Etiquette Question

Maybe this has come up before, but I was wondering about cutting someone off when your fishing a shoreline or docks. I was fishing a tournament this Sunday on a lake known for a good dock bite and I had people go past me about 75 yards and then drop their trolling motor and start working the shore ahead of me. Is their any kind of unwritten rule that you guys follow. I understand there is a point at which expecting the whole shoreline to yourself is ridicioulous, but what should be expected for a cutoff.

Thanks

Hey BomberA!

Yes this has been a hot topic many times…but it’s good to vent. I fish the St Croix River…If I don’t get cut off by a “pleasure craft” each time I’m out…it’s because there’s 12 inches of ice on the river.

I’ve found that many (not all) times people don’t realize what they’ve just done. I believe it was last year I had a problem at a landing and when I spoke with the people involve..(you have to watch the tone of your voice here) they didn’t have a clue as to what their actions did. Many of the folks just don’t get out fishing enough…

I’m going to toot my own horn just a bit… A few days ago I went to fish cats in the Afton area. There was one boat (don’t remember the make of the boat or motor) that looked like they fished tourney’s jigging right where I wanted to anchor. It was getting dark and I wanted to get set up before it was dark. They moved out a ways and I asked them if it would bother them if I anchored there.
They said no…but thanks for asking!…with a little surpise in their voice.
Do I have a right to anchor anywhere I want….yup.

So…there will always be the rude…unknowing and clueless on the water. This site is a great place to vent…(because you seldom can get into a confrontation behind your computer).

Good luck!

I have to add….”I feel your pain!”

BomberA,
This may be sad to say but you were lucky to get the 75 yard courtsey. I can’t tell you the number of times that I have been tourny fishing and had boats pull in 25 yards ahead. I have been advised by the tourny director that unless you are anchored there is no space that is safe…

I would say it depends on the size of the lake. On some of the very small lakes around here 75-100 yards is pretty darn courteous.

BomberA,

I feel for you as well. Having the opportunity to fish several times throughout the week as a guide and tourney angler, I have had the opportunity to see some real rude behavior on the water. And as much as I would love to put my boat up on plane and give them a fly by, I stop and think about it for a minute and can usually shrug it off. I would have to agree with Brian’s post believing that many boaters/anglers (more than we think) may not have any idea that they are in the wrong, or just pulled a rude stunt. Just last night I had the same boat give me a fly by on a wingdam running wide open. I was about 30 yards inside of the red channel marker buoy on the river on a guide trip and this guy runs between me and the buoy. At first I thought it was no big deal because he may have thought the main channel was there, but about 2 hours later the same guy does the same thing to me about a mile up river in the same situation….

I fished a bass circuit last year that had a 100 yd rule imposed. Maybe you can suggest something like this to your tournament directory.

I’ll add to this a little. After a few more docks and no fish I pulled out of there and ran to my next spot. When I got there, someone was in there , so I just pulled behind him and fished the used water. About a dozen casts in I pull out a 4lb smallie right where this other guy had just gone through.

Moral of the story; Don’t be in a hurry to cut people off, because there are a lot of fish in the water.

Good point Newt, but the 2 boats that cut me off were fishing in a different club. All the guys I fish with do a good job of respecting each other.

BomberA, you must be a single guy…

I’m married and quit looking for a “nice piece of bass” 24 years ago…now I’m just looking for bass.

I was thinking about this post this morning. I realized in the last year that I’ve become more friendly to people in general on the freeway called St Croix. I linked the reason for this attributed to IDA. I don’t know 95% of the people I’m posting to and many of them fish the same river as I. I don’t want to make a out of myself and then find out that it’s Sandbar and Suzuki…(ok…comments on that later) or anyone else that I talk to. Just picked you two out because although we’ve met on the river, I wouldn’t be able to pick you two out on the river or any where esle.

I guess that’s why they say it’s easier to hurt someone you don’t know.

Brian-please let me know when you will be on the river again and your exact location/time. I believe you just gave me permission to wake you, possibly even a full trim spray and still not be mad…….

It’s not polite to talk with your mouth full of beer….Suzuki…

Sandbar…I thought you were watching him today!?

Amazing, I was just going to post this very topic. Lot of this going around I guess.

I’m dreading the next week here on Devils Lake with the RCL in town. With all of these boats probing the area my spots will all be killed just like after every big tourney here (PWT).

We are casting shorelines here and I’ve been cut off several times the past few days.

When I fished Lake Oahe, we used to drift huge flats by Mobridge and it never failed… a-holes driving back to start a new drift right through the drifting boats.