I thought it was silly to continue to speculate so I called the KFWD. They said that the Coast Guard has the primary Jurisdiction on the Ohio River as it is a commercial waterway first and foremost. The KFWD does patrol there on occasion. The KFWD has primary jurisdiction on Ky lakes, but lakes like Cumberland, Kentucky and Barkley are considered commercial waterways, so the Coast Guard can patrol there. On those lakes, they would only apply full Coast Guard regulations to commercial crafts and larger sea going type vessels. I would think that this would also apply to fishing guides as well.

The key term in my conversation with the nice and helpful gentleman was commercial waterway. In the recreational boating manual, it only mentions the Ohio as being fully Coast Guard regulated. So the bottom line is, if you enter the Ohio and get pulled over, you best be fully Coast Guard prepared.