You enjoy fishing on the weekends or your vacation and have been reading and watching videos from a famous catfish fishery. You think this would be a great fishing trip and really want to go try this new body of water, but it is not exactly close to where you live.

You start to figure out some of the costs. You know you want to have the best possible time and the most fishing success you can, but you also would like to have the best trip you can on a budget.

Why should I hire a guide?

Some basic reasons to hire a guide, especially if you have never been to a body of water before, are to get first-hand experience of the body of water; the homework is done and the guide should know most of the fishing spots, eliminating the learning curve for you. They might also save you money in the long run versus pulling your own boat a long distance for a do-it-yourself trip.

If you don’t own your own boat or truck and just like going on a catfish trip or two per year, consider guides instead of owning your own equipment to drag around the country. This can save you a small fortune in cost and insurance over time.

Time considerations

If you are like most people, you are on a limited time schedule and you want to make the most of it. If you go with a guide, you will have to calculate time for travel and the actual fishing.

For example, I have many customers that live 300 to 500 miles away who hire me to fish. Figuring interstate highways, their travel can range from just over four hours to as much as seven hours or more, meaning the better part of a day to and from the body of water. This time does not change if you are driving to meet a guide or fish on your own.

If you plan to bring a boat for a do-it-yourself, you also have to calculate packing time of gear and supplies, as well as making sure your truck and trailer are in good traveling condition to make the trip. This can add many hours in preparation. You will also have to clean out and wash everything once you return home.

Another time consideration is that if you are fishing on your own, you have no time limit to fishing. You can fish day and night for the duration of your trip if you wish, whereas if you fish with a guide, you have a set time limit to fish each day. Of course, fishing time can be negotiated with some guides if you desire to fish longer.

Another huge time factor is collecting bait. In many places, you must catch your own bait. This can suck up a lot of your fishing time. A good guide will already have the bait on board and ready to fish.

Financial considerations

Hiring a guide, based on research conducted in late 2024 on many top catfish guides around the nation, you will be paying $550 to $700 per full day of fishing. Full days range from six to eight hours, depending on the guide you choose. This fee includes a nice boat, fishing gear, bait, and knowledge of the body of water.

Buying your own boat and gear

Let’s be real here. Just going out and buying a new boat, truck, fishing electronics and fishing gear quickly gets expensive. You can buy used for a few thousand dollars, but figure that you really should buy quality equipment and vehicles that are five years old or less.

A full-sized truck that is a 2017 or newer costs between $35,000 and $70,000. Likewise, a newer 18- to 20-foot boat with a 115- to 300-horse outboard now runs $20,000 to well over $100,000. Then you must rig electronics and other boating gear. Average truck insurance costs $1,200 or more annually, with boat insurance running $500 or more annually, depending on the value of the boat.

You still need fishing gear for you and your group. A quality catfish rig starts at about $150 for the rod and reel and goes up from there, depending on what you buy.

If you don’t plan to fish more than 20 times per year, the math on all this really does not add up. You can go on a lot of nice trips with guides if you don’t fish very often and don’t have the expenses of a boat and truck, as well as the insurance and maintenance costs associated with that ownership.

Travel expenses

If you hire a guide and only drive a mid-sized car for a 500-mile trip, figuring 25 miles per gallon and gas at $2.69 (average price on June 3, 2025), on average you will spend approximately $111.60.

If you plan to pull a boat that you already own, it will still take a truck to pull it. Both must be in working order and insured, which costs money. Figuring in travel of 500 miles at ten miles per gallon with gas at $2.69 (Average price on June 3, 2025), that will run about $279 round trip.

You will also have the expense of hotels for whichever method you plan to fish. Hotels these days can range from $100 per night to $250 and beyond.

So, should you hire a guide?

That is still up to you. When you figure in the travel expenses and expenses of owning a boat and truck, hiring a guide looks pretty inexpensive.

A guide provides knowledge and services without the headache of finding bait and patterning fish. Their entire goal in a day is for you to be successful and have fun while they take all the financial risk to provide that trip.

Hiring a guide is a quick and easy way to fish that long-awaited body of water and enjoy your friends and family without the headaches of being the guide yourself. It is also a great way to learn new techniques and methods that you can take home with you for the next time you fish on your own.

For more insight and tips on how to make the most of the time you spend fishing, check out the articles in every issue of MidWest Outdoors, available by subscribing on our website.