Tiny's Guarantee

You're guaranteed to catch 50 lbs of fish per trip (not per person) or the trip is free minus $75 expenses. That's five 10 pound fish or ten 5 pound fish etc. etc. You may wonder why I'd offer such a guarantee but it's not really that big of a deal. I don't think there's been but two or three trips I guided last year that didn't catch over 50 lbs of fish. It will also ease the pressure off me, in a way, offering a guarantee such as this, because I won't feel all that bad when the fish aren't biting. This means, if you don't catch fish then you don't get charged. This is rod and reel fishing and all fish are caught on rod and reel. It's not like fishing for so many hours and then resort to a jugline or trotlines to make up the difference. This means that if you don't catch 50 lbs of fish on a rod and reel then you pay nothing with the exception of the per person over 2. I have a "wear & tear" fee of $50 per person over the normal two person fishing trip. The guarantee just applies to the $250. If there's 3 persons on the trip then there is $50 due if we don't catch 50 lbs of fish, $100 due if 4 persons. This $50 per person extra is added due to additional wear and tear on the equipment as I sustain some wear and tear on every trip. If there's 4 people on the trip and we don't catch 50 lbs of fish then all that's due is $100 on top of the $75 expenses, meaning that the $75 is for expenses and the $100 is also due for the extra people. The guarantee just applies towards the initial trip fee, minus expenses. If there's 3 persons on the trip and we don't catch the 50 lb minimum then there's $50 due plus the $75 due for expenses. 

If I put you on fish and you fail to hook & land over 15 missed fish then the guarantee doesn't apply. I've actually worked my tookus off for two guys that were distracted by sandbass fishing and whatever else and missed over 18 good hard hits and they rewarded all that good hard work with $50 which didn't even cover gas expenses. I mean that, the only fish they got in the boat actually had to hook themselves and they even shook a few of those off. This isn't anything to worry about if you're actually trying to catch the fish, but if we've caught 35 to 40 lbs of fish and missed 5 to 15 others then I feel like I've done my job and put the clients on enough fish to get paid. These guys that I mentioned earlier were actually trying to not catch the fish so they wouldn't have to pay for the trip. It's hard enough on a feller to offer such a guarantee without people like this trying to exploit it and possibly make me have to discontinue offering a guarantee.  The guarantee is just an implication to let you know that you're not going to pay for just a boat ride. On days that I don't get 50 lbs in the boat I actually have to work a lot harder than I normally would. Searching and recasting 8 rods at a time, rebaiting with fresh bait every time we move, just to insure that, or at least do my best to provide a good time for you and your guests. Even on days that we've already got a good number of fish in the boat I continue to work hard to keep the fishing exciting and enjoyable. Like in a situation where we've already got 100 lbs in the boat and then we come to a point that we've not gotten a hit in about 15 minutes I pick up and relocate more fish.

Exception:

If you want me to teach you how to locate bluecat when we're out on your trip then the guarantee can't be enforced or I shouldn't be held to the guarantee as I'm spending a lot of time teaching fishing tactics that I've learned over the majority of my lifetime and if I'm teaching these things and I don't make it to 50 lbs then I've given a lifetime of experience away and it's happened a time or two. There's not much of a chance that we won't catch 50 lbs of fish but in the event that it does happen and you've requested that I show you how to locate fish and teach you a lot of the aspects of becoming a better fisherman then time is taken that normally wouldn't be in order to show you the full range of fishing techniques. So in this instance the 50 lb guarantee can't apply but we'll discuss this as a lot of people just want to go fishing and aren't concerned with me showing them how but there are a few locals that do want to know how to do it themselves. There's been only a couple of times that I've not gotten paid after teaching them how to locate fish for themselves. The one day fishing fee isn't much to pay for the kind of information that I can show an individual. So, be sure to ask me to show you how to locate fish before we start and I'll do whatever I can to show you how to locate fish for yourself as it's easy to do when you know what to look for and where to look. When we start the day off just tell me that you want to learn how to locate fish and that's all I need to know.

If you've booked a day and rain is in the forecast we can either postpone the trip or give it a try if it's not too bad. If we get out there and we've not caught 50 lbs of fish and we get rained out or driven off the lake by thunderstorms, we'll go back to the ramp and get in the vehicles and try to let it pass but if we see that it's not going to let up then the guarantee does not apply. I'll have the full amount of expenses and if it's clearly possible that I can meet the 50 lb minimum guarantee with the time left to fish then the guarantee is voided. When there's rain and thunderstorms predicted the time to cancel is the day before the trip or the morning before I leave my house. I must be allowed the full 6 hours of fishing time, in other words.

I don't think this will come up but in case it does, this doesn't mean 50 LBS of fillets, it means 50 LBS of live, still kicking, flopping around fish.

A party has to give me the full 6 hours of fishing time to reach the 50 lb minimum. Boating time and bait catching time doesn't apply towards fishing time also so if you have to go in early then the guarantee doesn't apply. It usually takes about 8 to 9 hours to get 6 hours of fishing time in.

Someone asked if I fillet the fish even if we don't catch the 50 lbs and the answer is, Yes. If you have any questions at all about the guarantee, I encourage you to contact me via tsmith03@sbcglobal.net or call me at (918) 352-2953 or my cell at (918)521-5819

I reserve the right to refuse service for any reason.

Other important information:

Lost fishing poles due to someone letting go of the rod or something like that varies as to the expense required to replace the rod and reel. I use Abu Baitcast reels mostly and some are 6000's and others are 7000's with a few Shakespeare Reels. Rods are the Shakespeare Catfish Rods which are $29 and one Shakespeare Tiger Lite which is $60. The Abu 6000's are $59 and the 7000's are $139. About the only way I'd charge anyone for a rod and reel is if they decided they wanted to try to cast one of the rods and end up throwing the whole rod in the lake and then me not being able to retrieve it. Or if someone was drinking and just let go of the rod while a fish was on. Things like that.

The Deposit of $75 is a fee that is charged so that it will insure that the clients will show up at the designated time. Due to people holding dates for a few months and then canceling the trip just a day or two before the trip, I decided that I had to start charging a deposit because of this as it'd knock me out of 1/3rd of my work week when they did this as there's not enough time to rebook the trip just a day or two in advance so the $75 is forfeit in this situation. Booking fees are forfeit if the trip is cancelled less than 2 weeks in advance of the booking. 

I take off during the summer months from mid May to mid September so that I can rest and heal up. During this time if you wish to go fishing I will take you out but there is no Guarantee during this time period because of the lack of bluecat in the lake. During this time of year it's also all night fishing due to the heat. We'd most likely have to fish for flathead during this time period also. Can't offer the guarantee during this time period Because if I go out and work in the heat of the summer and work my hind end off I'll want to get paid.