If you could choose anyone........

[Trauts]

I've heard that he and Marc are very protective of the waters they fish and certainly would not ever want to see you back where you fished with them. I figured someday I'll just try those areas on my own, but even that will most likely ruffle some feathers at the very least, from what I've heard.

I certainly understand not showing a client ALL the good spots, off the bat. I have been guided by a person who became a good friend, almost family member, and have been going on trips with him for 11 years, and he STILL hasn't shown me all of them, but he doesn't get bent out of shape if I hit one of them when I am not with him.

Last I checked the water belonged to ALL OF US, and pin heads who try and claim they "own" a certain section or body of water really ruffle my feathers.

You pay good money to a guide to learn 3 things:

1. Where to fish.
2. What techniques to use on that body of water to be successful.
3. How to refine those techniques to become more successful.

Given what you said about those guys I wouldn't go out with them no matter how good they are.

Give me my buddy and Red any day over them.

Just my humble opinion.

[muskie52]

I fished with Marc during the summer of 2007. He had no problem at all if we wanted to go back to the spots he took us. He just didn't want us (brother, dad, and I) to share the information on the internet for all to see. From what I understand, it's the locals (not guides) that have a problem with non-locals fishing the area. I've read on other boards that vehicles with non-local plates parked at launches have a tendency to get vandalized. Marc did have a problem the second day with locals trying to follow him around on the water.

Tony

[ttabaleulb]

Man, hearing some of this stuff is quite disturbing. I've already had a run in this year with someone "tampering" with my boat while I was on a fishing trip. It had me pissed off for weeks afterward and I still get fired up just thinkin about it.

Even with Musky action over the weekend, one of the highlights was seeing a Golden Eagle (at least I'm 99% sure) while on the lake. Man, if I start losing the enjoyment of just being out there and in the chase for fish, I might as well just be at work. LOL

[Red Childress]

Spence Petros would be another guy who peaks my interest.

As for the other issues concerning someone claiming an area of water as "theirs", it does happen. Having your cake and eating it too is a tough sell when paying REAL money for a guide. (We hired Steve last summer on Vermilion and did not even fish with him but just drove around for 3 hours marking waypoints.....that is all we cared about.) It took me a couple of years to get used to seeing former clients cruising around in some of "my" spots but such is life. I certainly do not own the river.

You just hope that they are C/R guys and respect the area/resource as much as I do. I had promised myself when I started to guide that I would be a "catch and release only" deal for the muskies/pike.....added trout to the list in 2006. Yes, it has cost me some considerable business but that is OK.

Note: I am not inferring that anyone mentioned in this thread thinks they own the water in which they guide.

Some are very protective of their waterway and I can understand both sides of the issue.

[Red Childress]

Larry Dahlberg is another guy who would be great. Fishing for anything in the Amazon river basin with him would be an incredible adventure.