I live in Atlanta Georgia and was thinking about taking a trip to either Florida or Texas to fish with a guide. Can anyone recommend a guide or a specific lake to consider. I will be going in the spring.

Lake Fork in east Texas.  Everyone should fish it at least once.  There are many 'professional' guides to choose from and many more weekenders.  Go to www.lakeforkmarina.com to get a fairly complete list of guides.  Do your research, make some phone calls and talk to some of them and let them know what you expect.  

Without trying to slight any of the pro guides, here are some of the best IMHO:  Tom Redington, Lance Vick, Bryan Douplechain (sp.), John Tanner, Mark Mitchell, Johnny Glass.  There are many other great guides and I know I missed some.  But that will give you a start.  Most of the really good ones will be booking up for spring in the next couple of months.  Make google your friend and type in lake fork guides.

Toledo Bend & Sam Rayburn: Joe Joslin or Stephen Johnson

Imagination Bassin' Guide Services

Stick Marsh/Farm 13 & Ansin/Garcia Reservoir

George Welcome

In Florida, St. Johns River with this guide.  Great opportunity to score a double digit LM.

http://www.bobstonewater.com/index.htm

If you come to central Fl and want to fish Toho or Kissimmee then we can help you out.

FD and warmer's semi professional guide suggestion service complete with a day on board a 15 yr old state of the art (most things work) Stratos that's not so pretty but catches lots of fish.

We have had several guests that seem to have been satisfied.

references

ghoti

K.Fox

GeneinTX

skillet    on second thought don't ask him...

Hey, I live in Atlanta too - curious where you usually fish around here?

Anyway, like you I try to take a trip during the Spring - was also debating this year between Texas and Florida....

Ended up going to Lake Fork (Texas) in Mid-March.....Unfortunately, it was not a very good trip. Weather was great, but my 5 friends and I (in 2 boats, including a professional guide) didn't catch anything on the first day, and caught a total of 4 small bass on the 2nd day. Very, very dissapointing.

I did a lot of research (especially afterward), and feel I should have gone to either Florida or somewhere else in Texas - Like Falcon/Amistad, or Choke Canyon/Sam Rayburn. Lake Fork is beautiful, and you can still catch a monster, but I think it's time has generally passed, and it gets so much pressure in the Spring that it can make for very tough fishing.

To have 6 of us fly to Texas from all over the country, pay a small fortune, fish for 2 full days, and only catch 4 dinks total still hurts.

Just my 2 cents...

BEN

I highly recommend fishing with a guide, it's just a great outing.  First time out with a guide is a crap shoot.  There won't be a second time out with that guide if I don't care for the personality.  If you are going to spend 6-8 hours on the water much of it not catching fish, it's nice to be able to communicate, imo makes for a better trip.

I like to go sight casting with a guide every couple of months.

The closest thing to a sure bet would be fishing Stick Marsh/Farm 13

with George Welcome:

http://imaginationbassin.com/

8-)

Lake Fork in east Texas. Everyone should fish it at least once. There are many 'professional' guides to choose from and many more weekenders. Go to www.lakeforkmarina.com to get a fairly complete list of guides. Do your research, make some phone calls and talk to some of them and let them know what you expect.

Without trying to slight any of the pro guides, here are some of the best IMHO: Tom Redington, Lance Vick, Bryan Douplechain (sp.), John Tanner, Mark Mitchell, Johnny Glass. There are many other great guides and I know I missed some. But that will give you a start. Most of the really good ones will be booking up for spring in the next couple of months. Make google your friend and type in lake fork guides.

Avoid Ritchie White if you are looking for versatility. He will only put you on bedding fish. You'll catch the same fish as his last client and if it's muddy, forget it. When we hired him, he was incapable of getting us on the fish the other guides were putting people on out on the main lake. He's very internet savvy so he seems to be very prevalent but I would go with one of the guides mentioned in the above quote first.

I got my $ back, but still....I didn't catch fish at Lake Fork

If you guys want something a bit closer, Lake Guntersville is absolutely on fire these days. You can easily catch 60-75 or more fish in a day or go after some big ones if you are more interested in quality over quantity. I really don't know if there is any place that can compete with Guntersville these days. There are a number of quality guides that can put you on the fish any day of the week.