A Reflection On A Great
Guide Year
By Steve Welch
I have been a part time
fishing guide for eighteen years and in 2010 I decided to make it my full time
profession. This being my third year of full time guiding I am pleased to say
the business is thriving even through these hard times we have all faced these
past few years. I have done personally 671 guide trips since going full time or
an average of 223 a year. In Illinois that isnÕt bad. I now have a second boat
and even a third when we really get busy so we can take care of just about any
of your needs.
My season starts just after
my last show in early March and it is not uncommon for me to guide seven days a
week for the first five and a half months. August is my downfall and I canÕt
seam to get it booked the entire month. Even though I still do about twenty to
twenty-five days. With school going back and the summer coming to an end it is
just always slow. I usually wrap up my season around Christmas leaving only
January and February that I donÕt wet a line every day. Believe me I still get
in some fishing during those two winter months. It is just not in Illinois.
I learned a long time ago on
Shelbyville you need to be a pan fish guide if you want to stay busy. Most
folks that would hire a guide are inexperienced fishermen and just want
constant action and something good to eat when they get home. I bet each year I
get less than ten phone calls from someone wanting to bass fish or muskie fish.
Several have tried to make a guide service a go fishing for these species only
and all have failed. If you want to be a full time guide on Shelbyville not
only do you have to be a good crappie fisherman but you also must be a good
white bass fisherman and you must be able to catch fish June, July, August, and
September not just spring and fall when it is easy.
Being a guide isnÕt always
about putting a ton of fish in the boat either. I have trips that all we do is
educate anglers on how to fish patterns on this massive lake or how to
understand todayÕs hi-tech electronics. Setting the nose of the boat on a brush
pile and clients watching the guide haul them in one after another wonÕt get
many call backs either. I never try and get ahead of my clients. I want them to
understand how I caught each fish and show him or her the subtle things I am
doing versus what they are doing. When we are vertical jig fishing for crappie
I devised a special seating system that allows me to watch both my clients and
make sure that they are fishing in the brush. I even use a shorter rod so all
three of us are equally in the same brush all the time. Since they set two-feet
behind me.
I pride myself in being able
to bounce back and forth between crappie and white bass most of the season and
we routinely get our three person limit of crappie then go get a hundred white
bass to ensure they get the biggest stringer they have ever had. If you blow
them away they will be back and so will all their friends. Word of mouth is a
guideÕs best friend.
Blowing them away with fish
isnÕt the only way either. I have my twenty-one foot Ranger bass boat loaded
with todayÕs hi-tech electronics. I have not only the biggest guide boat on the
lake but I also have the best electronic setup. I have two Lowrance HDS 10Õs
one on bow and one at console. Both have side imaging and down scan and these
units will really save a guide trip. I really count on them in summer with side
imaging to find schools of both crappie and white bass. I also have a Lowrance
HDS 7 and a Lowrance HDS that I use for mapping and 2-d sonar. Each unit is
networked so if I add or delete a waypoint it is done on all four units at
once.
I use my mapping cards to
locate river channels and then side scan the drop offs looking for brush if I
am crappie fishing and of course baitfish. When I find some brush I can easily
see any crappie hiding in its branches. I can then stop the screen on my
Lowrance and run my curser over to where I saw the brush and fish and mark it
with a waypoint then just go right to it. I know $8,000 in electronics is overkill
but it is my lively hood and if I want to stay the busiest guide on the lake I
need to have the best toys.
I will be doing outdoor
fishing shows these next three months, promoting my guide service and educating
anglers on how to use Lowrance HDS systems and catch fish on Shelbyville and
Kentucky Lake my vacation spot and winter fishing hole. My partner and I have a
very informative power point presentation jam packed with knowledge and very
cool screen shots taken from our Lowrance HDS systems. I go through an entire
calendar year and explain how to catch crappie, white bass and walleye on
Shelbyville.
My first show is the LetÕs
Go Fishing Show in Collinsville January 4-6, Then I go to Bloomington to the
Illinois Fish & Feather Expo January 25-27, Then up to Tinley Park Fishing
& Outdoor Show Feb. 9-10 and then back home to the Central Illinois Outdoor
Expo in Arthur on Feb. 22-23 and lastly to the Elmwood All Outdoors Show, March
2-3.
I decided to put in several
happy clientsÕ pictures from 2012. I must of cleaned 15,000 fish this past year
so I know I had a bunch of happy clients. Feel free to browse through my
website at www.LakeShelbyvilleGuide.com and see a bunch of fish catches in
2012. Stop in and see me at the fishing shows and share all of your stories.