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Florida Fishing Report for Panama City & Destin
Capt. James Pic
February 4, 2006
Panama City - Saltwater Fishing Report
Panama City/NW Florida
TIPS FOR HIRING A GUIDE
There are many guides in our area. I consider myself one of the best if not the best in the area. You would be hard pressed to find a guide that catches as many big trout each year or is able to put eight to ten reds in the boat on a half day trip...I can, and do, both.
But with the population explosion in our area comes some people with dreams of taking people fishing, problem with that, is that they are taking you fishing but you don't catch any fish. When hiring a guide I would reccomend the following.
WHAT TO AVOID
You should always ask a guide the following questions:
1. How long have you been guiding. (You should never hire a guide that has not been guiding for at leas six or seven years FULL TIME).
2. Are you from the area? (We have had several people move into the area and become guides only after living here a couple of years. Trust me, it takes years and years of fishing full time to learn to catch fish and how to fish).
3. Do you have another job. ("Part-timers" do not have the time on the water or the day to day experience to be able to put you on fish. Each day a good guide will look for fish for the days to come.
4. Ask if the guide has had any wildlife, fish or safety violations. This is a sure sign as to the type of person you are dealing with.
THINGS TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING A GUIDE
1. Is this his full time job. This is important.
2. Ask for a couple of references.
3. How many years have you been guiding and how many trips do you average a year. Like I said before, at least six or seven trips a year and a good guide should spend about 150 days on the water minumum.
4. A local. Self expanatory.
Of course, the previous is my own opinion and is based on 35 years of fishing this area. May thru August it can get tough out there, make sure you get someone that knows what he is doing and doesn't have to steal other guides or the locals spots.
Hope this helps you save some time and money, but more than that, I hope this helps you to make a good choice when hiring a guide. After all, it's all about a lot of fun and some fish.
Good luck in your search.
JP
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