Going on a guided fishing trip or chartering a boat comes with a lot of payments and expenses. One of these is tipping the guide or the crew, and many people don’t know how much they are normally tipped. How much should you tip a fishing guide or a charter crew?
Fishing guides are usually tipped 10-20% of the whole trip; this usually ends up being around $20 to $80. When using a chartered boat, tip about 15-20% total for the crew, and the captain typically doesn’t get a tip. If the work of the guide or crew exceeds expectations, leave a higher tip.
It is good to know the difference between tipping a fishing guide and a charter. There are also a few different types of fishing, so it’s good to know how much you should tip the guide or crew based on the type of fishing.
Tips for Fishing Guides vs Charters
Tipping fishing guides and charters is a common practice because these are people who have made your fishing trip easier. Just like you would tip a waiter in a restaurant, you should tip your fishing guide or charter. However, the amount that you tip for different services changes, so you may not know how much you should tip your fishing guide or charter.
Fishing guides and chartered boats are two different things, though they may seem similar at first glance. There are a few differences between guides and charters.
There are a lot of licensing differences between fishing guides and charters, but for the person hiring one, the main difference is that fishing guides tend to take smaller amounts of people. Charters will often carry multiple groups at the same time. They will have a fixed schedule and don’t allow much customization. Fishing guides typically carry one group, and the trip can be adjusted according to the needs of your group. Fishing guides tend to be more expensive than charters.
Another difference that is important to the person hiring one is that the tipping for fishing guides and the tipping for charters are slightly different, particularly regarding the process by which you tip a fishing guide versus how you tip the crew of a chartered boat.
When talking about tipping a fishing guide, that generally means tipping one person for guiding your group. Most people tend to tip fishing guides about 10%-20% of the cost of the entire trip. This means that people typically give their fishing guides $20-$80 in tips. This may seem like a lot, but going out and fishing takes hours or even days, so the amount of the tip should reflect the amount of work that the fishing guides did.
Tipping a fishing charter means tipping the crew of the ship for taking you out on the water. There is a certain sized crew and a captain. This may seem like you will need to tip more; after all, a percentage of the tip goes to each crew member, so each person won’t receive much money. However, generally speaking, you are expected to tip the entire crew with about 15%-20% of the total cost. This is divided up between all the crew members, so you aren’t paying more when there is a larger crew, but they are getting less of a tip if there is a larger crew.
With a charter, you aren’t expected to tip the captain. You just tip the full crew excluding the captain with a certain percentage of the cost of the trip. If the crew does an exceptionally good job, you may want to tip more. If they don’t help you as much as you wanted, you may tip them slightly less.
Tips for Different Types of Fishing
There are many different types of fishing, including deep sea fishing, inshore fishing, bass fishing, Alaska fishing, and fly fishing. So, the question is, how much does the amount you tip change based on the type of fishing you are doing with the guide or charter?
A 10%-20% tipping rate is pretty standard across the board when it comes to guided fishing trips and charters whether you are going deep sea fishing, inshore fishing, fly fishing, Alaska fishing, or bass fishing. The type of fishing doesn’t change the tip. The location at which you are fishing also doesn’t change the tip all that much. In general, the type of fishing and the location doesn’t change how much you should tip the crew or your guide.
The main thing that should impact the amount of tip you give is the performance of the fishing guide or charter crew. If you think they exceeded your expectations and worked very hard, you should give them a very high tip. Some suggest that if the guide or crew really goes above and beyond during your trip, you should tip higher than 20%, even though this may add up to a lot of money, and you may not want to pay it because of the cost of the trip.
If the guide or crew doesn’t do as well as you think they should have or are generally unhelpful, you should tip them in the lower range. Don’t tip beneath 10% because that is against tipping etiquette. However, don’t feel like you need to tip higher than that if you didn’t feel like they did a very good job or were extremely rude to the people on the fishing trip. If you think they did adequately but weren’t blown away by their help, 15% is generally a good amount to stick to.
Overall, it is important that you tip based on how much the fishing guide or charter deserves. A great guide or crew can make your fishing trip much easier and more enjoyable for you, your friends, and your family. Being a good guide or crew member can be a lot of work, so it is important that you give a good tip to someone who made your trip fun and relaxing, which is the way fishing trips should be. Tips are not required, but they are always appreciated by fishing trip guides and charter crews.