As tenkara grows in popularity, more people are offering guided sessions revolving around the use of a tenkara rod. Some of these guides may have a background in fly fishing with a rod and reel, and may also offer that as an option, while others are more specialized in their knowledge and understanding of tenkara.
Regardless of one’s skill level, there are benefits from hiring a guide for a day on the water. If you’re new to tenkara, spending time with someone who has a deeper well of knowledge and experience with the form of fishing can help to fast track you in your own path. This can be true for those who are familiar with the style but maybe don’t spend as much time fishing it. Another great time to consider hiring a guide is when you’re visiting a new area. Someone with local knowledge can help to get you on fish faster than if you were to take on the task of figuring it out yourself.
Now, the question is, what can one expect from a guided outing and how can they prepare for that time on the water?
I sat down and chatted with a few guides to get a feel for how one can prepare for guided time on the water. Chris Jameson of Trout Trails, and Dre Fornasiero of New School Tenkara joined me on a call to discuss the topic, while Ben Colonnese of Fixed Line Appalachia and I corresponded through email. There was plenty talked about and great information shared from the guides.
Finding A Guide
The first step in the process is to find a guide. In our conversations, there were a few suggestions that were brought up. Chris Jameson (Trout Trails) started off by saying “Know what you’re looking for.” This applies to what kind of experience you hope to get from the guided trip. To back that up, Ben Colonnese (Fixed Line Appalachia) stressed the importance of doing your research. He suggests reading as much information you can on a guide’s website to see if it seems they may be a good fit. Another suggestion from Ben is to read reviews that people leave regarding the guides. One thing that all three guides brought up in the conversations is to talk to others in the area to get recommendations.
On a little side-note, guides appreciate the referrals. If you enjoyed your time with a guide, leave them a good review, and tell your friends about them. Oftentimes people feel more inclined to leave bad reviews as a result of unsatisfactory experiences, but more importantly, guides benefit from good reviews and reputation spread by word of mouth.
Communication Prior To The Trip
After you have found a potential guide, you may start some communication up around the premise of the guided session. Some things that you can expect from communications early on (whether by email, text, or phone) can be availability, expectations, experience level, and level of mobility. While there may very well be more things discussed between you and your potential guide, these seem to be common things mentioned in the conversations with the three we talked to.
Coming back to something that Chris mentioned early on, know what you’re looking for in your guided trip. This may have been an influence in the guide you chose to reach out to, but this will also be something to talk about with your guide, as it will also help the guide to better plan, organize, and tailor the trip to your experience. On top of that, Chris also adds, “Do not lie about your skill level” as an honest evaluation of your skill level is an important factor in how guides plan your trip.
Along with skill and experience level, honesty about your gear set up also helps the guide to know where you stand and how to provide the best experience possible for you. This may come up in the early communications, or may even be something worth mentioning if it isn’t. This will come up again later in the post, so we won’t spend too much time talking about it here. Instead, there is one point that was brought up that should be mentioned.
During your communications with a prospective guide, keep in mind that if they are rude or difficult to deal with, find a different guide. This is something that Dre Fornasiero (New School Tenkara) brought up, and was very adamant about. He went on to say, “If you’re talking to a guide and you’re not feeling it, do not go out with that guide.” It is something important to the matter though, you don’t want to waste your time and money on a trip with a guide who is grumpy or could care less about being out there. Find someone who, again, seems like a good fit.
Something else that you may want to consider is talking to your guide about food. From the conversations with all the guides we talked to there is variance in what they do regarding food. It’s worth bringing it up so that you, as the client, can have a better understanding of what you may want to bring with you. One thing that seems to be echoed by all of them is the encouragement of bringing your own snacks. The type of trip you book should be a consideration as well. Dre covers a wide range in his guiding, and has water to accommodate anglers of all skill and mobility levels, while Chris tends to focus his trips more on hiking and fishing waters that are away from the beaten path. With that in mind, knowing where your guide may be taking you might influence what you bring for food.
Gear
Continuing on the subject of bringing necessary items, we did talk about gear with all the guides. The three guides did say that they provide the gear necessary for the session, but we did ask about clients who want to use their own setup. If you do want to use your own gear, communicate that. This may influence where a guide takes you to fish.
On the other side of it, be open to gear suggestions from the guide while on the water. There is a reason why they choose their gear, and the places they fish will influence that. If you book your trip wanting an experience outside of what you’re used to, they will be the ones trying to make sure you’re going to have a good time. Trust that they’re not trying to steer you in the wrong direction, they’re trying to get you to catch fish. Chris even brings up a point, saying that oftentimes, “your guide wants you to succeed more than you want to succeed”
When it comes to flies, there seems to be a little difference in the guides I talked to. But what it boils down to, the guides will have flies that work, but don’t hesitate to mention if you have a certain pattern that you want to fish.
All of this can and should be discussed with your guide prior to your time on the water. The guide will also know what to bring, as we’ve suggested here, and that extends to any wading gear, nets, or other peripheral items that may not have been mentioned in this post.
Outside of gear, something else to bring is a positive attitude. As Dre likes to say, “Bring a smile.” The attitude you start the day off with can influence how the day goes, which brings us to the day of the trip!
Time On The Water
We’ve talked a lot about communication leading up to the trip, but it doesn’t end there. It’s important to have that interaction and talk with your guide throughout the day. There are a few things that one might expect throughout the day, and we wanted to cover a few of those points.
Something to remember is that this is your time to be out on the water and to have fun. Ben mentioned in our conversation that he likes to try to keep a “relaxed and fun environment where by the end of the time together - I feel I’ve met a new friend and fishing buddy.” This is a sentiment that was expressed by the others as well. Dre even mentions having fished with some of his repeat clients outside of a guided trip - just as fishing buddies. But, with that said, another point brought up in the call was that the guides tend to not fish while they are on the clock. They are working while guiding. They’re observing and planning what comes next so that you can enjoy your time fishing - with the goal of catching. With that said, there are a few other points brought up in the conversations.
One of those points mentioned was to let the guides challenge you. They are sharing their experience and knowledge with you based on what they see and observe from their clients fishing. They may push a client who is used to fishing furled line to try casting level line, or even introduce a certain way to present the fly. This is all to help you, as an angler, which can also expand your own progress and understanding.
Something to keep in mind when out on the water is that, as Dre said, “You don’t have to prove anything to the guide.” Again, this is your time. It’s not a competition between you and your guide. It’s time for you to enjoy nature and fishing!
Tipping
We’re fast-forwarding to a scenario where you’re done with fishing, and maybe enjoying a meal with your guide. You’ve had a great time on the water, caught some beautiful fish and learned some new things in the process. We don’t want communication between the client and the guide to fail at this point, but we did want to address tipping, and what the guides we talked to felt about the matter. This can be a difficult question to ask for some, and the guides don’t want to be pushy about a tip either. Keep in mind, guides are providing a service, so we wanted to know what they felt was appropriate tipping etiquette. The number that came up is the standard 15%-20%, but it was mentioned that it is up to the client to make that decision. When it comes to tipping, consider the time you spent with your guide and the overall experience that you had. Ultimately, they’re working to make sure you have a good day fishing, and using their knowledge (both of fishing, and the area) to ensure that experience meets the talked-about expectations.
Outside of tipping, and coming back to something we mentioned earlier in the post, leave a review for your guide - especially if you had a good time! Good reviews and referrals help guides in the long run.
We want to send a special thanks to the guides that took the time to chat with us and share their suggestions for anyone looking to book a guided trip. If you're interested in booking a trip with any of the guides we talked to, you can find their information by clicking on the links below!
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