Great Day Guide Service

Great Day Guide Service is Captain Tommy Collins’s operation on the lower St. Johns River above Palatka, water he describes as having lived, worked and fished along for his entire life. The trips are bass trips in the traditional Florida sense: wild golden shiners fished for heavy largemouth, with live river shrimp swapped in when the seasonal shrimp run reaches this part of the river. A full day covers six to eight hours at 550 dollars and a half day covers four hours at 450 dollars, each rate written for one or two anglers, with 100 dollars added for every angler past the second. Collins takes the trips himself rather than handing them off, so the boat carries a small party and the day is set by one person’s read of the river. Rates are quoted as flat trip prices, with no separate bait line added on top.