Guided fishing - Who needs it?

Here's a subject that divides people, as an experienced Bass Angler why would you pay for a guide? Well if you're at home you probably wouldn't, presuming you know your spots, state of tides, when & where to fish and when not to bother, but when you leave that area the local knowledge you have is very useful but maybe not quite as effective? If your time is limited its easy to waste a lot of time trying to locate the fish.

Further to the above here are some other reasons I look forward to going down to
Jim Hendrick in Wexford for some guided fishing.


Firstly Safety, I can rely on Jim to make all the safety calls and just concentrate on the fishing, a big luxury in itself. I could be at the mouth of a huge estuary as the tide turns and about to flood on the biggest tide of the cycle with gullies behind me and fish right to within a safe margin of last orders by relying on Jim to know when that is and communicate it to me. There are a hundred other situations where the safety issue can apply also. The numerous prime Locations I have been taken to that I'd never have found myself, and will probably never find way back to, such is the maze of country lanes around our coastline. Timings you will rarely beat a professional guide like Jim to consistently put you in the right spot at precisely the right times to give you a chance at the best fishing on offer that day. There are never any guarantees  as any angler knows. Transport another luxury, to be driven to location after location with zero navigation required and just be able to talk fishing with a hugely knowledgeable Guy, along with many other related and unrelated topics and to be able to sit in the car enjoy the countryside is just bliss, especially on the way back from a 10hr fishing day! When fishing with a professional guide you cannot fail to Learn from the experience, knowledge that is hard won on your own that you can take away with you to be introduced to your own fishing at a later dateFinally, and most importantly, I find the whole experience Hugely enjoyable catching or not and I hope I can continue to enjoy guided fishing for a few more years at least.