Okay, last night we ran into a rather "rude" guide....okay, he only threatened to "kick our bottom". I am not going to go into the full story here.

FYI....The gravel pits, twin poles, twin trees, vaughns humps, deadman's, 121 cut, hackleberry point, etc... they are not secrets and you do not "own" them. Do not expect to throw a marker out and think you can fish 50 yards around it and nobody else can! I really wish that this was the fishing etiquette, but it is not. IF you throw out a marker, you are expected to fish downwind from it, pointed upwind to help control the boat. You can not throw it out on a 50 by 100 foot hump and expect that entire space to be yours.

Now, if you are a guide, here is a little common sense advice. If you are fishing a hump/point/structure and have clients with you, calmly and nicely let me/others know that you are in fact a guide and have clients with you. I can respect that and will leave the area if you are not cool with me being around. I fully respect the fact that you are trying to make a living.

On the other side of the coin, guides, please understand that most of us work Monday to Friday (and some weekends) and can only fish in the evenings and weekends. They are "Public" lakes and not "Private".

Yep.Just remember you cant plane out a boat within 50 yards.Thats the only rule there is.

personally, I try to either drift out or trolling motor out at least 100 yards before starting up the big motor.

Thats a great way to do it.

I was on Texoma with a freind who had a little girl with him .A guide thought we were too close to the already boat show and he threw a hook with a egg sinker at us.Missed the girl by a few inches.He was in a big camo guide boat.I couldnt believe it.

You know, some guides get mad when they are right next to you and only catching a few. And, everyone on your boat is landing doubles on every drop!

+1

You are correct. No one owns the lake. We guides are lucky to make a living on a public resource. Doesn't bother me a bit when someone pulls up on their trolling motor. There's plenty of fish for everyone. What does kinda get under my skin is when someone pulls up 50-100 yards away and just watches you fish, then pulls right up and joins in if they see you are on fish. I've learned through the years to just leave. Any guide that needs to threaten someone, probably shouldn't be guiding. Fishin is like a box of chocolates and thats all i got to say about that....

You are being very nice to say the least PittState. I have not fished as much as you have and my experiences have mostly been on the other side of the coin trying to learn the lake from a guide. My experience in the past has always been pleasant. But last night the "Professional" guide we ran into was anything but that.

I will be the first to admit that we did run close to his marker. But having a marker out doesn't mean you can just drift 50 yards around it and expect everyone to respect your space unless there's 30mph winds out there. And if you find someone on it, a professional first word would not be a curse word or accusatory. We would have gladly drifted away.

Lastly, I would think a guide would respect the very thing that is most important to their lively hood. Seeing dead fish drift accross me just makes me sad and shows me the disrepect this guide have toward fishing. Pittstate and I collected some of those to our bag limit just to do our part. I'm not sure if those gentleman on his boat were his friends or clients but if I was on there, I would have let him know that he shouldnt be a guide.

Gotta agree with the culling sand bass thing as well. That is pretty ignorant trying to cull sandies. They have a VERY generous limit.

In the past, I would have agreed with you but one rude, self-serving guide can change your views on the subject. The guide has no more right to the spot than you do. On my home Lake , I've had one guide in particular cut me off from working a school of fish. He watches me find the fish, catch the fish, and then moves in to anchor right on top of the school.

The excuse "just trying to make a living" doesn't cut it, especially time after time. I'll work with them, but I'll be danged if I'll just hand over a school of fish that I worked hard to find, to someone who is rude and deliberately cuts me off. No sir, not anymore, not on my home Lake, and certainly not for a rude, self-serving guide. Nobody owns the lake.

The guide in question is doing some dumb things...I think that culling Sandies and then they die...Is wasting fish, against the law?

Your right 'Lark "Trying to make a living" excuse is just plain stupid..

yesterday morning we were on some fish and others started working there way towards us. had the anchor out and been in the spot for about 20mins and next thing we new it there had to be about 8-10 other boats surrounding.... did i care, HECK NO. not only were we catching them but the boat that i told to come over,tie up with us and handed them some poles and a 5 gal bucket with bait was catching them. That folks is how you do it!!!!!!! You help others and be respectful!!!!!

And that is a great way to earn future business....what comes around goes around. Good people, do goood things and get good things done to them in return.