I spent 8 hours on a boat with a buddy and the local guide up there, Lance.  We didn't do as well as we had hoped, but it wasn't a bad day.  I had 14 fish, smallies, a rock bass, a walleye, and a couple big fall fish.

I had the 4 biggest smallies on the boat, 16", 17.5" and two 18".  The hot lure of the day was DEFINATELY a hot steel  Rapala,  x-rap version.  The stop and go jerking motion lit them up.  I have used that pattern on two different rivers with great success for smallmouth, so it is worth checking out. 
 
PS: the guide was pretty unproffessional.  For $200 you basically get to go fishing with him, he doesn't guide you.  I would point out a good spot and he would smugly tell me there are no fish there.  After ****ing at him, he would move and I would slam 2-3 fish immediately.  Suddenly, the boat would turn around and he would point himself into the hole and me out into the river.  what the hell is that/??  he isthe guide and not only does fish the whole time, but he turns me out of the fish for his own benefit.  He is a tool...... 80% of our fish were caught from holes I pointed out and I am the one that suggested we use the Hot steel rapalas....

Ummm, why didn't your buddy and you just go yourself?  Or I could have took you and your buddy out for channel catfish for $50 LOL
 
On guide ethics...IMO He shouldn't have been even throwing a line at all in the water, it's his "job" to make sure you have a good day and catch fish. Another biggy is he shouldn't have gotten smart with you (I'll take it you asked him nicely first about a nice spot you liked to try)

just think trash... you could have bought a digital with that 200 dollars and had pics for us to see... reports suck without em

I went with the guide b/c my distributor was paying for it and we dont have a boat for that shallow area up there.

I asked the guy very nicely for anything I wanted and never got lippy with him, just persistant and explained why I thought it would be a good spot. 
 
I do have pics, but I dont really know how to post them.  I know you gotta do something with photobucket.

re size to around 400 x 600... upload to photobucket... copy the img code beneath pic and paste into message... make the capped IMG to lowercase img... preview before posting to assure pics are there... very simple

Here are my three nicest fish of the day.  Hope you like'em  two 18" and a 17.5".  The heaviest was the 17.5" fish. 
 
Oh, and please bear witness to my floppy fishing hat of power. haha
 

 

 

 
 

Nice fish

Did the guide ask you if he could fish?   The guide should be more concerned about your happiness than casting a line......just my thought........guess he won't be getting any repeat business from you........the second fish is a hawg......look at that belly !!!  nice fish
 
 

sounds like a frustrating trip... especially when you can read the water better then the guy driving the boat

The guy that booked the trip told Lance on the phone that he could fish, after lance asked him to.  When we got there, we both expressed our desire to catch atleast 10 fish before he started fishing, but he had a lure in the water before I did and he jumped out to a 9-1 lead on me. 
 
I am not a petty guy, but him refusing to go where the client politely requests to go is annoying, and making us float for 45 mins through deep slack water without a bite, after catching multiple fish in a current break is ridiculous.  It was like he avoided floating through the area too many times so that we would catch all the fish and hurt his next day's numbers..... 

The guy is nice as hell as long as you don't mind him fishing and you don't step on his ego by showing him up.  but isn't that kinda the opposite of what a guide should do and be?