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Do you tip rental fish house operators??


BLACKJACK

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Several times a year I rent a sleeper house and always wonder whether I should tip, how much, etc. Is it like eating at a restaurant where its a 15% tip, more if you like the service, less if you don't like the service?? Does your success (or failure) fishing factor into how much you tip?? 

 

What do you do?? Do you always leave a tip?? How much?? 

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yes and I'd base it on either how hard they work, how personable they are, and fishing success last.  

many times the guide can't find the fish or game but they can always have a great attitude and make lemonade out of lemons.  That should be rewarded.

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I've tipped and not tipped.  It is usually based on the performance of the outfitters and not based on fishing results.

I've rented from some outfitters on various different lakes around the state and was handed a map when checking in so I could find the house and then only checked on once during the weekend.  That doesn't earn a tip as they did the absolute minimum, essentially i paid for a place to sleep and that's all they provided.

Other times I've been escorted to the rental house at check in, was checked on several times and asked if we needed anything, been offered a chance to move the house, etc.  That earns a tip as they worked hard to provide me with more than just a place to sleep.  

The amount usually varies but I try to get it into the hand of the guy who was there checking on me and doing the work.  Often times the guy that checks on you throughout the weekend might be one of the hired help.  Then on check out you see the owner for the first or second time.  I don't want the tip going to him as the hired help was the guy running around checking on us, moving the house, messing with the propane tank while its -25 degrees. He's the one that I want my tip going to.

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39 minutes ago, chasineyes said:

Why would you?  Do you tip your accountant if he finds and extra hundo?  Do you tip your subway sandwich maker?  How about your Holiday gas station clerk?  Seriously, we now need to consider tipping folks who rent out a fishouse...

you don't need to consider it because it's been standard courtesy for longer than we've both been alive.  Tipping any guide type person is the norm, not tipping them is stiffing them.  Waiter staff, bartenders, guides, luggage handlers all get tips.  Feel free to re-create the wheel but it's the way it is.  Tipping the people you mentioned is not normal so feel free not to tip them but tip the others.  That's our tip for the day!

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I can see both sides of this when talking about guys that rent houses.  It really depends on who you rent from and what service they provide like I mentioned earlier. 

If I go to a hotel I'm not going to tip the person and the front desk that hands me my key and says have a good weekend.  For that reason I'm also not going to tip the outfitter that just points to the house and says have a good weekend.  

If there is someone out there working on my behalf busting his but to make sure I have a good weekend then a tip is in order.

Honestly between all the outfitters I've used over the years I've experienced more that didn't do anything to earn a tip than anything.  Some of them I've used more than once and some have earned a tip one time and then next time they didn't.  For me the normal experience has been for them to point me to my house and then swing by to pick up garbage once on Saturday night, and thats it.  More often than not that has been my experience and doesn't justify a tip in my mind.

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1 hour ago, leechlake said:

you don't need to consider it because it's been standard courtesy for longer than we've both been alive.  Tipping any guide type person is the norm, not tipping them is stiffing them.  Waiter staff, bartenders, guides, luggage handlers all get tips.  Feel free to re-create the wheel but it's the way it is.  Tipping the people you mentioned is not normal so feel free not to tip them but tip the others.  That's our tip for the day!

As a side note, I've heard that the trend in some restaurants is to eliminate tipping but then they just raise the prices on the menu. Not sure I like that idea because I like my tip to show whether I liked the service or not. Went out to a new place on New Years, food was very good, service was great, people were nice, I left a 30% tip. 

1 hour ago, chasineyes said:

Why would you?  Do you tip your accountant if he finds and extra hundo?  Do you tip your subway sandwich maker?  How about your Holiday gas station clerk?  Seriously, we now need to consider tipping folks who rent out a fishouse...

You are correct in some of the people you mentioned, they don't get tips, but as Leech mentioned, some jobs its common courtesy to tip - waiters, bartenders, fishing and hunting guides.  A rental fishhouse guy is part hotel manager and part guide, thats why I asked the question. They try to put the houses on fish because if people catch fish they'll be happy and will come back.  But maybe the case of beer I had during the day affected the fishing....

I've never tipped in the past but I've also never rented a house where I can say I've had great fishing, most times we're lucky to catch enough for an on ice meal. I'm going up to the Red this weekend, trying a new outfitter, should I tip him or not?? Maybe if I tip him he'll try harder next time, offer to move us, etc.

What comes first, the tip and good fishing or good fishing and the tip??

Thanks for the input.

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Let us know if you like Greater MN Rentals.  I considered them for a trip to Red last year, but went with another outfitter. GMRs houses sure look nice though.

As for tipping, I don't go on too many of these trips, so I don't have a lot of experience. Rented a sleeper on Red last year, fully intending to leave a tip at the end. But basically it was a situation where you followed them to the house, they popped their head in once during the weekend to make sure we were still alive, and that was it. I wasn't necessarily disappointed in that, as I tend to go on these trips to get away from things, not get a new best friend, but I didn't see anything that justified a tip, and the guy was nowhere to be found on the last day to give him one. The only thing I would say is to base your tip on their effort, not on the bite, which is out of their control.

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20 hours ago, rl_sd said:

 

Just out of curiousity... which outfitter are you going with? We will be up there in a few weeks and will be going through Greater MN Rentals

I will let you know when I get back next week :) who knows, maybe he's reading this, hate to bias his service.

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On 1/27/2016 at 9:30 AM, chasineyes said:

Why would you?  Do you tip your accountant if he finds and extra hundo?  Do you tip your subway sandwich maker?  How about your Holiday gas station clerk?  Seriously, we now need to consider tipping folks who rent out a fishouse...

I'm with you...however, I tip in most "tipping" scenarios. But, my tips hardly ever reach 20% anymore and never guaranteed.  I'll also only tip servers, taxi ( $1-2 only), delivery guy if no delivery charge, hair stylist...mmm that might be it. Sleep shack rental no way. One on one guide might get a tip if a fun trip but only 5-10%. People need to earn tips, you shouldn't have to ask...tips are "mandatory."

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rl_sd,

The outfitter on Red that we used was Bear Paw.  I'll write more on the Upper Red Lake forum but sticking with the theme of this post I did end up tipping them because:

1) they moved our house the second day when fishing was slow the first day

2) the fishing was lots better after the move!!! :)

3) they guided us off the lake (or at least to the main road) in the dense fog Sunday morning.

 

I'll be renting from them next year. 

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2 minutes ago, BLACKJACK said:

rl_sd,

The outfitter on Red that we used was Bear Paw.  I'll write more on the Upper Red Lake forum but sticking with the theme of this post I did end up tipping them because:

1) they moved our house the second day when fishing was slow the first day

2) the fishing was lots better after the move!!! :)

3) they guided us off the lake (or at least to the main road) in the dense fog Sunday morning.

 

I'll be renting from them next year. 

Sounds like a tip was warranted in that case.  I assume you had a good weekend.

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11 minutes ago, nofishfisherman said:

Sounds like a tip was warranted in that case.  I assume you had a good weekend.

A bad day of fishing is always better than a good day at work :)

Since I can't get logged into the 'new, improved' Upper Red Lake forum, here is my report:

 

As I mentioned above, fishing was slow on Friday, one keeper over 15 inches and 5 dink walleyes. We weren't even marking fish. Steve from Bear Paw showed up Sat morning and when he heard our report he said "we'll move you".  We were fishing again by 12:30, in the first hour we caught two keepers. Slowed down a little but then from 3-7 we had fairly steady action, ended up catching 14 nice fish after the move, most in the 14.5 to 17 range with only one over, a 17.5 incher.  Once we had our limit we played catch and release for awhile, cleaned our fish and had a nice fish boil, went to bed. Over night things slowed down, only two rattle reels went off, caught one more walleye.  Early Sunday caught a couple more walleyes and a dandy Red Lake crappie. Best luck was on dead sticks and rattle reels, I didn't catch a fish jigging all weekend!!! Plain hook and a fat head were ok but had the best luck on a glow jig in plain white with a fathead. Had silver and rainbow shiners with but they weren't any better than fatheads.

The move and good fishing afterwards definitely made our weekend!!!

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