John C has the best idea,and I did not bother reading each and every reply for obvious reasons but read enough!Here is my 0.02,for what that is worth-there are plenty of fish out there and a reasonable distance,in my estimation,is at least 1.5 -2 cast lengths away.I toss a baitcaster and can make some very long casts,so I typically err on the longer side,at least 2 cast lengths away.That said,I typically avoid crowds as I rarely fish on week ends,unless that is the only time available for me to fish.Me and a buddy had a fellow fisher in SW Lake P give us some grief,trying to insinuate that he was hammering specks til some 'a..holes' showed up and funny part is he was not catching a thing as we started catching some very nice specks and I paid particular attention to our distance and the fact that we extremely quietly used my buddy's I-Pilot to carefully get to where we thought specks would be holding(shell pads adjacent to creosote pilings from small SW Lady P platform).I watched his disbelief and we tossed a few of his own words his way,especially me when I lost a solid 2 lb speck,trying to hoist it aboard and it bounced off the gunwale of my buddy's fine Key West bayboat.I owe the guides a tremendous amount of gratitude as I learned a tremendous amount from them when I was in a Industry when we could entertain clients via guided fishing/hunting trips.When I first started fishing with these guides,probably over 20 years ago,I was a neophyte with soft plastics and now toss exclusively fine baitcasters mated up with 100% soft plastics and catch my fair share.Guides do not 'own' the water any more than the regular fishermen,just give everyone a reasonable distance,approach extremely quietly,and refrain from vulgarity,if possible.The guy I referred to ended up leaving the spot we hammered fish on and we cared not one iota!In fact,two guys showed up,using dead shrimp(reasonable fishing'insurance')and I saw one of them nab a beautiful red,not too long after I nabbed a fine 22 inch specimen,on Berkeley Gulp,Swimming Mullet,Chartreuse.I might actually know Captain Tommy Pellegrin,if he grew up in Kenner,and I would love to know if he did in fact grow up in Kenner.Sounds like he is a very decent guy,offering free rides for those under 12!!!Way to go,Cap!Good to hear some guides out there eager to introduce the younger generation to what most of us have a passion for.Now to fishing-probably gonna wait til next week to chase some fish due to all the rain and disturbed water,at least in my fishing haunts!!!
Mandevillian