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guiding day with matt hayes

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hI MEN ,

My mate paid £90 for a hour with a golf pro , thats an hour , thats £720 a day. Good luck to Matt , who entertains on the TV , and I would love to have a chinwag to! . I also know a really good fly angler who started out thrashing the water , untill having a couple of leasons to get him into good habits !. Good luck to anyone who can make a living from this pastime we all love , as there are many on this site who would love to , and some who have tried , and some who may be looking through slightly green eyes !.

Guiding is not for everyone , but it must be for some ?.

Hatter
 
Been there, done it and let me tell you Fishing tuition can be bloody hard work ! i used to charge £100 per day but that would be nowhere near enough nowadays for a single customer for a day (which is how you should do it) £200- 250 would seem about right but Matt having great demands made on his time can obviously price himself accordingly, good luck to him, after all i doubt he really needs the work (thats what it is) and if its too rich for your blood then you don't need to use him !
Another thing, make up your mind what you want to pay your money for, tuition or a guaranteed fish or two, the former will normally be money better spent IMO, I quite often had to spend the best time of day (early mornings) teaching clients to cast properly let alone catching fish, yes a few fish on the bank makes a complete day but it shouldn't really be a pre requisite, after all you wouldn't be asking a Golf pro for a refund if you didn't get a hole in one now would you ? or would you ? :)
 
Jeff Edisbury said:
http://www.anglingexperience.co.uk/

£79 pppd.

Sounds more reasonable and Graham Elliott is involved so should be very good.
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Well is it?

There are other waters available for those who wish to have the Barbel Experience on the Wye, and for far less than £79 and ten anglers to the mile (That's nearly £800 per day) and even more than Matty charges for a one to one Barbel Experience. I can fish a whole 1.5 mile stretch of the Wye with a 3 angler limit all for the princely sum of £20!!!

It's the Wye and Usk Foundation...true I don't get personal tuition, but that for me is part of the charm of the Barbel Experience, doing it for yourself.

Man Up!!! :)
 
I’m not really posting much anymore…too busy with a new project, but have enjoyed reading through the comments. I’ll try and put a different perspective on helping others improve their catch rates and their fishing skills.

My experience allows me to say that individuals “wants†from a days guiding varies considerably. A good guide will try to establish what a person wants from the day. Is it to simply to have a good day and catch some fish whilst learning basics? Is it to try and catch that first double figure fish?

Is it to improve a certain aspect of their fishing, such as underarm casting, or are there some conditions, for example fishing a 12foot on raging flood river, that they want to feel more confident in fishing in the future. They might simply want a greater insight into swim selection on a particular river.

They might simply be a barbel beginner that wants to start of properly and have the different methods explained and illustrated in detail.

Fact is, many of the anglers on here are specialists and extremely skilled, and would never need or want to spend money on a fishing guide. Some others are also very good at writing about how good they are and are negative to every other persons view. Even our Colin benefited (free) from some advice on the Wye :rolleyes:;)

Another fact is that we all learnt our fishing from the advice given to us, on the bank or from magazines. It’s the way it happens. The “I did it all on my own†is quite a funny one.

I’m very pleased that over a 100 anglers from BFW have decided to have days with me on the bank over the years. Apart from a couple, one turned up a day late…Looking back through the a few seasons worth of Kennet/Loddon and Wye threads, I think they have overall thought it great value. There are a couple from the last Wye day this year that I will take again.

I’m staying back on the Wye and guiding for 6 months this coming season, parties will be restricted to 4 - no doubt I’ll be plenty busy enough. :)

Graham.
 
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David Gribble said:
Clearly Matt gets enough punters prepared to pay £500 or he wouldn't be charging that much. The fact you don't want to pay that is your problem not his!
What £500 buys is a day with one of the top names in one of the most popular sports in the country. What price someone being able to watch him on TV and tell their mates "I've been fishing with him"?

As for his personal bests - he's caught more PB's than most of us as he's been lucky enough to fish all round the World catching species most of us have never seen let alone caught. Maybe fishing around the world appeals more to him than adding a pound to his barbel pb. I imagine some people would rather have a day out talking to someone who has so many varied stories to tell than hearing how many recaptures they've had.

I'll bet a day out with Jeremy Clarkson would set you back ten times what Matt charges.

It's like tackle - you can buy a Dragon Carp centrepin for £30 or an antique Aerial for £500. You pay your money and make your choice. Just don't whinge when you can't get an Aerial for £30.
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David, not singling you out to have a pop, but you raise a couple of interesting points.

First and foremost, I must admit to letting out a rather hearty guffaw when I read about the £500.00 daily fee. Firstly that someone would try and charge so much, secondly that anyone would consider paying it. But as you say, if he can get away with it....

Personally, if I was going to pay for a guiding day then I'd rather have a day out with an equally skilled, if slightly less known angler, a new harrison rod, reel, curry and ****-up afterwards, cab-ride home and some change. Each to his own.

The point you make about Matt's P.B's, Woody Allen once famously said that 90% of succes is just showing up. And let's be honest Matt shows up an aweful lot. Yes, he is a very good angler and he certainly does know his onions, but if most anglers on this site had access to the waters he fishes, and the time he has to fish them, then I'd bet not too many of us would be that far behind.

There is one last point I'll make with regards to TV anglers in general. One very well known angler fished a day-ticket venue once in Surrey for an episode of his long running series. On the program in question he caught endless fish and made the place look ridiculously easy. I happened to fish the same venue some years after, only to find the area he fished was out of bounds to anglers and had a cafe situated in the corner he fished — the fish abviously hanging around in this corner for the many scraps and leftovers thrown in by the cafe's patrons. I once held this angler in resonably high esteem. Not so, after this. T'is the reason why I am slightly sceptical of the "celebrity angler".
 
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Graham Elliott said:
Fact is, many of the anglers on here are specialists and extremely skilled, and would never need or want to spend money on a fishing guide. Some others are also very good at writing about how good they are and are negative to every other persons view. Even our Colin benefited (free) from some advice on the Wye :rolleyes:;)
Graham.
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Now now Graham, didn't Colin pre-select his swim, a swim that others had strolled past not giving it a second glance. Hadn't Colin started fishing it with success prior to your advice/assistance and hadn't Colin already deduced where the fish would be holed up but yes without your helping hand (we're talking literally a physical hand) Colin would've walked away from a right banker swim.:eek:

But because you troubled yourself (for free) to aid me to get in a better position on the bank I did stay put and accumilate a fair net of barbel and chub.
Thank you Graham for helping me see sense.:)
 
Haydn, re filming, all is often not what it seems, the words "Here's one i prepared earlier" are commonly appropriate ;)
 
Hmmm, guides, they do cause a stir whenever the subject crops up. But, as many on here will know, they've been around for a very long time - the Thames prefessionals were doing a fine trade 150 years ago. Some of them were decent types, others weren't, and not much has changed.

'5 shillings for day? an extra Sovereign if I catch a Thames trout? You're havin' a laugh, Mr. Coster.'

Still, at least with the old professionals, there was always a better than evens chance of a fist-fight with the competition during the slow parts of the day. That rarely happens now, even when Graham's on the bank (smiley face).

Matt Hayes or Wormy Webb - now that's a tough choice.

best,

Jon
 
Colin Gordon said:
Now now Graham, didn't Colin pre-select his swim, a swim that others had strolled past not giving it a second glance. Hadn't Colin started fishing it with success prior to your advice/assistance and hadn't Colin already deduced where the fish would be holed up but yes without your helping hand (we're talking literally a physical hand) Colin would've walked away from a right banker swim.:eek:

But because you troubled yourself (for free) to aid me to get in a better position on the bank I did stay put and accumilate a fair net of barbel and chub.
Thank you Graham for helping me see sense.:)
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is there an 'i' in accumilate?:rolleyes:



Graham, your just too kind helping those with less ability than yourself....:p

Merry Christmas Colin.

x

Steve
 
Haydn Clarke said:
David, not singling you out to have a pop, but you raise a couple of interesting points.

First and foremost, I must admit to letting out a rather hearty guffaw when I read about the £500.00 daily fee. Firstly that someone would try and charge so much, secondly that anyone would consider paying it. But as you say, if he can get away with it....

Personally, if I was going to pay for a guiding day then I'd rather have a day out with an equally skilled, if slightly less known angler, a new harrison rod, reel, curry and ****-up afterwards, cab-ride home and some change. Each to his own.

The point you make about Matt's P.B's, Woody Allen once famously said that 90% of succes is just showing up. And let's be honest Matt shows up an aweful lot. Yes, he is a very good angler and he certainly does know his onions, but if most anglers on this site had access to the waters he fishes, and the time he has to fish them, then I'd bet not too many of us would be that far behind.

There is one last point I'll make with regards to TV anglers in general. One very well known angler fished a day-ticket venue once in Surrey for an episode of his long running series. On the program in question he caught endless fish and made the place look ridiculously easy. I happened to fish the same venue some years after, only to find the area he fished was out of bounds to anglers and had a cafe situated in the corner he fished — the fish abviously hanging around in this corner for the many scraps and leftovers thrown in by the cafe's patrons. I once held this angler in resonably high esteem. Not so, after this. T'is the reason why I am slightly sceptical of the "celebrity angler".
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Haydn, you make the point about PB's and inflated catches, thing is only an ass wouldn't realise that most of the (dare I say it) top specimen anglers are the laziest form of glory hunters known to man.

Take Martin Bowler in his Catching the Impossible series, don't get me wrong I accept he's a bloody good angler who has worked damned hard for many of his captures BUT
"I've never caught a double figure tench"
So he rolls up to a 'secret' pit meets his friend, friend says "aim at that tree, cast about 45 yards out and a biggun will show."
48hrs later Martin has a 10lb 8oz (new PB) tench on the bank, wow how in awe am I?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

This though is the side of angling not normally seen, that said I bet the skin-flint never paid a couple hundred quid (or more)!

In this world you get what you pay for and I'm not slating anglers that use tutoring and/or guiding services and I'm not debating the prices being charged, that's for any potential customers to do.
A cautionary word to anyone considering using such services, think out what you want from your day, a days fishing in the company of a celeb or a days fishing with a far more capable angler from whom you will learn.
 
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Jon Berry said:
Hmmm, guides, they do cause a stir whenever the subject crops up. But, as many on here will know, they've been around for a very long time - the Thames prefessionals were doing a fine trade 150 years ago. Some of them were decent types, others weren't, and not much has changed.

'5 shillings for day? an extra Sovereign if I catch a Thames trout? You're havin' a laugh, Mr. Coster.'

Still, at least with the old professionals, there was always a better than evens chance of a fist-fight with the competition during the slow parts of the day. That rarely happens now, even when Graham's on the bank (smiley face).

Matt Hayes or Wormy Webb - now that's a tough choice.

best,

Jon
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Though in the what was fast becoming the super-posh. glitzy international-fisher world of Tierra del Fuego during the mid to late 1990s, when a turfwar had broken out between new and would-be upscale guides and lodge operators competing for top-end clients and the best waters, foul language (English and Spanish) and rocks were hurled from bank to bank (rifleshots on one occasion) by competing outfits - in the presence of five Gs a week plus flights and $1,000 tips, international punters. But then, whatever you choose to fish for, there are always Anglers and always some Hookers. I've always been at pains to be and to remain one of the former.
 
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Just another way of him showing us all how clever he is Rhys.
I spelt it wrong once,,,,,,,,,,, but I think I got away with it........


I'll be in touch over the next few days about your day's guiding on my boat..... Cash or cheque is fine......


Steve
 
Bit skint at the moment mate, so I'll have to pay you back with a free day at my 'Charisma, Charm and how to woo the ladies' class.
Should be able to fit you in sometime next April.
 
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