What is a Registered Maine Master Guide?
Guides in Maine are licensed or registered by the state. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife handles the licensing of registered Maine guides. Few states require a guides license but Maine has been doing so since 1897. While the guide license itself is simply a state requirement for an individual to charge fees for guide services, the reputation of the registered Maine guide has spread far beyond the states borders. This reputation is partly due to the relatively rigorous testing procedure the state has developed for becoming a registered Maine guide.

Maine currently licenses guides and requires different testing procedured for the following classifications: Recreational Guide (covers canoeing), Sea Kayak Guide, Fishing Guide, Hunting Guide, and river specific class IV whitewater testing.

In the past, Maine designated guides who held the Recreational, Fishing, and Hunting classifications as "Master" Maine guides. An ambiguous classification at best since guides could attain the "Master" classification by simply passing the three tests and having never actually guided commercial clients. 		Maine now requires much more for the Master Guide classification though the state did "grandfather" any Master Guides who received this classification before the new procedure took effect.

The "new" Master Maine Guide classification actually requires guides to have rather extensive commercial guiding experience within a basic classification (Recreational, Sea Kayaking, etc.) and will eventually be a distinguishing credential for prospective clients who would like to be assured that thier guide has at least run a commercial trip before.

The "new" Master Maine Guide classification requires that a guide have held a classification for 10 consecutive years and to have worked within that classification for at least 240 hours in five of those years. So eventually, when someone hires a Master Kayak Guide or a Master Canoe Guide, the client can be assured thier guide has run at the very least 100 (in this example rather long) days worth of commercial canoeing or kayaking trips. Until the "new" classification becomes the norm though, prospective clients will need to ask which Master Maine Guide classification the guide is advertising.