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Originally Posted by Fog Ducker  when it comes to fishing and catching i like his style and technique but i started watching because it is called dollar wise, no bargains here. |
Before I say anything, I need to disclose that I run Conway Bowman's guide website (
BowmanBluewater.com) and also Capt. Gregg Arnold's website (
FishInTheLandOfGiants.com) (Capt. Gregg is the person who shuttled Conway around). But I have nothing to do with the Dollar-Wise Fly show, and I've never talked about specific episodes of the show with Conway, just about the show concept before the show was filmed.
So..I'd have to say that you guys got the right impression of Conway from the show. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met, and something very rare in the outdoor TV world - an excellent fisherman without a big ego. He knows his stuff, and doesn't make a big deal about it. He's working the Fred Hall Show in Del Mar today - if you haven't been to the show yet, go and stop by the booth. As someone mentioned earlier, he is going to be at the Fishermen's Spot in Van Nuys (San Fernando Valley area of LA) in April, talking about his favorite topic - mako shark fishing on the fly.
On the issue of the costs, the intent of the series is to show how you can get to world-class fly fishing while saving some bucks. It's not meant to show you what the cheapest kind of fishing is in a particular area. Don't forget that those numbers include airfare, rental car & gas, meals, lodging, and the fishing. If you were to price it out for a regular guide trip the that area:
Airfare: $300 round-trip from SD to NO
Lodging: $300 (3 nights, $80/night, plus tax) <= this could be way low
Food: $ 75 (3 days at $25/day)
Rental car: $260 (4 days, $220 + $40 fill-up)
Guide: $1,600 (3 days, $500/day, $100 tip)
Total: $2,535
So Conway's costs came in at about 1/2 what it would cost normally (for one person).
If you went with two people, and added the cost of the extra airfare and food, and assumed you'd split the single room, rental car and the guide, the total cost comes out to $2,910, or $1,455 /person, which is a couple of hundred more than Conway's trip for one.
If you had two people doing the kayak trip with the same split of the room and rental car, the cost would drop to around $1000/person, so you'd save about $450/person.
As for Capt. Gregg's day rate ($550), it's not out of line for the area and the type of fishing they do. As one of the other people mentioned earlier, he got a guide for $450/day. Keep in mind that Capt. Gregg has guided clients to 5 fly rod world records, and several state records. A couple of years ago, in one season, Gregg had 300+ fish over 20, 53 fish over 30, 5 over 40, and 3 over 50lbs (not all on fly). So his clients feel he's worth the extra cost.
You can't really compare what Capt. Walker does to what Capt Arnold does. They are two totally different types of fishing. Capt. Arnold normally poles that skiff with two people all over the place, in wind and current, so believe me, he earns the money.
The $200/day shuttle fee for the kayak includes Gregg taking you to spots that will hold fish, and giving you advice on how to fish it. This is not the type of fishing where you can paddle out from the boat rental place and catch fish. The areas they are fishing are over 20 miles away from the boat ramp. Gregg knows the spots, what tides to fish on, how the fish will behave, etc. So again...it seems worth it to me.
Gregg's boat is a Hell's Bay flats skiff, which is one of those specialty boats designed to run in as little water as possible. It's looks like an inexpensive little skiff, but it was made using all composite materials, is super light, and is actually a very expensive hull for it's size range.
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