Why I Finally Hired a Guide
Fishing guides have gotten complicated with all the booking platforms and review manipulation flying around. As someone who spent fifteen years fishing the Louisiana marsh on my own before finally admitting I needed help, I learned everything there is to know about whether dropping $600 on a guided trip is worth it. Today, I will share it all with you.
Fifteen years. Getting lost in wrong turns. Burning gas on dead ends. Catching just enough redfish to convince myself I knew what I was doing. Then I booked a full-day inshore trip with Captain Mike Frenette out of Venice, Louisiana. Six hundred dollars plus tip. Felt absurd. Could buy a new reel for that. Two reels, actually. But I was tired of being mediocre at my favorite fishery.
Late September trip. Prime time for bull redfish running the passes and specks stacking in the back lakes. Drove down from Baton Rouge the night before and met Captain Mike at the marina at 5:30 AM.
What $600 Gets You
The money covered the boat (24-foot bay boat rigged for shallow water), fuel, all tackle, live bait, ice, bottled water, and Captain Mike’s 30 years of knowledge. I brought my license, sunscreen, and lunch. For comparison, running my own boat with bait and gas would have been about $200 — but without the knowledge that changes everything.
Probably should have led with this section, honestly. Within ten minutes of leaving the dock, Captain Mike was pointing out subtle current seams and color changes I’d have paddled right past. Explained how redfish use certain points on falling tide and completely different points on the rise. Showed me how to read grass lines and predict where bait would push. Fifteen years of self-teaching and I learned more in that first hour than the previous decade combined. Not even exaggerating.
The Fishing
By 9 AM we’d boated twelve redfish between 22 and 28 inches. I kept a limit of five for the freezer. We threw gold spoons on light spinning tackle, matching the pogies the reds were chasing. When topwater slowed, switched to Carolina-rigged shrimp and picked up eight more. By noon we’d caught more reds than I typically catch in a month of solo trips.
But what really justified the cost was the spots. These weren’t secret holes — other boats fished them too. But the specific approaches, casting angles, tide timing — that was proprietary knowledge earned through thirty years on the water. Captain Mike positioned the boat perfectly for every drift. Called out strikes before I felt them. Coached my hooksets until muscle memory took over. That kind of education doesn’t have a substitute.
The Verdict: Was It Worth It?
Yes. Completely, absolutely yes. But with an important caveat: it was worth it because I treated it as education, not just a fishing trip. Brought a notebook. Asked questions constantly. Paid attention to every decision Captain Mike made — which pass he chose in the morning, why he changed lures at 10:30, how he read the tide on each flat. By end of day I had ten pages of notes and a mental map of that marsh I’ve been using profitably ever since.
If you just want hero shots and fish stories, a guide trip delivers that. But if you want to become a better angler — learn the water, understand patterns, fish independently with real confidence — then $600 for a day with a great guide is one of the best investments in fishing. That’s what makes guided trips endearing to us self-improvers — the knowledge goes home with you.
Tips for Hiring a Guide
Do homework. Read reviews. Check references. Ask specific questions about what’s included. Be honest about your skill level so the guide can calibrate the day. Tip well for good work — 20% is standard. And most importantly, treat it as school. The fish you catch are a bonus. The knowledge you take home is the real value.
