Fisherman’s Etiquette

Story from this weekend….

My daughter is on an air mattress about 15 feet from the end of our dock. Two bass fisherman come along working the docks and shoreline. They are using their trolling motor. They work the neighbor’s dock. They then proceed along the shore and go between my daughter and our dock! They were at most 5 feet away from her… I yelled at them and they continued to pitch their jigs toward our dock and just ignored me.

Some guys just don’t get it. Since they were motorized I am wondering if they were even legal.

Pete,

Etiquette wise, I would have given you and your daughter the space and skipped over to the next dock. I think everyone agrees you don’t want to come between a man and his daughter! But with that said, it does not sound like any rule or law was broken here. It also does not sound like the boater was being unsafe as he/she was moving the boat with a bow mount rather than turning a SS prop with the big motor.

Remember, the water is public property. The dock also becomes public once it is placed in or over the water. Not to mention, they hold fish.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Jon J.

I agree with Jon J. on all points. Saying that, I do think that the fisherman used very poor judgement. I fish a lot of docks. If there are people in the water by the dock, or sitting on the dock, I avoid it. (and not just because I can’t control where the jig will end up 90% of the time) I think common sense dictates that you don’t fish that close to this girl. That’s really just absurd, and I think that you did the right thing by laying into them. Of course when they ignored you and just kept on pitching to the dock, it shows what kind of people they were. I’m getting upset just thinking about what I would have done in that situation.
Obviously protecting those who are near and dear is not a subject that I take lightly.
Steve

I agree with the points made here. I mean, treat it like a public park…………..Do we go to the city park and just get in the middle of a bunch of frisbee throwers and start tossing a football through them? It’s the courtesy of private use within public property that seems to get forgotten from a select few.

The only situation I can think of where I’d dare cross that line is a tournament AND EVEN SO……..I’d still ask from a safe distance if I could fish the dock for a couple minutes, as there’s a tournament on the line, and I’m just trying cover the possibilities. If Pete told me “No!”……….I’d respond with a “No problem………..understand”, and I’d venture forth.

But in a leisure situation, I’d definitely skip the encounter and go around. It may be public but I don’t like getting crowded or bullied either.

Pete, if they come back, yell at ’em once for me too!

this is always a big issue, I love fishing docks, and it is tough to beat that pattern especially on lakes at 2:00pm, I avoid fishing docks when there a a lot of people around, too many times I have banged a pontoon or wrapped a jig up on the dock, just not worth it plus i get paranoid and end up not fishing it correctly. I have the luxary of fishing good docks on weekdays, this is when it is fun because there usually is not anyone around and you can get deep into the dock, but I always skip crowded docks, I think it’s the right thing to do

I have a big problem using the words “Fisherman” and “Etiquette” in the same sentence. It is kind of like wearing a tie to a tractor pull.

Kid,

I like the public park analogy. A guy would not walk up to a picnic table and sit down while other were using it just because it’s public and it’s legal to do so. It’s just plain common courtesy. Not illegal, but the guy would certainly get a butt chewing!

Jon J.

I’m going to concur with the popular opinion here. We have many “rights” in this great country of ours but just because we have a right to do something doesn’t mean it’s right to do.

For what is worth going by Minnesota state laws all non-motorized craft have the right away over motorized craft. If you wanted to you can mark off up to 2500 sq. ft of river around your property for swimming. There are regulations you have to follow and can be found on line threw the DNR web sight. Its sad to think a fish is that important to some people……

As long as we are talking about laws, does anyone know if it’s legal to place a rope (with a white float) between a dock and a swimming raft. That might not be the name for them, what I’m refering to is a square, floating platform that you have to swim out to. The rope is around 30 to 50 foot long and prevents a fisherman from going between the dock and the platform.

For the record, if there are people on the dock or the platform, I would fish around or skip it completely. Only makes sense, I wouldn’t pull up to a boat on the river and fish within 20 feet of them…unless it was Stillakid. I might then get closer….

FWIW…Out of curiosity I did call the DNR about this. The fellow I talked to said the guy should be sited for “wreckless driving” (or something like that) because he was being propelled by a motor. Just becasue it was electric did not matter, it still has a prop.

I appreciate the perspectives you guys have presented. I understand fully that the water is public. Just because an area is public does not mean you don’t have to use your head. Consider if this guy had slipped on the foot pedal and made a sharp turn at the wrong time….or my daughter got startled and slipped into the water at the wrong angle…or the guy gets his jig hung up on the dock and “whips” it to get free (I’ve has lures flying at my face and then behind me before when I get hung up).

Anyway, I did get his license number, but since no one was hurt I don’t plan to persue this. I just wanted to vent a bit about what I thought was an idiotic move by a fellow fisherman.

That is just wrong, but a wrist rocket could help them remember for next time they come to the same situation just joking…well maybe not
You wernt aiming at them, just that pesty fly sitting on the hat

Cattin_Addict

Beach Brain, If you go to the DNRs web sight they have the rules on ropping off swimming areas. If it is 50 ft to your floating raft and you made it 50 ft wide you would be within the 2500 sq ft limit. This is only leagle if it dose not interfear with boat traffic. You can not cut off any channle that leads to other waters that boaters must use to safely navigate the waters.

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I wouldn’t pull up to a boat on the river and fish within 20 feet of them…unless it was Stillakid. I might then get closer….

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I’ve seen you cast and the only thing in danger of you is branches! I don’t get worried until I’m IN the boat! You’ve got some “back atchya” accuracies worthy of a circus act!!

You guys got to be kidding. I would have fished that dock and not given it a second thought. The girl was in no danger at any time and the boat was under control. It does not say how old she was but if she could not swim she should not have been out there alone. Reckless Driving !!! That would be laughted out of court. Everyone should try harder not to be offended by the small stuff.

Not closing a gate, leaving trash, PETA, Anti-sportsman groups, the list goes on. We all need to try a little bit harder to put a good face on our what we do…fishing or hunting. I get enough dirty looks from people looking out their windows at me while I fish their dock, swimmers or not. It’s something called courtesy…tournament or no tournament…weekend with the buddies…whatever. Alot of people use the water for recreation only and feel invaded when someone ‘envades’ their space. Be the bigger person and take the long way around.

One of the reason’s I go fishing is to get way from the crowds. Personally, it wouldn’t make any differance if there’s a law or if it’s a young girl or an older one. I get alittle p… when I have lines out and a pleasure boater is coming from my left and cut within 20 feet in front of me. Keeping this in mind, it’s a big river pal!

Thanks Bassmaster! I haven’t looked it up yet, but this was one rope that went from the dock out to the platform. The only purpose that I could think of was to keep boaters from going between the dock and this platform. I’ll check out the website. Thanks again!

Hey, Kid! The only reason I would get closer if you were in the other boat would be to learn somemore of your great fishing tactics…. I’ve used the twitch method a couple of mornings, and it works well. Never heard of that before. (Next time we go fishing together, I’m going to give you a free lession in being a little more positive)

What’s a “lession”?

Glad to hear you got some action on it! As for the positive, I get a plenty from you! Positively good company, good humor, good fishing, and a positively good time! But I’m also positive you’ll try another bowl of “razz-berries” on me!

Place and time? Shoot me a pm!