Hole Stealing Ice-fisherman

I apologize in advance at how long this is.. I started to write, and next thing I knew, this came out:

Every year a couple buddies and I head up to central MN to chase the panfish, when the weather heats up. We usually meet up with a buddy of ours who lives up there, and he always seems to put us on the fish, because he doesn’t stop drilling until he finds them. As he says, he enjoys hunting for the school, more than actually catching them, which is great for me!! Well, this past weekend, we were on a bay of a lake, and there was only one other person out there. So, we made sure not to get close that individual and probably stayed at least 500 yards away from him.
Well, as my buddy started to drill holes and chase the bay for the school of fish (he has panoptix, which is amazing) we started to hole hop, trying to follow the school of fish. After about 20 minutes or so, my buddy came back and told us to hide any fish that we caught in a bucket, because the other individual fishing was watching us with binoculars, and he thought that individual might come and steal our holes. At that point I had only caught a couple of crappies, and didn’t think much of it, as I was about to move anyways.
When I was walking from one section of the bay to another, where my buddy was now drilling holes, I would check the holes to see if there were any fish down there. Sure enough, I found a hole that was loaded with fish, and proceeded to pull up one crappie after another, with 8 of them being over 11 inches, and a couple 12 1/2’s as well. At first, I didn’t even tell the buddies I was fishing with, as I didn’t want to spook the fish, with people coming over. This was the best fishing I had all season long, and wanted to enjoy it, as it was epic. Eventually I motioned for my buddies to come over. During this time, I was just placing the fish on the ice, as I thought that I was blocked by my vehicle from the other individual seeing me, and my bucket was about 100 yards away.
Well, next thing I know, I see that individual driving over in his truck, and so I tried to hurry to get my bucket, but was not quick enough. That individual proceeded to park his truck right next to the hole I was fishing out of, took out his vexilar and started checking the holes all around me, before I even got back. To say I was astonished, would be an understatement. When I got back to that area, where my fish and fishing equipment was, he said nice catch. So, I just mentioned that I was trying to find the school, and that they were here for now. I also said right away, that I was hoping that my buddies could fish this area, but he did not get the point, and proceeded to go to his truck, get his bucket and fishing pole, and started to fish.
As I stood there, shocked, I just shook my head, and walked about 15 yards away to another hole, where there was no fish. So, I walked back, and started to fish my previous hole again, and brought up a couple smaller crappies, meanwhile that individual was trying to have small talk with me, and I pretty much just ignored him. Well, I hooked into a big one, and it broke my jig off, and I was getting more and more upset. So, I decided it was time to leave and go and join my buddies. As I was about to walk away I said to the individual “you know it’s really not cool that you came and started to fish the holes that I was fishing, and that I wanted my buddies to fish as well”. Immediately, he started to yell at me, and said “You’ve got to be kidding me, you’re not seriously upset that I came and fished these holes, give me a break”. Once again dumbfounded I just said “really man” and he proceeded to say “I do this all the time, and no one has ever said anything”, to which I just shook my head.
He continued to go on and on, and of course our voices started to raise. Some of my favorite lines of his were “You didn’t drill these holes”, implying that because I did not drill these holes, they were his to fish, even though they were the holes my buddy drilled. Another great line was “I was watching you to see if you were catching fish, and saw that you were, so I came over”. And by far my favorite of his “Why don’t you just leave?” and “get out of here”. This back and forth lasted for about 3 minutes, and I realized he wasn’t going to leave, and as tempting as it was to continue the argument, I am smart enough not to get in a brawl over fish. So, I just walked away, laughing at how ridiculous that individual was.
That individual proceeded to fish there for another hour or so. I kept my distance, and my buddies did too for the most part. One of my buddies did go fish over there for a little bit, and the individual came up to him and started talking to him. Essentially he said “I didn’t mean to steal your holes, it’s never been a problem in the past, and I realized that was not a brawl I wanted to get into, because there’s no way I would win”. My buddy simply said, if he wanted to fish the holes we were fishing, just ask, I’m sure it would have been fine.
Which, if that individual would have asked, I would have probably said, sure, there’s some holes about 50 yards away, that should have some fish, go and check it out. As for these holes, I would like to keep them for my buddies, who I am out here with.
Eventually the individual left, and shocker I know, did not drive by and say goodbye. Meanwhile, we continued to fish for another hour or so, and enjoyed the beautiful day (it was on Monday). While I was still able to catch fish, it was nothing like I had encountered at that one spot. But, it was a good story to laugh about, and a lesson learned, always watch out for people with binoculars!!

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Technically the legal distance for ice fishing is 10 feet. If you drilled a hole that’s 15 feet away and you aren’t actively using it, its open to anyone else.

Whether that is ethical is another story. Some people have posted on here about how close they consider to be ethical when ice fishing so I’m sure they will offer their opinion.

When I’m fishing in my boat and someone is within casting distance, that is too close for me.

This is like most things in life. You can yell at each other and argue about it or just roll with it, your choice. Whether you agree with what he did or not some people will just deal with it and some will start an arguement, choice is yours. If you feel it is better to argue and let it ruin your day that is more on you then him, he has his own issues to deal with.

This subject has been discussed many times on here. On one side I can feel your frustration. It really sucks to have found good fish in a area and have someone move in on you like that. But on the other hand I’ve seen where a group of guys have made swiss cheese with all the holes they have drilled in a large bay. You cant expect just because you or your buddies drilled 100’s of holes that they are all yours to fish. I have had fishermen come from 100’s of yards away when I pulled up to a area that I caught fish the day prior and say ” Hey we drilled those holes so they are ours ” Keep in mind that the holes they were talking about were holes that I drilled the day prior. With the new electronics and people moving all over trying to stay on schools of fish, its going to become more and more of a problem. like you buddy said. Keep fish caught out of sight, this is the best way to not draw attention of others. I often fish in a small one man house just for this purpose. Even though I don’t need it and would much rather be sitting out on the open ice.

gimruis wrote:

Technically the legal distance for ice fishing is 10 feet. If you drilled a hole that’s 15 feet away and you aren’t actively using it, its open to anyone else.

My understanding is the 10 feet restriction applied to distance from a shelter to a shelter. Are you saying this applies hole to hole on the ice? (sounded like the OP was out in the open where he could be seen.)

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Nice vent, feel better? Stuff happens, next time kick the holes full of slush and move away.

How does one own a hole in the ice? How long can you claim a hole?
Not trying to be an a hole.

Snake ii’s wrote:

How does one own a hole in the ice? How long can you claim a hole?
Not trying to be an a hole.

I suppose you can claim it until the ice melts and it becomes public water.

Huntindave wrote:

My understanding is the 10 feet restriction applied to distance from a shelter to a shelter. Are you saying this applies hole to hole on the ice? (sounded like the OP was out in the open where he could be seen.)

Maybe you’re right Dave. In that case, I don’t know what the legal distance is. 10 feet in between shacks is ridiculous if you ask me.

What fishthumper posted if pretty accurate. If you drill a dozen holes, you can technically only fish 2 of them. Seems quite ridiculous to drill a lot of holes and then not expect anyone else to use them.

In the past this would happen and I had a buddy that was not afraid of anything so he would just drill a hole 6″ from the guy fishing the hole. They would get the point and just leave. This happens in America all the time, why do the work when someone else will.

Man this really reminds me of hunting public land.

If you’re really good at drilling holes, overlap them to make one REALLY big hole. Then you can claim that whole area.

Yup it happens. It probably has happened to most ice anglers. Not worth the argument and usually not the only spot they were biting. Some folks just don’t know better and some folks are just straight up a holes.

I do find it ironic that half the comments on this thread are from guys who don’t ice fish.

You ran into an aho. We all do. In a perfect world that guy would have gotten his but kicked hard by you and your friends and left there to lay thereby learning a valuable lesson. But that option is no longer available so the list of rude individuals grows. John Wayne said it best.

“I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

Ripjiggen wrote:

Yup it happens. It probably has happened to most ice anglers. Not worth the argument and usually not the only spot they were biting. Some folks just don’t know better and some folks are just straight up a holes.

I do find it ironic that half the comments on this thread are from guys who don’t ice fish.

Since I fit into that statement I’ll ask why wouldn’t somebodies comment on public water be OK?

Maybe he just wanted to talk and catch a few fish. Socializing is good sometimes, especially if he was older. It was only one person! Just my opinion.

Youbetcha wrote:

Man this really reminds me of hunting public land.

I hunted public land once this year for gun deer season. Once the Sun came up and I could see Orange all over. Lets just say that will be my last time hunting there.

No one owns the Ice but I try to give people space when fishing. Treat others the way you want to be treated so I don’t like it when people get close to me so I wont get close to them. But you cant fixed stupid at the same time.

Also arent we also supposed to stay 6 feet away from each other….

Snake ii’s wrote:

How does one own a hole in the ice? How long can you claim a hole?
Not trying to be an a hole.

I would have no problem if he went and fished holes 100 yards away from us that we already drilled. The issue I had is that he took the opportunity away from my buddies and I fishing together.

As for the person wanting to be social, that’s fine, I’m usually a social person. But, I wanted to be social with my buddies, and obviously that is what I ended up doing.. just would have been nice to stay on the fish.

Finally, there are certain lakes where I would expect someone to come and fish right next to me. Especially, well known lakes or metro lakes. This was neither of those, and for him to be the only person on the bay of the lake, I would think he could find his own fish.

As I’ve gotten older(now 66) these types of situations have become more amusing and less maddening. I used to fume and let it ruin my day, but now I’ll often point out my better holes and suggest they try them. It helps that I’m retired and fish a lot and I live in an area with lots of lakes.
A couple of my favorites. I was the only person out on the lake after a couple inches of new snow. For whatever reason, I usually start out making 3 holes in a line, each about 10 yards apart. I fish these and add holes as needed. This day I was picking up a couple in each hole and moving back and forth, so there was an obvious path between the holes. I saw a car coming and they headed toward me and it was an area that people often fished, so I wasn’t surprised. They then stopped about 50 yards away, one person got out and started walking to look for holes(new snow, no other holes). The car follows and the walker waves him over to holes 2&3. They parked and started fishing, but never looked my way or said anything. It was strange that we were all that close together and they never acknowledged my existence. They caught fish and I fished awhile and went home with a meal myself.
When in college, my buddy and I ice fished a lot. We had this one spot on a lake that dropped off from 10-30 feet that we figured out that crappies bit late afternoon suspended at 10 feet over 30 feet of water. A couple guys saw us and made holes closer and closer. This was well before flashers and reels, so we pulled fish up the old way. Somehow we decided to pretend that we were pulling up way more line than the 10 feet we were fishing. We were quite dramatic about it. They asked us how deep it was where we were and we didn’t lie, we told them 30 feet.
I’ve been on these sites for years, I consider myself an introvert you may call me a lurker. When I do post look out, I’m hard to shut up! Enjoy fishing, enjoy life, you’re old before you know it. I can’t believe that crappie encounter was 45 years ago. Seems like yesterday.

Dan

roger wrote:

Maybe he just wanted to talk and catch a few fish. Socializing is good sometimes, especially if he was older. It was only one person! Just my opinion.

A couple years ago me and my buddies took snowmobiles from Long Point toward Garden Island on LOW to avoid the crowds. We were fishing for several hours not catching much of anything and this snowmobile comes over to us and stops to talk to my buddy. He pretty much ignores him and then he comes over by my other buddy and I starts chatting, again, we arent catching anything. He was just a lonely guy who wanted to talk. He proceeded to tell me that “he never catches fish on XYZ lure” and a plethora of other things. I made the mistake of showing him what I was using, he grabs my tackle box and starts going through the box and picks out a lure I never use and says “use this”. Right about now, the buddy who was 30 yards from us and behind this guy catches a nice eater walleye that goes unnoticed by this guy and throws in under the snowbank around his house so it wasnt flopping in a pail or whatever and to go unnoticed by this guy.
At this point I put that dumb lure on that he picked and dropped it down and danged if I didnt catch a fish right away when he was standing there. Ugh. Some snowmobiles drove by and we would say “you should go see what they are catching and where they are going” but he never got the hint. He said “why dont you drill me a hole and let me use one of your rods”. Honestly, what the heck. We went 20 miles across the lake to be alone to just have a beer and BS with ourselves as there was no one else around us by design.
Eventually he goes back over to my other buddy and starts up the chitchat again and the fish flopped! LOL “Oh, you are catching fish” LOL

I have strong feelings about this and am probably in the minority, but I can’t stand this type of behavior. This year has been way worse than any year I can remember for people setting up right on top of me (typically right at “prime time”). I have not noticed the binoculars trick personally, but yikes… have some self respect.

Of course you need accept on popular lakes, fishing spots, crappie holes etc. that you’re not going to be fishing alone. I don’t think I own any lake/spot, but I find it annoying and disrespectful when someone sets up right next to me on an empty 1000 acre lake. Both my dad and fiancé have gotten turned off from ice fishing due to guys crowding in on us when we were hoping to have some solitude.

We probably need to adjust our expectations because I know an increasing number of people do not subscribe to my line of thinking.

mnfisherman18 wrote:

I have strong feelings about this and am probably in the minority, but I can’t stand this type of behavior. This year has been way worse than any year I can remember for people setting up right on top of me (typically right at “prime time”). I have not noticed the binoculars trick personally, but yikes… have some self respect.

Of course you need accept on popular lakes, fishing spots, <em class=”ido-tag-em”>crappie holes etc. that you’re not going to be fishing alone. I don’t think I own any lake/spot, but I find it annoying and disrespectful when someone sets up right next to me on an empty 1000 acre lake. Both my dad and fiancé have gotten turned off from ice fishing due to guys crowding in on us when we were hoping to have some solitude.

We probably need to adjust our expectations because I know an increasing number of people do not subscribe to my line of thinking.

Welcome to the me, me, me first world we live in.

suzuki wrote:

I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.

Great line Suzuki and seems fitting. I try to give people space when I’m out there and I expect the same in return. “Space” may be relative for some in this case.

I seem to remember someone posting this winter that they parked their permanent shack in a spot as a “decoy” and then went to fish somewhere else in their portable. The permanent shack had people all around it after a period of time.

To the OP, can I ask how close he was to you, in terms of feet, would you say?

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Yup it happens. It probably has happened to most ice anglers. Not worth the argument and usually not the only spot they were biting. Some folks just don’t know better and some folks are just straight up a holes.

I do find it ironic that half the comments on this thread are from guys who don’t ice fish.

Since I fit into that statement I’ll ask why wouldn’t somebodies comment on public water be OK?

Didn’t say it wasn’t ok just found it ironic. That’s all Dutch nothing more nothing less.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>

To the OP, can I ask how close he was to you, in terms of feet, would you say?

Maybe 20 feet max.

Snake ii’s wrote:

How does one own a hole in the ice? How long can you claim a hole?
Not trying to be an a hole.

Its called common courtesy and respect. The foundations for sportsmanship.
20 feet is way too close in this situation.

I had a situation on Lake Sarah years ago where I was in the process of drilling holes when a gentleman pulled his portable and sat on one of them!!! And it wasn’t like I was drilling 50, I think I had drilled 6 at that point over a 50 x 50 foot area, auger still running, this guy drops his portable on one.

Never said anything because like discussed above, what’s the point anymore. I hoped he was without an auger or something, but still, ask me, I’ll drill a dozen more for you if it helps you out.

Aholes are aholes, no changing them. You either understand the original intent or you don’t. In which case you’re either just plain stupid or an ahole. I would have sat and drilled about 30 holes around his shack till he left.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.

Great line Suzuki and seems fitting. I try to give people space when I’m out there and I expect the same in return. “Space” may be relative for some in this case.

I seem to remember someone posting this winter that they parked their permanent shack in a spot as a “decoy” and then went to fish somewhere else in their portable. The permanent shack had people all around it after a period of time.

To the OP, can I ask how close he was to you, in terms of feet, would you say?

That is what my old man and I do. Have for a long time. Chisago lakes finest decoy move.