Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Anybody affected or heard about this new enforcement policy?

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/155142/group/Sports/

I can kind of see where some of the guides might be upset if they've already been operating on "navigable" waters without a license.  I sounds to me like the big ugly is how the USCG designates some of the water as "navigable".  My understanding, after taking the course and getting a 25 Ton Master License, is that navigable waters meant waters where shipping (or barge traffic) takes place.  Some of those quoted in the article make it sound otherwise.

Regardless, I don't buy the argument that it's going to put "hundreds and hundreds" of guides out of business (in Minn.).  If, as some of them state, they're only doing it part time then they're not really running much of a business to begin with.  If they're full time guides, then the cost over five years is pretty negligible.  Even at start up they'll pay for it after 5 or 6 trips.  All things considered, it's a pretty small cost of doing business.

So many of the real guides I know have had to do this anyway because they practice on Lake St. Clair or connecting. There's MDNR requirements too in Michigan. I do sometimes worry about people calling themselves guides that might not be safe and/or properly trained or knowledgeable for people paying them for a day of fishing.

I believe if you research this you'll find that in Michigan, "navigable waters" is any where they used to float logs.