Guides should be the friendliest on the lake fore sure. There reputation could be ruined very easily. I go out of my way to avoid other boats. In fact i almost got stuck on a hump last year trying to avoid a guide and his clients! Ha!

Everyone has a right to the water they are on first. Guides, weekend boaters, kayaks, or tubers/ waders. Doesn't matter. Everyone, especially guides, should be respectful of others. A guide can sometimes get referals or calls from the people they fish around. If a guide is a jerk, fewer people will recommend him to others. There are guides on every lake that are jerks to others at times.

One of the things different about PK and Texoma is......
At Texoma you can troll for miles......
At PK you can troll about 6-8 feet and you will lose three lures
The trees can drive ya crazy!
Spot Lock and cheap anchors are your friend at PK
If I hadn't fished all the other lakes my opinion would not count lol

This would be funny if it wasn't true. Last time we went to PK we were having a tough time catching anything. When the wind picked up we decided to try trolling. Picked up a 2 lb sandie on a deep diving crank bait before losing it. After loosing 2 deep divers and marking fish about 10' down in 30' of water, I tied on 2 square bills. Lost 2 square bills following the 30' contour line in Caddo.

Not picking on trollers just stating what happens to me a lot. A typical experience is as follows.
My boat is catching lotz of fish and some doubles. As they get closer and closer I explain how I am catching
fish and offer to give them the lures I am using and they inform me that have tried slabbing and it don't work. Most of the time they will get so close I will leave and go find more fish. There is a lot of people who know me will verify that I doubt if anybody helps as many people as I do but some people can't be helped.
Johnny

It's funny when a guy looks down their nose at somebody else's way of fishing. Small minds.

The only 2 fish I ever caught on PK was trolling at the Dam. Then a ski boat came along and ran over all three lines. He had lots of Mono on his prop that day. Loaded up came home, and haven't been back. On trolling on lakes with trees, like Ben Brook and PK, I usually make a pass with out lures and watch my down imaging, 2D won't pick up trees very well. If no trees I change colors on my chart and start trolling. Takes a little time, but saves money.
By the way, Johnny you are the most informative and courteous guide I have ever met. If people tell you slabs don't work on EM, that means they haven't tried "Ole Ugly Slabs"! I hope to be trying them soon on EM.

Maybe I've been lucky but I can't remember the last time my fishing was interrupted by a guy trolling. With that said if I see a guy trolling I typically stay out of his way. Really all comes down to respecting the first guy on a spot. In my opinion the first guy there sets the rules.

For example we drift fish live bait in the summer. Never fails when we get on a good drift pattern that some guy will get right in our drift path, hit spot lock, and start chucking a slab. I never make a big deal of it. I usually move over or just leave. The point is somebody chucking a slab, or drifting live bait can be just as disruptive to their fellow fishermen as people trolling. Really it all comes down to common courtesy and being a little more observant of what is going on around you.

Kubroe could not agree more.
Johnny

Pay attention, be respectful and use common sense if you have any. If you don't have any common sense...... well then this thread won't mean much to ya anyway.
Not much different than the sailboats at Eagle.

When people are idiots... I just leave the area and go find more fish!

It always cracks me up because I am not a guide but... people will spot me on my Jet Ski, Center Console or Tritoon and know I catch fish so they will follow me. I don't always catch fish. Sometimes we are just chillin' and drinking beer or after the ever elusive snake (from earlier post). I always share where they are biting.

Here's the key question - are you trolling with your main motor, or with the electric TM? If you're using your big motor to troll, I'd say you need to maintain more distance than if using the electric.

Good rule of thumb is that if the other person can cast a lure into your lap, you're probably too close.

Yeah, I've had my share of learning experiences getting too close to other people and didn't even think about it at the time because I was preoccupied with getting on the fish.

It is all about respect, regardless of the method another fisherman in using. We all can't be guides who spend every day on the water. Some people troll simply because it is the most productive way for them to put fish in the boat on a given day. i don't see that as a negative, but at least a few others do. People use the tools at their disposal, and we shouldn't be on here making negative comments unless someone clearly is out of line in their actions. I've had more negative experiences with guide boats on the water (all on one lake) than I have had with trollers. But I'm not on here lumping all guides together and making snide comments about them.

Sure, there are ignorant people in anything, and ignorance is not a bad thing in and of itself, most of them want to learn, and can be educated if a little tact is used. But those who willfully remain ignorant, well they will potlick and screw up someone elses fishing no matter the method employed. Nothing we can do about that.

As for the OP, 50yds should be fine. No doubt someone will still take issue with that distance at some point. My advice is, stay far enough that you're out of range of a casted slab, and you should be OK.

I fish from our coastal flats to the fabled waters of lake texoma and have numerous experiences of people doing something that I viewed as a bonehead move as I'm sure many of you have too. I troll, fish lures, and drowned bait I try to treat people the way I would like to be treated so if I trolled by someone and we didn't have a friendly exchange I would give a wider birth. With that being said I've had some productive conversations with someone trolling close or drifting by me on anchor.

That is basically what I was trying to point out. it is hard to say who has any right of way some situations so being courteous is always best