Do I Need A Guide’s License to Show People Where and How to Fish?

June 5, 2008

Question: Do I need a guide’s license if I take people out in the ocean in kayaks and show them where and how to fish?

Answer: If you are physically there and are charging the people for your service to show them where or how to fish and receiving any compensation at all, you must first secure a guide license from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG). The cost is $177.75 per year for a California resident.

The official definition of a “Guide” is, “Any person who is engaged in the business of packing or guiding, or who, for compensation, assists another person in taking or attempting to take any bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile. “Guide” also includes “Any person who, for profit, transports other persons, their equipment, or both to or from hunting or fishing areas.”

If you merely rent the kayaks to the people fishing, and point to an area or tell them where to go, then you are not guiding them and do not need a guide license.