They are so picky about the equipment because the big cats have to be returned to the lake and the big cats are easily stressed and will die under a lot of stress...they arent as picky on the top two lakes because those fish are gonna be killed and eatin anyways so they arent worried about the being stressed and dying...childress is by far my favorite paylake in the area and i will be there quite a bit this summer as i was last summer. they are friendly people if you follow the rules...you would be the same way if you owned a business and people didnt follow the rules and you were losing money because of there stupidity. I have never had any problems at this lake.