Why Pay for a Professional Fishing Guide???

By Dick Baker, Hawkeye Hunting and Fishing News Dec. 2008

Every spring I spend the second week of May at Ames Farm Camps on the west shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. The entire week is spent catching salmon and lakers in preparation for the Winni Salmon Derby. My son Dave and I have our own boat and we always catch fish. So, when I told Dave that I had chartered a guide for Monday morning, he was doubtful. “That’s going to cost us 300 bucks! Tell me why.”

Why? In the first place, fishing out of our 18 foot Starcraft means that two of us have to control the boat and tend to the gear. Typical Winnipesaukee weather is windy and rainy. We fish only with live shiners so one person captains the boat while the other is responsible for two downriggers and two flat lines. We catch fish because we are constantly monitoring location, wind, depth, speed (slow), and distance on the flat lines. Each bait has to be checked regularly as shiners don’t live for more than a half hour when dragged on the end of a hook. Trolling a lifeless shiner can be a waste of time. We love to do it but it’s not relaxing.

On a charter, however, I have no qualms about letting the captain do all the work so that I can simply fight fish and take pictures. Most important is that these guys know the water and they hook fish. It can be expensive but it’s fun, relaxing, and educational.

It’s a learning experience. These pros know the lake and love to share their experience and teach you how to fish. I was taught to fish Winni by one of the best of the old-timers, but Winni is a huge body of water and fish move around a lot. We often meet first timers who come in fishless for days on end.

If you don’t catch salmon on Winnipesaukee, you’re doing something wrong! You probably need to hire a guide for a day. I’ve never spent a week fishing a big lake without chartering a professional for the first day. Why pay hundreds of dollars for license, food, lodging and fuel and spend days trying to locate fish?         

Anyway, at 5:00 a.m., a nice-looking Grady White pulled up to the dock next to our boat and Adrien Lavoie introduced himself. I’d asked around and was told that “YOAdrien” Charters was the best. Adrien also introduced us to Jack, who would share our morning charter. Jack was a first-time salmon fisherman and had been told that Adrien caught lots of fish on Winnipesaukee.

There was no sunrise between Rattlesnake and Diamond Islands. It was rain and fog for the entire morning. Adrien powered the boat directly for the south end of Rattlesnake Island and set the gear out as if he had done it a thousand times. All the while he kept up a friendly chatter of fish and Winni stories. It took him awhile to set all the lines because we kept stopping to reel in salmon and rainbows. I don’t think we went for more than 15 minutes without hooking a fish. When we ended the morning we had boated 37 salmon and rainbows and lost many. That’s more than I’ve even caught in one day! Adrien seemed to think it was just  a “good” day. The trip cost three of us $100 each but it was a super fishing experience. And, I learned a few tricks that I planned to use during the Salmon Derby.

Now, ice fishing should be a different matter. I have my own ice fishing gear and think I know my stuff. Anyone should be able to poke a few holes in hard water and catch fish. All you need is a sled and some warm clothes. So, when I told Dave that I had hired YoAdrien Charters to take me ice fishing on Winni, he was incredulous! “Dad, I’ll freeze with you for free but I’ll be darned if I’ll pay to suffer.”

I drove south the day before Easter and met Adrien at 7 a.m., in front of A.J.’s Bait and Tackle in Meredith. Adrien had a big white Chevy ¾ ton with a Ski Doo and two big sleds mounted on a high rack in the bed. He introduced me to his good friend, Dan, a professional pilot and super friendly guy. Adrien had already purchased some of A.J.’s best shiners so we loaded my pack basket and drove to a boat landing out on Meredith Neck.

In no time Adrien had the snow machine unloaded and the two sleds tethered in tandem behind it. I slipped behind him on the machine and Dan sat in the rear sled on a huge blue bean bag. Adrien traversed the lake for about 10 minutes but I didn’t have the slightest idea where we were. It was one of his secret spots and I will never be able to find it myself. He did, however, point out a couple of spots near the launch site “that would always produce some fish.” That’s why you hire a pro, because this winter I will fish those easy access spots and slowly expand my terrain until I find Adrien’s “secret spot.”

Adrien uncovered sled number one and pulled out the power auger and set up three high-backed swivel seats. While I poured some coffee and opened the donuts, Adrien drilled triangular groups of holes scattered over a couple hundreds yards of lake. Dan followed and skimmed out the holes. It was cold and windy but Adrien had chosen this spot because it was sunny and protected from the north wind. I was on my second donut when Adrien and Dan came back to base camp. Adrien held up two graphite jig rods and asked me to choose my weapon of the day. One was armed with a bright yellow jig with gold tinsel and the other a pretty blue and white bucktail. I liked the blue and white one. He attached a slim piece of sucker belly to each jig and told us to jig it just off the bottom.

Dan had jigged before so he was kind enough to show me the technique of bouncing the jig a few inches off the bottom. A few minutes later Dan’s rod doubled over and he fought a nice two pound laker from 30 feet of water. Ten minutes later he did the same thing. Adrien told me it was time to change and he tied one of the yellow jigs on my rod. Fifteen minutes later I had a hit and pulled up a rotund one pound white perch.

We were at this area because I told Adrien that I wanted to eat some of Winni’s big white perch. I grew up in Maine where my Grampa was the local perch expert. He convinced me that big white perch produced fillets that were “way better than those bony salmon and stinky  togue.” Now that I live in northern New Hampshire, I have learned to love salmon and trout but I miss the white perch.

Adrien is a kinetic character and was constantly afoot or running the snow machine to check the bait on tip-ups or moving them to new locations. At each of the three holes he set one of the tip-ups. When we got a flag we would check the hole with his Lowrance fish finder. Perch move around in dense schools so we were hoping to find the schools with the tipups and then jig the adjoining holes until the perch moved. Adrien told of times when they had caught 30 or 40 monster perch at just one set of holes.

Well, we didn’t discover the “honey hole” but we caught lakers and perch at each of Adrien’s selected locations. We caught perch and a bunch of 2-4 pound lakers. Adrien had brought along a popup bobhouse in case it was too cold but the sky was clear and the breeze moderate. We hopped from flag to flag and jigged a few more fish at each location. It was fun and we were never bored. We fished until 2:00 p.m. We had a half-dozen big white perch and released 23 lakers. That’s more lakers than I have ever seen in a day on the ice!

 Maybe my photos will temp Dave and his friends this winter. If not, I’ll be on my own with YoAdrien, again.