Guides busted.

[Curly]

I read in the Outdoor News today that 2 guides were busted by a Brainerd CO for trailering with livewells full of water and one had a overlimit of live walleyes. Nice!!

[BKB]

Just read that myself, can't believe a guide would be over the limit. Don't understand the thinking or lack thereof sometimes.

[B420]

District 9 - Brainerd area

CO Jim Guida (Brainerd) had contact with two area fishing guides after water was observed flowing out from the livewell port on a boat that was on a trailer and being driven down a road. A routine check of one guide revealed over limit of live walleyes and both watercrafts were transporting water filled livewells. Enforcement taken.

Getting a little greedy eh?!?! Go get em Guida and leave me alone for a change!!

[tadster]

Is it illegal in Minnesota to trailer your boat with water in the livewells? Just checking as I have done that back home(IA), waiting to drain the livewell when I get home....

[JP Z]

Tadster,

It is VERY ILLEGAL, mainly if you travel from a lake known to be infected with an Exotic. You would also have to dump all minnows if you got water from that lake.....

[Sportland_Bait]

I'm retracting my comments after hearing the full story, it was a garbage call by the CO and the Outdoor News.

Jason Erlandson

[jtm]

One more reason NOT to like any of them. Hope they got max fines

[frogtosser]

what a way to set an example huh

[krats]

Wouldn't an overlimit of fish constitute a confiscation of his truck, boat, and fishing gear? Or do guides get a slap on the wrist?

I think they should do to him what they would do to any weekend angler they would catch breaking the law.

Heck, make an example of him!!

This guide does this for a living he should know the laws better than anyone. I say put the screws to him!!

[Shack]

I tend to think they would come down harder on guides, than a weekender!

Not all guides are bad, heck I think guides are some of the people who care the most about our fisheries!

Lets not turn this thread into a guide bashing post!

All kinds of people think they are above the law at times, not just only guides!

As far as a forfit of equipment, it depends on past records and how severe the case is! I think they tend to come down hard on fines, more so than the forfit their equipment.

[Team Otter]

A perfect chance for the DNR to make an example. That's too bad but I certainly don't feel sorry for them.

[JConrad]

WOW... Pretty sad situation. Would really be nice to know who did this? They honestly should not be guiding any more... Maybe guides should have s special license issued by the DNR and should meet specific qualifications ncluding ethics.

I remember many years ago fishing a bass tournament on Lake Minnetonka where two guys who had won a number of tournaments where caught using live bait.. They both were then barred from future tournaments...

This should be the same for guides who break the law!

Sad situation for the guys who are above board and follow the law.

As they say one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel!

Joel

[walleyedan]

Wow. I know a number of you and I'm sure I know almost all of the other "posters", chill. Here is the story. Take a breath, relax...ready?

Both of the guides that were ticketed were doing trips for us, Walleyedan's Guide Service. Feel good? Good. They were fishing with a corporate group on Pelican and stopped to have a lunch break at one of the covienience stores across the street from Breezy Point (where they launched). As they pulled across the street, the warden saw the water splash out of their wells. Busted! They were going back into Pelican to hook back up with their customers after lunch, but bottom line they broke the law. Yes, they should have drained their live wells even though they were going back into Pelican and yes they should have had their customers liscense but forgot. Not as big of an issue as you guys are making it out to be. They are both responsible and caring guides, conservationists and both have learned their lesson. Any of you ever left the landing with lake water in your well? Me too. But I won't do it again.

Walleyedan

[Team Otter]

Thanks for the clarification Dan.

[jerk bait]

Dan,

Way to step up to the plate. I know everybody that posts on here follows the law to the nth degree. I know you all know the laws inside and out, right. Nice shot Jason from Sportland, I hope it doesn't happen to you or somebody that guides out of your Dad's store. I know even if I don't use my livewell there is a small amount of water in it when I come off the lake. Is that illegal? Has anybody ever met somebody at the landing to go fishing? When your in seperate vehichles do you divide the fish and throw them in the back seat if your meeting back at the same place. I suppose you all dump your $10 per doz redtails at the access so you don't bring lake water with you. Is it a violation to dump minnows in the lake? Do you get every microscopic piece of vegetation off your trailer? I hope everybody who blasted these guides lives a very clean life. When a CO makes a check, if they look hard enough, they can find a violation in any boat. Good luck fishing. And no I'm not a guide.

[Fredd]

Walleyedan, are you saying that they were ticketed even though their overlimit was substantiated and not truly an overlimit? This seems a little harsh even by DNR standards. I can understand the livewell full of water piece.

[fishroger]

I think all of us have transported fish in a live well at some point. Im sure the CO was just doing his job although maybe a little over zealous. Personally, I try to check my trailer and boat for weeds, etc. Im sure there could be some invasives hidden somewhere. But im sure it was a wake up call for the guides, you know what "(Contact Us Please) u me" means?

[nblasin]

I think this was in real poor taste by the CO to put this in his outdoor new report. There was much more to this than was reported. If this was a bad as it was made to sound no doubt the book should have been thrown at them, not because they were guides but because the law was broken. Some times people in autority need to use some common sense too. the guide had barely over his personal possetion limit in the live well and because he didn't have his clients licenses on him durning lunch he was warned for over the limit once the clients showed thier licenses. I'm all for the CO's but come on. The question i have for this CO was why did he state "a guide" was over his limit other than to rial people up?

[Bassman09]

I'm sorry but the law is the law. Everyone should know the rules, and nobody is immune to them. I don't care how far they were traveling for lunch, they should have thought of what could happen before they didn't pull the plug on their livewells. Good job DNR

[Tim_Anderson]

We all need to really be careful about jumping to conclusions before we know all the facts. In support of Dan and his guide crew, I want to say that these are a great group of guys who bust their butt's for their clients day after day out on the water. I've had the pleasure of guiding (fill in) with these guys in the Brainerd area for the past couple of years, and have enjoyed it very much. I'm impressed with all of them, their knowledge, their dedication, and their ability to find and catch fish. But with all they have going for them, no-one is perfect.

I was recently fishing for muskies out on Mille Lacs. As many of you know, I do alot of night fishing. The vast majority of the time, I have my lights up before sunset and there is never an issue. In fact, I have never even been checked until this year. But wouldn't you know it, the one night I'm just basically engrossed in conversation and fishing hard, I'm a few minutes late, and got a $107 fine for it. Was I "chapped" at the warden.......you bet! Do I think he could have gotten his point across with a warning....you bet. Do I think Minnesota has a tendency to regulate everything to death, and certain CO's seem to have an agenda and are hard to take (Yep, and that's a whole nother story) but ultimately, the law is the law, I was late, and I have to take responsibility for it.

What happened to these guides I have done before. It could have just as easily been me...... it probably could have been the vast majority of us. This doesn't change how I think of Dan and his crew....not one little bit. Many of us probably learned something from this....I for one am grateful to understand the rules a bit better myself, just unfortunately at their expense. I know I'll be more careful for sure.

[tadster]

JPZ,

thanks for the response. Just so I know, when I leave a boat ramp in Minnesota, if I have fish in the livewell, I need to start draining the livewell at the boat ramp? Does it need to be completely drained before leaving? Just curious, as I will often times let it drain while driving down the road to the resort where we stay...2-3 miles from the ramp....

Thanks

[Sportland_Bait]

By all means I wasn't pointing the finger at any one guide or guides. But I think that the guides need to put their best foot forward since they are more visible than the casual angler. I would have had the same oppinion even if it was the guides that operate out of our store. I was reacting to what was printed in the Outdoor News, it did sound worse than what actually took place. It was a garbage call by the CO and the Outdoor News hyped it up to get the readers all wound up. The overlimit charge is what shocked me most, but after hearing the whole story from Dan I understand that it was just a misunderstanding. I know Dan and his group of guides pretty good and I know that they operate their service with sportsman ethics as a very high priority. Dan will keep his guides up to date on all the latest regulations. I think we will all need to brush up on all the changing rules in upcoming years because with exotic species it will become increasingly more important to limit the spread. The no water in the livewell law is something we will need to get used to. I guess we will need to figure out how to keep our minnows another way.

Jason Erlandson

[Chode2235]

It seems to me that the CO/DNR wanted to make a point about water in the livewells. The wanted to let the Outdoor News readers know that they are looking out for it, as well as following the limit law literally.

I just think that the guides provided a great opportunity to be made an example of.

The message I got out of this is to be SURE to drain your livewell, and be sure to have everyone with fish in your livewell to be with those fish. Its something the DNR is serious about, and they let us know by doing it in a way that will gain the most publicity.

p.s. Thanks Dan for clearing this up. We would rather talk fishing with you on these forums than have you doing PR work, but we appreciate getting the story right from the horses mouth. Class act.

[walleye vision]

DAN,

One thing that confuses me, (maybe i just don't know the lay of the land there) why would you go through the trouble of trailering your boat only to go across the street to have lunch and then launch the boat back in the exact same spot afterwards? Sounds a little fishy to me.

[skies_and_eyes]

I would guess that in this day and age, you can't (and wouldn't) leave a $50,000 boat sitting by itself for to long. I wouldn't leave my boat down there unatended.

[AWH]

Quote:

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DAN,

One thing that confuses me, (maybe i just don't know the lay of the land there) why would you go through the trouble of trailering your boat only to go across the street to have lunch and then launch the boat back in the exact same spot afterwards? Sounds a little fishy to me.

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I would do the same thing. I don't like leaving my boat out of eye's view while I go in for 2 minutes to pay for gas. So I always pay at the pump. I've never had anything stolen from my boat. But I've heard too many stories to leave my boat unattended when it's loaded full of gear. I don't even like going to an access where I can't see the dock when I park the truck.

Aaron

[Shack]

Hey, its Breezy Point man!

One is in a total different world up there! Even for the first timer or someone who lives in area and is there all the time. it’s a cool place. I stay and fish out of Breezy a couple times a year and have been doing this since 1984! I could see someone letting things slip at Breezy! I know I have before!

But amazingly, the place I have had good luck with stuff not getting stolen is at Breezy Point. But, if you are not staying at resort, you are not supposed to dock at it! All though, I think the young foreign kids at the marina will let anything slide if you ask

[krats]

Dan,

Thanks for the clarification, I too was going off the story from ODN. Sorry if I got wound up. I am glad that someone came forward to clear up the story.

I have a friend who is a CO in the Grand Rapids area and I was giving him a hard time about how lame his last couple reports were and he said that ODN edits them all, so obviously we don't always get the whole story.

Anyways, glad to hear that these are stand up guides and that they accepted the consiquences of the unfortunate circumstances.

[AWH]

Quote:

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ODN edits them all, so obviously we don't always get the whole story.

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It's too bad we can't give more credibility to the things that go to print. I've had one article of my own printed in a publication where the article had some major editing done. I never had the editing job run by me. So the first time I saw "my article" was when the publication came out. It was to the point that I would say that the article was now only partially mine, yet it all had my name attached. The thing that bothered me most is that some facts were edited to the point that they were no longer facts, but very inaccurate information.

So as much as we might want to believe something if it's in print, we still have to realize that it might not be as it appears.

Aaron

[Curly]

Lots of folks back pettaling after their first post......now that is interesting.