The Client FAQ Page Template

A client who fishes both state and federal waters in one day cannot add the two bag limits together. The regulation says so directly, and it is the sort of answer a client FAQ exists to give before somebody is standing on a dock holding a fish.

Which is the useful test for the whole page: does it answer the question at the moment the client is actually asking it, which is weeks before the trip. Most of what belongs on a guide's FAQ is operational and specific to you. A few items are governed by rules you can point at, and pointing at them is more persuasive than asserting them. Below the general applicability provisions for bag and possession limits are read from the regulation as one worked example, then the page follows question by question. Fishery rules change every season, so verify the exact current position with the managing agency before relying on any of it. Nothing here is legal advice. Neighbouring templates sit at the running the business hub.

Can a client combine two bag limits?

No, and the regulation is explicit about it.

Section 622.11(a)(1) of Title 50 provides that a person who fishes in the exclusive economic zone may not combine a bag limit specified in the relevant subparts with a bag or possession limit applicable to state waters.

It also sets out how the limits work generally: unless specified otherwise, bag limits apply to a person on a daily basis regardless of the number of trips in a day, and a person is limited to a single bag limit for a trip lasting longer than one calendar day.

Possession limits, unless specified otherwise, apply to a person on a trip after the first twenty four hours of that trip.

And the paragraph adds a point that catches operations holding a commercial permit: notwithstanding the possession of such a permit, the bag and possession limits apply when the vessel is operating as a charter vessel or headboat.

Part 622 is carried on the eCFR.

Where the state and federal split sits generally is covered in the federal and state piece.

Fly Fish Estes Park, CO

Why does that belong on an FAQ?

Because it is the question that produces a bad conversation on the water.

A client who has read that a species has one limit in state waters and another in federal waters will reasonably assume the day's total is the sum, and the regulation says it is not.

Which is a conversation far better had in writing, weeks in advance, than at the moment somebody wants to put a fish in the box.

The FAQ does not need to state the limits, which change and which vary by species and by water, and stating them would date the page within a season.

What it needs is to say that limits are set by whichever authority governs the water you fish, that they do not combine, and that you will explain what applies on the day.

That answer is durable, accurate and removes the argument.

Why the release position deserves its own answer is covered in the catch and release piece.

Montana Guided, MT

What are the eight questions?

The same eight, on almost every water.

Do I need a licence, and can you sell me one. What time do we start and how long is a day. What should I bring, and what do you provide. Can we keep fish. What happens if the weather is bad. How do I pay and what is the cancellation position. Are children welcome and from what age. And how many people fit in the boat.

Those eight cover the overwhelming majority of pre-trip enquiries, and any operation that has run a season can confirm the list from its own inbox.

Which is the right way to build the page: read your last fifty enquiries and count.

Adding questions nobody asks makes the page longer and less useful, and the temptation is strong because a longer page feels more complete.

Eight answers, each two or three sentences, is the whole document.

What the intake form should collect instead is covered in the intake form piece.

How should the licence answer read?

Definite about the requirement, and specific about the route.

The client wants to know two things: whether they need one, and how to get it without a phone call.

Answer: Yes, everybody fishing needs a valid licence for the state we are fishing, and you can buy one online in about five minutes. Here is the link. If we are out for more than one day, make sure it covers the whole period rather than a single day.

What the answer should not do is describe the licence categories, since that is the agency's job and the categories change.

Whether you may sell one yourself differs by state, so settle that once and keep the sentence ready rather than looking it up each spring.

And call the agency to check the exact current position each winter, because last season's answer is not evidence of this season's.

Who needs one and in whose name is the client licence piece.

How should the weather answer read?

Four scenarios, one line each, and who decides.

Rain: we fish. Wind above a level you name: I make the call. Lightning: we sit it out or come off. Unfishable water: I move the day or refund it.

Then the sentence that prevents the argument: the decision is mine, I make it by a stated hour the evening before, and I telephone either way.

That is five lines and it removes the most common source of pre-trip anxiety and post-trip dispute in one go.

Naming a wind speed is optional and helps, because it converts a judgment into something the client can look up themselves.

What it must not do is leave the impression that the client shares the decision.

How that call should be delivered is covered in the weather cancellation piece.

How should the money answers read?

As figures, with dates.

The rate for each product as a number, the deposit as a number, when the balance is taken, and the cancellation ladder in dollars against the total rather than as percentages.

Answer: A full day is $650 and a half day is $425. A $200 deposit holds the date and the balance comes off the card the day before. Cancel more than thirty days out and the deposit is returned in full; between fifteen and thirty, half; inside fourteen days, the deposit is retained. If I cancel, you get everything back.

Six sentences, every figure explicit, and no percentage anywhere.

The last sentence matters most, because it is what makes the rest read as reasonable rather than as a hedge in your favour.

Why the ladder should be in dollars is covered in the refund policy piece.

How should the children answer read?

Welcoming, with a real minimum and a reason.

The question is asked constantly and answered badly, usually with something that sounds discouraging.

Answer: Children are very welcome. Realistically, from about eight upwards works well on the drift boat, because there is a lot of sitting still and a life jacket that fits properly matters. Younger than that, a half day usually goes better than a full one, and I will tell you honestly whether the water suits.

Note the flotation reference, which is a genuine constraint rather than a preference, since the requirement is a device of a suitable size for each person aboard.

Suggesting a half day rather than declining converts an enquiry that would otherwise have gone elsewhere.

Why the flotation size requirement is real is covered in the spring launch piece.

How should the capacity answer read?

A number, and the reason it is that number.

Answer: Two anglers plus me in the drift boat, and that is not a preference, it is what the boat fishes properly. Three people means somebody is always waiting. For a party of four I run two boats on the same water, which is a better day than crowding one.

Stating the reason converts a limitation into a standard, which is a better read for the client and true.

It also sets up the group answer without needing a separate question, since a party of four now knows what happens.

And it preempts the request to squeeze in one more, which is the request that produces a bad day.

How the group quote should then be built is covered in the quote template piece.

Where should the page sit?

One click from the trip pages, and linked from every reply.

An FAQ buried in a footer gets read by nobody, and its whole purpose is to be read before somebody writes to you.

Which means a link from each trip page, a link in the automatic reply to an enquiry, and a link in the confirmation, so the page is offered three times before the trip.

The enquiry reply is the most valuable of the three, because it reaches somebody who is deciding and who has questions they have not yet typed.

Answering them before they ask shortens the exchange from four emails to one, which is where the recovered time actually comes from.

And it means the questions that do arrive are the specific ones worth your attention.

How the enquiry reply should be structured is covered in the response time piece.

Should the answers be written as you speak?

Yes, and it is the difference between a page that reassures and one that does not.

A client reading an FAQ is deciding whether to spend real money with somebody they have never met, and the page is the longest sample of your voice they will see before booking.

Which means answers written in the first person, in the words you would actually use, do more work than any amount of completeness.

Realistically, from about eight upwards works well reads like a person; minimum recommended age is eight years reads like a form.

The same applies to the money answers, where a plain statement of the figures is warmer than any hedging around them.

And where an answer is genuinely a no, say so directly, because a hedged no reads as a maybe and generates a follow-up.

How the bio should carry the same voice is covered in the guide bio piece.

What should the page not do?

State anything that dates, or answer questions nobody asks.

Bag limits, seasons and licence prices all change annually, so any page stating them is wrong within a year and nobody remembers to fix it.

Which argues for routing rather than stating: the agency sets the limits and I will tell you what applies on the day.

The same applies to hatch charts, water levels and best months, all of which are better on a separate page you expect to maintain.

And the page should not answer questions your inbox has never received, because every extra answer pushes the eight real ones further down.

A short page that is right beats a long page that is out of date.

What belongs on the trip pages instead is covered in the trip pages piece.

Where do FAQ pages go wrong?

Five ways, and the first is length.

Twenty questions of which eight are real, so the useful answers are buried among invented ones.

Stating fishery rules, licence prices or seasons, which date within a year and then misinform.

Answering the money questions in percentages rather than dollars, which makes a client do arithmetic to find out what a cancellation costs.

Leaving weather to a general assurance rather than four named scenarios and a decision time.

And writing the children and capacity answers as restrictions rather than as standards, which loses enquiries that would have booked a half day.

How the reminder should repeat the operational answers is covered in the trip reminder piece.

What the site should do around it is covered in the site anatomy piece.

How should the gear answer read?

A short list of what you bring and a shorter list of what they bring.

The client wants to arrive with the right things and nothing else, and the answer that achieves that is two lists rather than a paragraph.

Answer: I bring rods, reels, lines, flies, waders and boots in your size, lunch and drinks. You bring a jacket, sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen and a valid licence. If you have your own rod you are welcome to fish it, and if you would rather not carry waders tell me your boot size when you book.

Naming the sizes question is the useful part, because waders that do not fit ruin a day and nobody thinks to ask.

Where you charge for anything on the list, that belongs here rather than on the invoice.

What the gear provision decision involves is covered in the gear provision piece.

How should the timing answer read?

A clock time, a duration, and what a day actually contains.

First light is not a time and produces a client in a car park at the wrong hour, so the answer names an hour and says it may move with the season.

Answer: A full day is roughly eight hours on the water. In summer we usually start at 7:00 and in autumn nearer 8:00, and I confirm the exact time three days before. Expect to be back at the truck mid to late afternoon, and lunch happens on the water rather than at a stop.

The last clause matters more than it looks, because a client expecting a sit-down lunch plans their day differently.

Saying you confirm three days ahead also sets the expectation that a message is coming, which reduces the enquiries.

What that confirmation should contain is covered in the trip reminder piece.

What is the working page?

Eight questions, two or three sentences each, reviewed every winter.

Build the list from your own last fifty enquiries rather than from another operation's page.

Answer each in two or three sentences, using figures for anything involving money and named scenarios for anything involving weather.

Route anything that changes annually to the agency that sets it, and say you will explain what applies on the day.

State the capacity and the children position as standards with reasons rather than as restrictions.

Then read the page each winter alongside the rate review, and confirm anything regulatory with the managing agency before the season rather than after somebody asks.

The bag and possession provisions quoted above sit in a part whose nomenclature changes are recorded at 81 FR 32253, and the statutory framework is the fishery conservation and management provisions at 16 U.S.C. 1855.

What the winter review should otherwise cover is in the new year checklist.