Why Charter When You Own a Boat?
June 15, 2023 5 min read
You’ve got a boat. Will you ever need to book a fishing guide or charter a boat again?
Technically, no, but that’s not how things usually go. Owning an automobile doesn’t mean you never need a rental. There will be occasions when it’s just nice to put the whole shebang in someone else’s hands, like the intersection of the family reunion and your poling skiff. You may want to do something your boat can’t safely do, like run well offshore, try something new, or do something once. You can’t fly with a boat.
But there’s deeper layers of utility in guides and charters to boat owners and boat shoppers.
Contents
More Than the Guy with the Boat
Any fishing guide worth booking is more than a guy with a boat, and more even than someone who will put you on big fish and lots of them for the price of the ticket.
There are all the things outside a guide’s control — weather, fish, when in the season you’ve decided to book, and the readiness of your skills for the hunt. But there are also things within a guide’s control every time out and it’s where the real value in a day on the water with a guide is.
Fishing guides are massive repositories of knowledge about the local water.
They possess the kind of knowledge — day-by-day, seasonal, longitudinal — that is hard to get your hands on as a recreational angler with a day job. You should learn a few things in the course of a day on the water with a decent guide. That’s true whether the fishing is good or not — and may be particularly true on the days when the fishing is a challenge.
The value of a guide is that he or she is the one with the boat … and they know how to use it.
New to the Area
You and your rig have migrated. You’ve blown the Midwest for the coast. The current boat will do, but this is different. Salt, and tides.
If you are new to an area that poses new navigational challenges to you, getting on the water with a knowledgeable boater like a US Coast Guard-licensed captain is a good first move. You can do a lot to prep yourself these days, most of it online. But if there’s anything you don’t want to see for the first time with your hands on the wheel, hire a guide.
Many guides will appreciate an opportunity to impart some etiquette and local customs and help shape the habits of boaters they share the water with.
Most guides are pretty good about sharing info on what to look for and how to find fish.
Guides may not show you their honey holes, and they will definitely not tell you a spot is one of their honey holes if they do happen to show you one. But most guides are pretty good about sharing info on what to look for, how to find fish, and how the fish behave, move and react to changes in the local water.
New to This Boat
Getting into something new? Get into it with someone who knows them.
The ultimate boat shopping experience is time on the water putting a boat through its paces or at least being along for the ride and some Q&A. It may not be feasible for you to book a lot of guides and spend days in lots of boats. But if you have a general idea of what you’re looking for and what you intend to do with it, you can probably readily find someone doing the same with similar in your area.
A day on the water in the type of boat you are considering, with someone knowledgeable about them, can help focus your boat buying.
The Hard Times and the Easy Times
Guides can teach anglers a lot about both the easy and the hard fishing.
If you are booking a guide away from home, you are very likely there during peak season, or maybe a shoulder season — near the good fishing anyway. When the fishing is good, it’s likely there’s competition for the action. Combat angling situations can be intimidating to take your boat into for the first time. Learning the ropes first from a guide is not an expense, it’s an investment.
A guide can help you put together the trickier puzzles and make your time more productive.
Fish have to eat, and if they have to eat they can be caught. Simple as that. It’s just a lot easier when the fish are concentrated in easy reach and really hungry.
If pulling fish out of combat scenes is one expected skill of any good guide, then finding and catching fish when the odds get longer is another. If there are spots in your fishing calendar when you struggle to hook up, that’s the time you want to get booked with a guide.
A guide can help you put together the trickier puzzles and make your time more productive and enjoyable when you get back in your own boat.
Need a Break from Captaining
Being the guy or girl at the controls is a big responsibility. When others are on board, it often means you don’t get to do a lot of actual fishing. Fishing with a guide means somebody else has to worry about managing the boat and finding the fish. You just have to catch them.
Guided trips are also great opportunities to fully enjoy fishing with kids or other inexperienced anglers.
If you’re busy running the trolling motor, watching the electronics, looking for weedlines or whatever else, you can’t devote your full attention to teaching and having fun with kids. Guides free up your attention.
Tell ’Em What You Want
Most guides will be in the habit of asking what you want to get out of the time you’ve booked with them, but it may not be until you’re shoving off. Or they may assume you’re there for “the usual.”
You want to be clear about what you are looking to get out of the time you book with them, especially if you’re expecting them to step out of the usual and put an educational spin on the day.
Give ’em fair warning. You may even want to book time off the water to meet and talk.
