In many cases, you can follow the same standard you would in many other tipping situations. Reward your guide about 20 percent for good service, more if you’re really happy and can afford it. If you’re not thrilled with the service, drop it down to about 10 percent. If you’re bad at math and/or don’t want to mess with it, you can tip about $50 to $100 per day depending on how attentive the guide was, how hard they worked, and whether they were friendly and tried to meet your needs.
Sometimes a simple percentage doesn’t make sense. If you book a $5,000 multi-day, all-inclusive package at a destination resort, how do you determine what kind of a tip to leave for your guide? Occasionally, you’ll find some tipping guidelines listed on the website right along with the other prices. Unless otherwise stated, a suggested tip is just that. But such a recommendation is simply meant to help you decide what is considered fair. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tip a little more for great service, or a little less if the service didn’t meet your expectations.
Tipping expectations are different for other types of fishing adventures. An offshore trip might include several anglers, and the boat might have a mate or two in addition to the captain. Clearly, you can’t tip $100 each. Consider tipping the captain $50 and each mate $25. Some suggest tipping the mates more than the captain, because on some boats, tips are all they’re working for. It is something to consider, but the captain is also the one with the boat loan, insurance, responsibility, and liability. In Central or South America, a $50 tip per day may be appropriate for your guide, whereas in an affluent country, $100 per day may be more appropriate. Consider the cost of living where you’ll be fishing. A dollar goes a lot farther in some places, so take that into account.
The thought of not leaving any tip can seem like a motivator to teach a lesson, but in reality, it’s likely your name will get passed around among other guides and you might find the dates you want next year all mysteriously filled up. Guides do share information about their clients with other guides. Tip well, and you’ll earn a reputation and create competition among guides who want to work for you. That means you’ll end up with the better guides. If you really want to send a message about poor service, you’re better off tipping 10 percent and then speaking privately with the outfitter or head guide about your dissatisfaction than you are tipping nothing at all.
Remember, no matter how much you paid for your day on the water, there are many factors the guide can’t control. Bad weather, changes in water flow rates, temperature, rain—all these can conspire to ruin a good day of fishing. Your guide’s job is to work hard for you, and if he or she busted tail all day and you still didn’t manage to catch the number of fish you expected, that’s not really their fault any more than it’s your server’s fault at a restaurant if the food doesn’t taste good or is not cooked to your liking.
