Becoming a NH guide??

[BROOK TROUT BULLY]

Is there anyone out there who is familiar with how challenging the exam is to become a NH guide? Whats the exam format, multiple choice, short answer, ect? Any information would help. Thanks

[Gerry]

Contact Fish and Game on Hazen drive, Concord and they will give you an application with a packet of study information. The test is mutiple guess - I think there are 50 questions. Just like anything, it is pretty easy if you study the material. You also need CPR/First Aid certification.
tight lines,
Gerry

[catchnrelease]

The guide I talked to said it was mostly multiple choice, and fill in the blank.

[Kevin McKay]

can anyone get a license?

[Gerry]

Kevin,
here is the guide info link http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Licensing/guide_guidelines.htm

Requirements for non-residents is the same, but the fee is much higher.
tight lines,
Gerry

[s2ary]

Outside of Maine, everything is less than doing surgery. :wink:

[Jammin' Salmon]

Before you decide to take the test make sure you understand what you are getting into. I've been guiding for the past 25 years and I can tell you that if you do it right it is a very expensive job. Passing the test is only the start. Once you pass the test and have been certified in CPR and/or first aid you will need to get a commercial license if you plan to use any motorized boats. This you will do through the marine patrol division of the dept. of safety. Your boat will need to be commercially registered and commercially insured. If you plan to guide without a boat , or out of float tubes or drift boats you will need commercial liability insurance. If you plan to access waters within the White Mountain National Forest you will need an outfitter permit from them as well. So if you do everything above board, which I strongly recommend, it will take some time and some serious $ to get going. I guide both on Lake Winni and I also run drift boats on the Pemi and Androscoggin as well as float tube trips in the WMNF. There are some guides who take shortcuts by not being insured or properly licensed but eventually they run into trouble.
I will say that the job is very rewarding and if you can supplement it with a real job you can make it work.
I'd be more than happy to talk to anyone more about becoming a guide in detail. I've been doing it a long time and now I've branched out into the TV world with a show scheduled for airing in the fall--in fact I'm looking for not only an editor but also some suggestions for fly fishing trips both in and out of NH.

Rick
NH Licensed Guide #1

[Mountain Angler]

Keep the day job. Most guides do it as a part time thing for fun and to score gear at cheap prices. Then there are those who take it seriously and there are some very good guides in NH. Very few if any make a living at it. Most of us have some other link to the business like owning a shop or a lodge. Good Luck.

[SaltH2oFly]

When I ran the numbers - the insurance costs sunk me (no pun inteneded, well maybe it was).

I was looking at it from Rick's perspective, keeping my day job and my family in tact.

When you look at the actual time you can spend guiding and the revenue generated from that versus all your hard and soft costs - I was much better off talking about it than doing it.

Unless I were independtly wealthy, retired, or had a very, very understanding wife and did not want to spend time with the family, then...I knew I should think again.

[petegas]

Guiding is def. a good part time venture if you can hook up with the right outfit. In my case the lodge i work for in the summers handle the insurance, boats, food, guide lisc. fee, and all the advertising.
Most of my buddies who do it full time are pretty much nomads following the season from the south in the winter (places like the San Juan and Lee's Ferry on the Colorado and even patagonia) to the northern rockies in the summer.

[Jammin' Salmon]

I don't want to scare anyone away from becoming a guide but I just want those who are thinking about it to have the inside scoop. "Petegas" has a great deal but I would guess that is not in this state, sounds like my buddies who guide in Montana. They have the luxury of guiding about 10 months a year and one of them had over 230 days on the river last year! Unfortunately he makes $100 per trip (plus tips). I say unfortunately because the shop he works out of charges $400 per trip(2 anglers). So he made $23000 last year before taxes and paying for his own medical insurance. The last time I spoke to him he was all excited that he was getting married and his soon to be wife worked for the state so he could hop on her medical insurance policy --an instant raise, as he put it!

Rick
www.rickforge.com

[petegas]

Hey Jammin'- Your right on, its a lodge in Montana. Unfortunately im semi-"retired" since i started grad school.
You raise some additional good points, a friend of mine had to have some cancerous lesions removed from his face (not an uncommon thing among guides with all the time outside) and had to pay out of pocket.
If you get into a lodge that fronts a lot of the costs (like boats etc) you will be paid less, if you essentially become an independent contractor and work out of a fly shop with your own boat, providing all the food, and being insured are going to be paid probably twice as much.

[Jammin' Salmon]

Hey Petegas--Where do you guide out of? Maybe I can catch up with you in the summer to share a day--I can put you in a show!

Rick