Family Fishing: Find the Perfect Guide for Your Family Adventure

Family Fishing: Find the Perfect Guide for Your Family Adventure

By Brad Durick

It’s that time of year, the time when you sit down and start scouring the web, visiting sport shows and looking for that perfect family fishing outing. Chances are, if you are the dad you really want to work some fishing into a great family vacation. If the whole family is fired up for a fishing vacation then you have it made.

You may not own a boat or simply may not want to drag your boat with you on the vacation but still want to get the most out of your fishing when you get the chance to go. This is the time to find a guide for your family. By family we mean significant other and a kid or two, we will say kids ages seven to seventeen.

Find Your Species
The first key is to figure out what you want to catch. You will want to target a species of fish that tends to be willing to bite. Of course panfish can be an easy target to keep the kids involved. Walleyes are popular but sometimes they don’t want to play nice due to a cold front or something. Channel catfish are always a fun option because they tend to want to bite, even when conditions are not all that great. Catfish also offer the opportunity to catch a bigger fish than you might get with some of the other species.

You may want to take a shot at a trophy musky or flathead catfish. This is great but when the family and kids are involved they may not be the best option for this type of trip. They may not provide much action throughout the day. While they may provide a trophy experience they may not provide a good family outing.

The key to choosing a species to take the family on the guided trip is to find that perfect combination of action and quality to keep everyone involved and engaged in the day so everyone has a good time.

Pick Your River or Lake
Once you know what species of fish you want to catch, now you have to find the right lake or river to offer you the opportunity to catch the said kind of fish. How far you want to travel is one of the questions you need to ask during this step of planning your trip.

Are you going to stay somewhat local, traveling 50-150 miles from home? Are you going to make a long trip out of this with a six to eight or more hour drive to a destination location?
These questions need to be asked so you can plan the accommodations properly. A group of buddies can live in tents on a river bank for a week but when the family is on the trip showers, real beds and other entertainment that goes with being on a vacation besides the fishing.

You may choose a resort, hotel or campground with full amenities so everyone is comfortable and clean. Unlike men hanging with the guys, the rest of the family wants showers and nice sit down meals.

Choose Your Guide
You know what you want to catch and where you want to fish but you still need a guide. This is where some homework and asking the right questions comes in. In the simple terms of guides, NOT ALL GUIDES ARE KID/FAMILY FRIENDLY. This is nothing against the guide, it is just that they may just work better with groups of men or hardcore anglers.

Many resorts have guides who work out of their facilities that they recommend and that is a good place to start. Ultimately the choice is yours as to who your family goes fishing with.

The first thing you should do to choose a guide is find their web site and social media. Just take a gander through to see if the sites are up to date. There are many guides out there who are not all that busy and do not update their sites due to that fact. Guides who are not busy may be great anglers but tend to not be up to speed on fish patterns and happenings on the water.

When you find a guide with the web site and social media that is up to date now you should make a phone call. This is for a couple of reasons. #1 to see if your dates are available and #2 to just visit with the guide for a few moments. You should be able to figure out if this is the guide for you with a short talk.

There are some questions to ask the guide when you are on the telephone with them. Some seem trivial but others will tell you whether you are making a good decision or not.
1. Are you licensed and insured? A question that is almost never asked but any legal licensed and insured outfitter is happy to answer that question and if need be show the proper credentials.

2. Are you family friendly? A very important question to ask, especially when bringing younger kids. If you looked at web photos you should already have the answer to this question. Happy kids make such great photos.

3. Do you allow/help the kids participate? There is nothing worse than your kids being put in a situation when they get to sit and watch rather than be part of the action. Sometimes this will require an extra bit of attention from the guide to make it exciting.

4. How much do you charge? Are there any other fees? Legit question to ask just to be sure. Most web sites have the rates clearly listed but it is still best to make sure there have not been any gas or other fees applied.

5. What is the procedure to meet you the day of the trip? This is smart question just to make your travel plans easier. Most guides prefer to be contacted two to five days ahead of the trip to set times and locations. If they don’t know for sure yet at least contact has been made and the ball is rolling and you know what time to be ready.

6. Could you give me a reference or two? Another rare question but a good guide will be able to quickly provide you a name or two of people to contact. Guides love to tell about happy customers and happy customers love to tell about their great trips.

These are just some steps to make the final decision on what guide to hire for the species of fish you want to catch. Choosing the right guide for families makes the day or days much more enjoyable for all involved and a safer more worry free trip.

Have Fun
You have gone through all the steps to find what you want to fish, where you want to fish and who you want to provide a great day on the water for your family vacation. At this point the only thing that can go wrong now is that the fish don’t play nice. Just remember, you are with a fishing guide not a fishing god. A good guide will do whatever they can and work as hard as they can to ensure you have a great day.

Your job from here on is to sit back, relax and have fun with your family. These days on the water with the family don’t come along all that often for some people and you should be able to enjoy the trip to the highest level.