Our guide was very kind which is why this is a hard review to write, but unfortunately, I did not have a good experience on this trip.
The guide was great with my son, which was a joy to watch, and I am thankful for it. But there were two anglers in that boat, and he was not able to give instruction to the front and the back seat. I had to ask him a dozen times for guidance until I finally started doing my own thing. He kept saying “the back of the boat sucks”. I’ve been on dozens of float trips, and although the back definitely has its downfalls, that is no reason to withhold guidance, and ive always enjoyed the trip no matter.
He would repeatedly say things like, “(my son’s name), throw in over there” knowing I could not see or know where “there” was. I don’t know if it was intentional, but whether he didn’t like me or just couldn’t instruct both seats, neither are really acceptable reasons to not guide on a “guided” float trip. In truth, after asking so many times for instruction, I felt invisible. It was the most frustrating trip I’ve ever been on. We’ve taken guided float and wade trips all over the country, and it’s never about how many fish you catch. My favorite trip we caught the smallest fish and only a few between the two of us, but the guide made us feel heard, he taught us what he knew about the river, and we became better anglers because of him.
If I had known the trip would have been for 1 angler, I would have stayed home. I actually texted my husband to possibly pick me up at lunch. Granted, it was a windy, an extremely hot day and the fish turned off early, but none of those factors are controllable. The guides inaction was. Even after the worst float, I was kind, tipped him, and dropped over $800 for the two of us. There are two sides to every story, but as a customer, I felt robbed of my time, a Madison experience, and money.
