Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Klaus.
Hi Cody, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been fishing since I was able to hold a rod and reel in my hands and have always had a love for being out on the water. When I got to high school, I started getting interested in bow hunting and bought a bow. As I was watching bow hunting videos, I came across some bowFISHING videos. Bowfishing combined two of my favorite things together, so I went out and bought a bowfishing reel and put it on my bow. From there, my love for the sport exploded, and before I knew it, I had a boat with a shooting platform mounted to the front, giant spotlights, a generator to run them, and several other bows. One of my favorite things to do was to bring friends with me that had never experienced bowfishing. I loved doing this because watching them shoot their first fish was amazing – they would be so excited! So now, ten years later, I still love showing people the excitement that bowfishing can bring and have started a guide service to be able to provide that for people.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
After the first 16 months of having the business, things were very smooth. But those first 16 months came with some pretty big challenges.
I launched my guide service in February of 2020, and as we all know now, the entire country would begin to shut down the very next month. In Minnesota, there were restrictions for fishing guides. For a while, guides weren’t allowed to operate at all. Eventually, those bans started getting lifted, and I was able to finish out the season guiding.
Then about a year later in May 2021, as I was getting my boat ready for the guiding season, I found some MAJOR, completely unexpected issues with my boat that made it completely inoperable. With clients already booked in the calendar, I had to scramble to find another boat before their trips started. Thankfully, with only four days left before the first guide trip of the year, I was able to find and buy a boat – just in time!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I own and operate Playin’ Hooky Guide Service. Our main focus is getting folks into the outdoors, specifically by getting them on the water. We specialize in guiding bowfishing trips and musky fishing trips, but are most known for out bowfishing trips.
All of our guides are licensed USCG captains, which is something that sets us apart from other bowfishing guide services in Minnesota. This allows us to legally guide on any Minnesota waters, including those that are considered “US Navigable Waters”, which someone without their captain’s license could not guide on those waters.
We are proud to report that in our first season of guiding, every single client that booked with us were able to harvest fish, in other words, we had a 100% success rate for 2021! That is great news for folks wanting to book a guide trip with us, but also for the waterways we are using, as most of the fish we are harvesting are invasive species and actually harm the aquatic ecosystems they are in.
I want folks to know that, no matter what their skill level, they are more than welcome to join us out on the water for a guided fishing or bowfishing trip. We often have guests that have never picked up a bow or a rod and reel before, but by the end of the trip, they are very comfortable with the equipment and are having a great time. I, myself, find a lot of peace and healing when I am outdoors, on the water, and I want to share that with as many people as I can!
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Number one for me is the Bible. I base my entire life on that book. Aside from that, the book “H3 Leadership” by Brad Lomenick helped me a ton on the leadership/ business side of things. As far as podcasts go, “Back Lash Podcast” and “Musky 360 Podcast” have helped improve my skills as a musky fishing guide. I also started my own podcast called the “Playin’ Hooky Bowfishing Podcast”. The folks I have interviewed for that have helped improve my skills as a bowfishing guide.
Pricing:
- $150/ person: four-hour guided bowfishing trip
- $225/ person: six-hour guided bowfishing trip
- $225/ trip: five-hour guided river musky fishing trip (1-2 persons)
- $350/ trip: eight-hour guided river musky fishing trip (1-2 persons)
Contact Info:
- Email: playinhookyguides@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.playinhookyguideservice.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playin_hooky_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playinhookyguide
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3mcZXcIxVJ0_xSjecpjf1w
- Other: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1933592.rss
