hands my buddy a rod. He gave it a few drops and we switched out but the guide would basically tell us to move the rod while he dropped a jig down on them. Soon the fishing was over and we headed back to the ramp, neither my buddy or me got a bite or caught a fish, the guide managed to catch a couple later in the day but that’s it.
So we basically paid a guide 450 dollars to watch him fish and a boat ride. I understand the weather had the fish screwed up and there’s nothing we can do about that, but things would have been different if we had got to fish most of the day. I left Mississippi very dissatisfied and heart broke that our trip wasn’t to good but after a couple weeks I’m thinking about another trip next spring.
Would like to spider rig or pull cranks next time instead of the livescope but that’s next years problem.
Im not trying to run the guy down or start anything just wondering what y’all’s thoughts are on a trip like this.
Thanks


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My clients pay me to take THEM fishing, not go fishing with me.


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Unless the trip was intended to teach you about Livescope & how to use it & fish with it, and you knew that beforehand, you wouldn't have anything to complain about. As you described it, I'd have been complaining the whole time. The guide wouldn't have gotten a tip, and I'd have been haggling about getting some of my money back. IMHO ... a guide shouldn't have a rod in his hand during the trip, unless he's "teaching" someone that's not familiar with that particular piece of equipment. :twocents

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Unless the trip was intended to teach you about Livescope & how to use it & fish with it, and you knew that beforehand, you wouldn't have anything to complain about. As you described it, I'd have been complaining the whole time. The guide wouldn't have gotten a tip, and I'd have been haggling about getting some of my money back. IMHO ... a guide shouldn't have a rod in his hand during the trip, unless he's "teaching" someone that's not familiar with that particular piece of equipment. :twocents

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Yeah we had no clue that we were livescoping until the day of and had no interest in learning it.
I’ve never been on a guided trip where the guide fished


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I've heard too many bad stories like this. Granted the conditions were not that favorable, a good guide would have some kind of a contingency plan for that. Livescope is not that easy to learn especially the first time experiencing it. It usually takes anyone 100 hours to get any level of proficiency with livescope. I think on your next trip talk to your guides before you book and find one that will spider rig or pull crankbaits. Wish you better luck on your next guided trip.

Sounds like a tuff trip. From my experience with the guides I’ve been out with. They put me in the seat and my guest in the seat beside me up front. If we are livescoping , he then coaches us up on when to set hook and where to cast. If it’s slow they may even cast the pole some to give you the feel of how to live scope. I’ve fished with an old fireman on Sardis and consider him an friend . He spider rigs, and is very successful. I’ve also livescoped on Grenada with another guide with much success. I’ve always limited out on guide trips so I’m not use to your story. My last guide trip was on Martin and we had 60 slabs with two guest. It sounds like you had a bad condition day and your guide had an off day. I’m curious as to how you located your guide was he recommended or did you locate him on your own? I know some guides that will work their butts off for you to put you on fish. PM if you wants some names I’m not an expert but I’ve always caught fish on my trips. The guides have caught a few helping us get acclimated to the style and lake. But then we ultimately caught the fish.

I do realize it is hard to catch fish that have just been slammed with an influx of rain water. That being said I would have a hard time taking the full agreed upon amount if my clients didn't boat the first fish. I am not a Guide. Seems like a career path that has a lot of variables stacked against your success. Certainly a job where one would need some food backup plans

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Unless the trip was intended to teach you about Livescope & how to use it & fish with it, and you knew that beforehand, you wouldn't have anything to complain about. As you described it, I'd have been complaining the whole time. The guide wouldn't have gotten a tip, and I'd have been haggling about getting some of my money back. IMHO ... a guide shouldn't have a rod in his hand during the trip, unless he's "teaching" someone that's not familiar with that particular piece of equipment. :twocents

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:hesaid I feel like the guide should have told you up front before the trip the way they would be catching them. Or options on how you would like to try catching them. Like CrappiePappy said unless they are teaching livescope they shouldn’t be catching the fish. I would have complained…. :twocents

Sounds like you had a combination of bad timing and a guide that is new to crappie fishing and only knows how to live scope.
I’ve only been with a guide once, years ago. ( it was saltwater) I’ve heard many will give you some money back on days when it’s bad or another day for free to keep their reputation.
Sorry to hear you had a bad trip. I would have been very disappointed too.




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Guided trips should be about clients catching fish!


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