Tipping Etiquette for Guide Trips in 2026
“Tipping Etiquette for Guide Trips” A tip on a fishing trip is sometimes a clumsy or even awkward conversation. I wanted to take this time and share my thoughts on guide tipping which hopefully clears some muddy waters for some. First of all a tip is always earned. If your guides do a good job we do hope you consider a service industry standard tip of around 15%-20% depending how you feel. That is the simple answer. If the trip cost you $750 then ideally between the two clients you tip around $120-$160 for the boat. A hard working, service minded guide does count on tips as part of their income. The guide has a number of huge expenses such as the boat and vehicle, your tackle, insurance and licensing. Tips go a long way to helping the guide cover these expenses so they can bank some paychecks to help get through the year. Here are some reasons to consider tipping more. A special fish that you’ve been dreaming of that you will hang a picture of in your office home or post to social media. If the guide worked hard with you to earn that fish consider a bigger tip. If a guide makes an effort to fish with you every year and keeps days open just for you and your enjoyment of your day is enhanced year after year by this same guide, consider tipping more than you would someone you just met. Also there are stories of guests loosing their cool and damaging or breaking a guides rod or other equipment. I don’t mean regular wear and tear but if its your fault, you probably know it and you should help make up for that. Reasons you should tip less are the same as any other service industry. If you feel your guide gave you bad service then feel free to tip less but also please let the outfitter know. Most outfitters would prefer to remedy the situation with the guide and figure out how to fix it or possibly not pair the clients and guides again in the future. This also gives us opportunity to coach up a guide who did not perform well that day. We appreciate all feedback, positive and negative. Always tip with cash. Most guides prefer that and most even have Venmo now which is usually acceptable. Please do not tip on a card or with a check at the fly shop. Some outfitters will accommodate this request if there is no other option but you should know this is an inconvenience to the guide who now has to wait until payday and have deductions taken as well as added payroll work. Did you forget to tip? It happens occasionally and if it does, usually the guide brings it to our attention. Our first move in that situation is to call the guest. One of three things has happened. The client didn’t know there was industry standard tipping, this happens with first timers. The client simply forgot. There is a lot of moving parts to a day of fishing trips. Accidents happen. We can figure something out to get the guide taken care of. Bad service is usually not the reason as our guides are excellent but if so, we want to know what happened and how we can fix it. We take customer service very seriously. Also thank you to all those who do tip appropriately and even bigger thank you to those who tip generously. We appreciate it very much and plan to work as hard as we can to provide you the best experience possible. -Steve Wilson
Ice Off Angling
At some point in time usually March through May (June up in the high country) all across Montana our state the lakes shed their ice caps and give way to open water. This is always an exciting time of year for many fly fishers especially those who enjoy Stillwater angling. For those who don’t Stillwater fish as much, I do encourage you do enjoy some ice off fishing for many reasons. Here are some reasons we find this type of fishing fun during this time of year. Your fishing to fish that have not seen a fly in months. While there is still feeding going on sub surface, as the ice melts and water temperature increases even slightly, the trout’s metabolism speeds up. Light even penetrates on the edges drawing these fish from the depths. They are often very hungry and not selective. I have had the most fun casting to an ice edge and allowing my fly to fall before stripping it, sometimes even stripping it into the water off the edge. Strikes of flies like stripped leaches or other small streamers or nymphs are exciting and it is fun to try and put your fly right on the edge of the ice. They’re eating!. Usually these fish aren’t picky I have had most of my Ice off success on either a leech or a chronomid. The next fly I would want is a zebra midge which is basically still a chronomid. At times the stripped technique works but other times, I choose to fish them under a shallow rigged bobber as depending on lake depth. Sometimes a short rig near the ice edge that hangs just below the ice depth is deadly. Frontier Anglers always has a good selection of various ice off jigs and chronomids. You don’t need a boat. The ice clears from the edges first and often times the fish are cruising these zones. Often times my best ice out fishing is on my feet from shore or slightly waded in. This time of year also coincides with the rainbow trout moving to the shore to begin making redds and spawning. They are bigger. While not always the case, particularly in southwest Montana, an angler can catch their largest trout of the season. Trout on average grow a little larger in lakes and reservoirs and the fish that most of the year may be deep and out of reach are shallow and close giving fly anglers a great target. At times if the light is right, these monsters create amazing sight fishing opportunities to target trout over 5 and even over 10 pounds depending on the water body. A savvy ice off angler knows temps and approximately when the ice comes off and where. Occasionally we have good intel at the shop but info on lakes in general is hard to find and best learned on your own. In flow and spring areas often provide the earliest shots at open water and its good to learn these spots as well. Happy hunting and never ever wade on suspicious ice during ice out. -Steve Wilson
Beginners Guide to Choosing your First Saltwater Destination
My guess is at some point in time, every fly angler was turned on by the fact that not all fly anglers trout fish. For me, it was in the pages of magazines. The photos of the extensive flats and beautiful colors and fish in water so shallow, the tails poked above the suffice was mesmerizing. It seemed like a dream world so far off it was likely unattainable. Many years later I have now close to a dozen saltwater trips under my belt, each one made easier by the last. It is truly a venue not unlike a trout stream that is relatively easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master. Your first experience will vary depending what kind of angler you are. Sight fishing is often the prefered method for flats angling. Have you spent a lot of time casting for distance and accuracy in windy conditions? Most trout anglers, this answer is no. A lot of trout fishing especially from a guided perspective is making a short cast from a boat and managing a drift. Otherwise your casting upstream and then controlling the dead drift for as long as possible Very little of this type of fishing prepares you for flats fishing. Also have you fished an 8 weight or heavier? These are all steep learning curves that will take most of your first trip to overcome. A 9 foot 8 weight is your best tool for your first trip. You should just focus your efforts on bonefish. Try to find time to practice if you can to learn the timing of that rod. It will vary greatly from your trout rod. Get yourself a good machined reel with a good drag and take good care of it, rinsing and soaking it daily. The Bahamas, Mexico, and Belize offer amazing bonefishing. While Mexico and Belize bones are smaller, they are often easier to catch than the larger Bahamas fish but this also can vary day to day, trip to trip. Mexico and Belize are a little less expensive on average as well. Book a guide for sure, but also don’t look down on DIY fishing. Consider your chances of catching fish significantly less DIY, you will benefit from the art of having to do all the looking yourself. Find small victories in seeing fish or getting a shot. If sight fishing isn’t working out for you, then enjoy some blind fishing. Blind fishing is where the guide puts the boat on a likely spot and has you cast blindly into likely water. Oftentimes this water is muddy or murky due to actively feeding fish. Your accuracy doesn’t matter as much, though distance is helpful. You learn your strip cadence and you learn your strip set well this way without having to be perfect. I have seen a lot of struggling anglers have great days fishing this way. You can figure out the sight fishing later. Bring a lot of gear. Most of these destinations do not provide gear so you will need to stock up on tippet, leader, and flies. Get a lot of flies and get some suggestions on what to fish where. We would be happy with that. Also have a backup. If you break your rod on a destination trip, you don’t want to be without one. Travel with a host. Here at Frontier Anglers we do offer these types of trips and are planning our next adventures for 2027. A trip host can help you get set up with all of the gear and flies you will need as well as choose the best destination for your best experience possible. As always feel free to contact Steve or Shaun at Frontier Anglers, we have a shared 35 plus years of destination travel experience and would love to help you. -Steve Wilson