The Louisiana Charter Boat Association helps to keep the industry professional and links fishing guides with customers.

Readers reacted strongly to last week's NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune story on whether Louisiana should consider dropping its liberal limits of 25 speckled trout per angler per day. Many would like to see the state cut limits for fishing guides rather than private-boat anglers.

"The average fisherman isn't coming back to the dock everyday with 50 trout," Brett Perricone said on the NOLA.com Outdoors Facebook timeline. "A charter captain harvests more trout in one week with clients than most fishermen in a year."

Allyn Smith agreed.

"Let's see what charter captains catch in a year," he wrote. "That is where the limit needs to be reduced. Recreational anglers aren't catching half of the fish that the charters are."

Jeffrey Metzler wants to see limits changed only for non-residents and guides, and Paul Swett wondered if Louisiana has seen a big increase in non-resident license sales in recent years that might be responsible for increased pressure on fish stocks.

But the numbers don't seem to back that up. Although non-resident saltwater license sales doubled from 1998-99 to 2012-13, the state still sells a meager amount when compared to resident saltwater licenses. In 2012-13, more than 263,000 residents fished Louisiana's coast, but only 20,091 tourists did. That means 93 percent of all license sales that year were to in-state anglers.

Clearly, non-resident anglers aren't having a big impact on Louisiana's fish stocks.

So what about guides? Are their numbers increasing along the Louisiana coast?

The answer is yes, according to records kept by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Back in 2006, Louisiana had a total of 589 guides who were licensed to take up to six anglers on charter trips. By 2015, that number had ballooned to 845, a 44 percent increase.

The largest percentage increase was among non-resident charter guides, whose numbers climbed from 39 in 2006 to 109 in 2015, a 180 percent increase.

Weekend anglers regularly see posts from resident and non-resident guides on social media and Internet chat rooms, and feel the professionals are taking a disproportionate share of a limited resource.

So would cutting out the guides' limit or reducing the limit strictly for guide-boat customers move the needle on Louisiana's trout stocks?

Not likely.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist Jason Adriance said even if the creel limit for all of the state's anglers were cut to 15 per person per day, the annual harvest would be reduced only by 8 percent.

Additionally, the number of trout in the overall population would be even less impacted because as fish are removed, others take their place. If more fish are left in the water, others don't have the chance to grow and thrive.

So, as Capt. Travis Miller noted in last week's story, cutting the guides' take would be nothing but a PR move that might make weekend anglers — and most guides — happy, but wouldn't have any real fisheries implications.