This is my comment just like you have one also. There are both good and bad guys. Guide and Rec. No one OWN's water, But the good lord himself. There are some that think they do with all their gates, fences, and pilings. These guys should build a levee around their whole place pump it DRY then fill it up and stock it with what they want to fish. Now back to the good and bad. All I can speak is for myself. When I see someone fishing I give them their space or go else where. An when we are both fishing next to each other I have the courtesy to troll motor away not start the big motor then drive off. So we all need to be nice out there and enjoy what lil area we do have out there.

you are one of the good guys, thanks!!! but like you said, not everyone is like you, they got the bad, who thinks they do own the water and we rec fisherman, aint got no business, even being on their water fishing!!

i didn't see you there w/ your clients who are paying you good money to catch fish every time i ran right by you at half throttle when i didn't see you there fishing.
There are good fishermen and idiots both guides and sports.
Politeness and courtesey works both ways.

Just so my last comment won't be misconstrued.
i have nothing against guides or sports,
what i do have a beef about is someone who either by ignorance or lack of common sense comes up on the big motor and screws up your catching by .
1. asking what you are catching and what on?
Buy you a good set of binoculars and stay out a hundred yards and look and study a bit before moving close
2. drifting or even worse anchoring right where you are casting.
3. Not knowing that when approaching birds you need to see how the birds are moving and any other boats are drifting before just pulling up on the birds.
3A. not knowing or caring that when you run up on fish feeding under the birds w/ the big motor everything shuts down for everybody fishing there.

I have been fishing a spot out of Breton sound marina and we had 5 boats tied nose to tail , front and back boat had anchors down and everyone in every boat was catching fish.
the first boat found the fish and the next 4 knew how to approach and how to be quiet and everyone had a great time.
I am not one of those folks that thinks i own the water and doesn't want anyone w/in 100yds of me. if you come in quietly and do it right w/o spooking everything in the area i will tell you tie on to my boat ,tie this bait on and throw here . especially if you have kids in the boat because they are the ones that we need for the future.
BUT, if you come in and screw up my fishing and then cop an attitude .i am not mad at the fish enough to not quit fishing and prop wash the whole area . may even do it a few times if i see you somewhere else?
Guides have NO excuse! they know the 'rules'.
Sport. Like i said i will explain w/o losing my cool ONCE.

Well said e-man. Guides and rec fishermen both need to show proper respect and simple, common courteousy.

Y'all may be leaving out someone ... How bout game wardens ? Me and my son have been on top of a sacalait hole and the game wardens ride up on us and grab our boats . In the mean time I had fishing liscence and life jackets in hand . But that day they were checking registration ! So of course I had that , then they wanted to see fire extinguisher ! So I'm like , is there anything else y'all can write me up on ? Make a long story short , from the wind and their motor running we drifted into the sacalait hole and then down the river a ways . After they gave up on trying to write us up on something we went back and never got another bite . Maybe they could take in consideration on when people are catching fish , how to approach recreational fishermen . They seem not to worry with the 40' cigarette boats and target the small time fishermen .

COUPIC MAN you have a good point. I was on my lease last year, in my shoot house at prime time hunting about 7:00 when a wlf agent walked up to check my gear (ruined that hunt) please show some respect to the people that pay your salary.

I had two agents in Alabama walk up to me while on a stand bowhunting deer. One checked my license and gear while the other walked circles around my stand obviously looking for feed (there was none).
All was in order and they were courteous. I climbed back in the stand with no confidence at all, but stuck a deer not five minutes after they left. You never know!

These guys have a thankless job to do and I've never had a problem with them. I hunt and fish legally and welcome being checked. I am glad they are actively out in the field looking for violators rather than just sitting at the truck waiting for outlaws to come to them.

Back to the original subject. I am amazed at the amount of fishermen who don't know better or who simply just don't care. I have to say I see this behavior primarily in sport fishermen. They don't know what idle is. They think the anchor is a shot put. They think making as much noise as you can attracts fish. They think it's ok to pull right next to you.

They power into a spot, hurl the anchor, make tons of noise and then after five minutes power out when they (duh!) don't catch any fish.

I see it every trip and it doesn't matter what type of boat or area you're fishing. I've seen it occur in flat boats and giant center consoles. The only requirement to buy a boat is having the money to do so.

Unfortunately, common sense is not for sale at any price!

deerman - They pay their salary too.....

Chris, I wasn't trying to say that game wardens are bad but I thought we were on the subject of boaters disturbing your fishing area . It's the same as if you were catching speckle trout two at a time and someone rides right up on you and chunks the anchor out . Or someone walks through your food plot at prime time .

I would rather a game warden approach slowly , especially if I'm catching fish , instead of just riding up and grabbing my boat . That particular day it was only my son and me in the boat and weren't breaking any laws .

In your particular case when the game wardens came up on you while you were in the tree stand hunting , I think I would have went crazy on them ! Lol especially being all the way in Alabama , but luckily for you Alabama has a huge deer population . I would like to see them try that in Maurepas swamp !

Anyways I have nothing against the LDWF and I also welcome them to check me . Just not when I'm in the act of catching fish . I couldn't imagine being drew back on a deer with my bow and hear the game wardens crashing through the woods asking to see my liscence ....

I have a problem with anyone, charter captain or recreational fisherman, not showing proper fishing etiquette when approaching me whether I am on fish or not. Seems like the art of being courteous on the water while boating and fishing is lost.
I always approach with caution and am teaching my son to do the same.
There are by far more recreational fishermen than charters out there and all should know how to act when fishing.

there are jerks on both sides, guides and recs alike. Game wardens are different, they should show some respect and the ones who don't we should be reporting. I have had to deal with both, had 2 game wardens all most run over my trawl a few years ago, then the jerks wanted me to just stop, net in the water pulling against a falling tide and he wants me to kill my motor. Then after checking everything in the boat he all most runs my net over again.
The good we got stopped in Pearl river wma last year, there was a guy who didn't have his wma permit with us. After explaining that we were hunting privet land that morning and we just figured everyone had all the required stuff to be on the wma,he gave my friend a ticket, but was very nice and didn't have an attitude like the last ones I had to deal with.

it don't matter if your a guide or a recreational fisherman you do not run up in front of people who are fishing and drop your anchor in their fishing area. sad thing about this topic is the very people who do this stupid act never read the artical posted here, so the stupidity carrys on to the next generation. personally i think everybody on the water should have a drivers license for boat operations. i am a guide here in grand isle and trust me i see the idiots every weekend, they run into your boat in the marina and drive off like nothing happen. leaveing scratches on your boat or motor cover and yes even holes in some people's boats. they tie up the boat launch like nobody is in line waiting they pull up at the bulkhead and tie up with their boat taking up the space for 2 , they dont have a clue how to drive a boat. all you have to have to get in a boat is money, you got money you can buy a 30 ft boat with no experience what so ever, 40 or 50 ft no experience 24ft BOAT no experience on how a boat will handle or what to do when you panic and they tear up somebodys boat who makes a living on the water and drive off like nothing happen. i see it every weekend! ITS CALLED SEA TIME! ACTUAL HOURS SPENT RUNNING A BOAT. that how people should be given the license to buy a boat. i bet everyone of you on here, your first car wasn't a 40 or 50 thousand dollar car. but anyway!!! my biggest issue is people who fish for people catching fish is what i call it, they ride around and if they see a bent rod in your boat they turn in half throddle like a green head mallard. let me explain something to you! we guide and we work to find fish its not a game to us its our living and i love my job and will always show courtsey to everyone but when you ruin my fishing area i promise you when i leave you will not catch fish there. i do not fish around other boats. i have to many spots to worry about crowding a area. there are a few guides here who ride around looking for the full time guides and also have 'NO CLUE' how to approach a area aswell. i will never push work their way just for that reason because i dont want clients to be in that boat when water rage breaks out on the water. you want to avoid all the stupidity on the water stay home on saturdays, thats the worst day of the week to fish. theres more to it than just going out there and throwing a hook in the water so learn how to read tides and look for areas that attract fish and quit rubber necking other boats. learn how to read water people!

I think that's Capt. Herk that made the prior response and he is only telling a little bit about what goes on.
I have been fishing on a underwater rock pile that is right off the channel . Lots of boat traffic . the pile is easy to set up on as there is a couple of pilings to tie to. BUT you have to know how to set up w/ the tide to catch fish.
Seen folks get so stupid when they see us catch fish that they end up running onto the rocks.
We try to wave them off ( yea right).
Like the Capt said ,to many folks go out and buy a boat and don't take the time to learn the proper way to operate the boat. Then when they get on the water and don't have a clue about finding and catching fish, they ride around looking for those who are catching and then most of the time screw up every ones fishing by doing something stupid.

EVERYONE should be required to get a boaters license. No Not the little boaters safety course which is good for all, but a USCG certified license that you must take a class for. Part of the class (required for license) should be a boat handling and fishing/boating etiquette section, like rules of the road, deck general and plotting. PERIOD. MOST of the boaters out there (even some charter 'captains')really don't know what they are truly doing, as per boat handling/maneuvering, rules of the road, weather watching, deck safety, wind and current effects and knowledge and the responsibilities involved as a whole.
I've had a sheriffs vessel literally slam into me and take out a chunk of gel coat while attempting to get onside of me, on the down wind/down current side (and I was at anchor)-then had the gall to give me a citation for not having 'proper boating training'( they couldn't find any discrepancies).
Point-Water patrol Sheriff deputies and Game Wardens should be required as well.

6th issue-USCG License Master of Towing Unlimited.Including Inland Waters/Western Rivers. Radar Endorsement unlimited.