In the words of Lake Erie fishing guide Tom Guy, every charter trip ought to begin, play out and end with one thing in abundance: guests and hosts having fun.
And it’s that enjoyment factor that keeps him and his brother on the big water day after day all summer long.
Guy brothers
Tim and Ed Guy are about as close as brothers can be, and it shows while setting trolling lines, navigating an agreed-on course, selecting lures and, well, all the things that successful walleye charter guides do in their efforts to get guests and walleyes on opposite ends of the fishing rods.
How close are Tim and Ed Guy?
Put it this way, one can finish the other’s sentences, they each know what the other is thinking, what he is going to do next and darn near anything and everything else.
The Guy brothers operate G&G Charter service, running out of Fairport Harbor, a labor of love for the inseparable pair.
While their Lake Erie fishing experience is based on shared lifetimes of baiting hooks and chasing fish, it’s their more recent success entertaining clients that is a professional adventure they seem quite suited for.
The Guy brothers recently upgraded to a 30-foot boat, giving their clients plenty of fishing room and more all-around comfort.
I spent a few hours with the Guys last week as we plied the Fairport waters in search of Erie’s zillion walleyes, a nice opportunity to become acquainted with two friendly and accomplished fellows.
It was also a chance to explore their well-kept and carefully organized craft with the added bonus of landing a quick mess of chunky walleyes.
“We really got an education when we started chartering several years ago when the fishing was tough,” said Ed Guy, describing lots of slow days and long searches for willing walleyes.
But from those hard times came the skills they now apply every day.
Currently, Lake Erie is riding on the back of so many walleyes that it’s almost hard not to catch a limit.
But lessons learned and skills honed are what makes fishing look easy.
Tim Guy described some of those well-earned lessons.
Plan
He said that to be consistently successful, it takes putting together a good plan, which includes not only locating a school of fish but getting the right baits at the right depth and at the right speed.
“We try to be precise by doing everything, including calibrating our reels,” said Tim Guy, meaning being certain that each line counter matches exactly a length of measured fishing line.
I found it interesting to learn that although the Guys are set up for trolling the big waters of the area, just as nearly all area charters are, they always try to give customers what they want.
On this same day just hours earlier, they had put a group of dedicated cast and drift anglers over a school of fish, allowing them to fill out their limits the way they wanted to.
Tim Guy said that several of their regulars enjoy casting for a while then changing to trolling for the rest of the trip.
When asked about expectations, Tim started — and Ed finished: Customers should expect to have fun.
It’s just that simple, they agreed. Not limits, not trophies and not sunny skies, just a day of great memories.
And too, it was refreshing to find the Guy brothers receptive to allowing customers to be as involved as they would like.
It’s all about them, said both brothers.
Area experts are betting that the walleye fishing out of Fairport will stay extremely good all summer long.
Just a few years ago, Fairport was considered a primo central basin port.
Indeed these are the good old days all over again — maybe better.
For more information, contact Tim or Ed Guy at GandGsportfishing.com, or call 440-223-3243.
