What are your thoughts on this article on guides in the Brainerd Dispatch?

[walleyedan]

Like Jason said, that was then and this is NOW!!

Goodbye

[silverbullet]

kwhwk or whatever your name is, i have read your posts about this in the past. you have this cracker jack license which i can see will benefit someone operating vessels(not fishing boats under 20 feet) which the feds require you to have. you come here blasting minnesota inland guides because they dont have this worthless license. to some it may not be worthless, to inland guides in minnesota, its totall bogus. you remind me of the bad cop who got his first pair of handcuffs. get my drift? until minnesota law requires minnesota inland guides need a liscense, please get off your soap box. nobody is on any federal waters in minnesota looking for guides with that license. liscense or not, it certainly doesnt mean your a real guide.

[snaggletooth]

This is to "kwkfsh" - you were speaking of pfd's and you correctly need -if you have a "six-pack" license-which means you can carry 6 paying customers, a deck hand and yourself-8 adult pfds and one infant pfd no matter what. If you never run with a deck hand then you only have to carry 7 adult pfds and one infant pfd. You have to carry an infant pfd no matter what along with the adult pfds. Secondly, I have a masters license and know about thirty other guides who also do. I guide on LOW. Where anybody who operates a charter boat must have one. Anyways, on my license there is a select area where I can operate my vesse. My license reads exactly as this: Master of steam or motor vessels of not more than 25 gross tons upon the International boundary waters of northern Minnesota, their connecting and tributary waters between Lake of the Woods and Lac La Croix. I am just wandering what the hell kind of license do you think the guides who fish many different lakes going to get. I know for a fact that any USGC license specifies a certain area where that "captain" can operate their vessel. Also, anybody can go and get this license for the proper amount of money and all the other stuff but that still doesn't mean that they should be out there "guiding" people and that they are all the "safer" because they have this little piece of paper. I just don't understand how you can go on and on ripping on others when you sound like you don't really have a clue. Infact, do you know that when you get a Merchant Marine Officer license now that-starting 2005-that you have to go to Indiana and swear in in person now. Bet you didn't and last year and this year you had to go to Duluth and swear in in person. If you are so up on all this stuff then you would have known this and would realize that you are just trying to get rid of a few competitors out on your favorite lakes and bad mouth the rest of the guides you are competitng with in your area. Nuff said. To the rest of you guiding your butts off in kwkfsh's area keep up the hard work.

[kpj5br]

I don't know why but I'm going to add to this thread. I have never guided anyone. I have hired guides on open ocean (deep sea) fishing trips 3 times, but I think that is a much different that this...or maybe not. (I have never hired an inland guide)

I'm forgetting about the article here, because as someone else in a post illustrated, guided boats are the VAST MINORITY of boats on MN lakes, taking the VAST MINORITY of fish out of the lakes.

That part of the article is non-sense.

What I do want to say is that people looking for a guide are, in my opinion (note: I did not hire Gallup to verify this), looking for a good time on the water! Most MN guides that I have spoken with are taking 2 or 3 anglers out with them, not 30 or 40 on a launch. This makes the most important, and hardest, part of their jobs making sure people have a good time, not how many fillets their clients put in a pan.

I'll just tell you my experience deep-sea fishing. Yes, I caught fish on every trip, but did I really care if I cooked those on the stove or grill that night? No I did not (note though, that I did cook a few of them, because it's fun), I was much more concerned with having a good time for the money I paid for myself and family to do it.

Get off the idea of pulling too many fish out of lakes. It's old news, our lakes are replinished with natural reproduction and stocking for walleye, and almost NO ONE keeps Bass or Northerns anymore, which is a shame, because those species then stunt in the lakes when people only keep the trophies.

My advice: People, keep more fish, of every species. Forget about these catch-and-release maniacs that think every eaten fish should be "farm raised".

But, do so with intelligence. Read books written by intelligent authors on selective catch-and-release, fish consumption, etc.

We're all educated adults here, we can do this, without having the government step in and treat us like children with "licensing".

[kwkfsh]

Snaggle,

The oath is required for original licenses only and is not needed for renewals. You will appreciate this after you have had a license for 5 years and need to get it renewed. Currently, in order to provide better customer service the CG is allowing oaths to be administered by CG personnel. This will allow oaths to be given at local MSO’s such as Duluth and St. Paul. This may change in the future.

I see in your other post that you have guided for 7 years. What was the deciding factor on you getting your license? I think it would help shed some light on the topic for others as I would be willing to bet it was a case of get the license or the resort would not rehire you to guide.

The issue of having the proper license to guide on federal waters in MN. is not something that is open to individual interpretation. I posted the response from the DNR stating that this was indeed required. Here it is again.

The requirement for the USCG Motorboat Operator's (Six-Pack)License is
a federal one on waters subject to US jurisdiction, when one is carrying
passengers for hire (sport fishing included). Examples of these waters
in MN include Lake Superior, Lake of the Woods, Leech, Cass, Rainy,
Namakan, Gull, Whitefish, the navigable portion of the Miss., Minn.,
Red, St. Louis & St. Croix Rivers & a number of others. If you carry
more than 6 passengers another type of license is required from the
USCG. For more information on the federal requirements and waters
subject to US jurisdiction contact the USCG Marine Safety Detachment in
St. Paul @ 651-290-3991 or their HSOforum at:
http://www.uscg.mil/d8/mso/stlouis/MSD.St.Paul.htm

Hope that helps!
Kim Elverum
DNR Boat & Water Safety Coordinator

Lake of the Woods is probably the only federal water in MN. that the guides and resorts are in compliance. That is because the Coast Guard stepped in and enforced the law. Federal water+Coast Guard compliance check= Licensed guides all in the course of 1 year.

The reason most or all of the guides who work LOW are licensed is because the resort owners simply will not hire someone who does not have a license, period. The resort owners know that they are subject to huge fines and having their insurance voided by using unlicensed operators.

This issue is no different than keeping over your limit, fishing out of season, or snagging fish. It is illegal to guide on the federal waters of MN without the proper USCG license. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. For someone to argue otherwise is advocating violating the law and quite possibly putting their clients at risk for huge fines or worse.

For anyone who doubts this I would urge you to do some research and get the facts. The information is readily available on the web.

[psegriz]

I don't know a darn thing about USCG waters or the license requirements on them. But when it states that the guides are selling the fish to their clients that would be illegal. It is not illegal for them to sell their knowlege on how ,when ,where to catch the fish and to supply all the gear and tackle necessary to catch fish. There have been lots of interesting but differing viewpoints on this post. I guess some people might look at it as the samething. But I think there is a difference and I don't believe a guide who tries to outfish his costomers would be around long anyway. My $.02

GRIZ