the original "Statement of the problem" as printed off the Musky Hunter message board but have not been shown in this forum. This rebuttal is not being submitted with the intent of bashing any of the person(s) involved and should not be used to bash me with return rebuttals. I have never replied to any of the threads or posts regarding set lines/shore fishing on other message boards in the past and will not reply to comments, positive or negative, regarding this rebuttal. In the second paragraph of the "Statement of the problem" it is said, "increasing numbers of individuals have been abusing this practice and going well beyond the obvious intent of unattended line regulations". I believe this statement to be of "opinion" in nature and not necessarily reflective of the entire angling community. Myself and other guides, along with people who I will call "average anglers" who practice "shore fishing" do not have any moral issues with this type of angling. I have been guiding clients when anglers or guides opposed to this type of fishing have questioned our "ethics" and stated their displeasure with "shore fishing". Upon leaving our clients usually do not understand what the problem is and believe the other guide is upset that we are not "paying our dues" as we should be and may have caught fish while they have "come up dry" so to speak. In the third paragraph of the "Statement of the problem", it is said, "Some anglers, with the goal of catching more and bigger fish and, often for the purpose of self promotion, have been placing – without regard for the fishery or the rights of other anglers – rod sets"… This statement is also the writer(s) opinion in nature and if you take into consideration the "guiding" profession as well as the "average" angler, the practice of catching more and bigger fish is what it is all about. Selfpromotion, for most persons in the "guiding" profession, as you
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