Have You been Burned?

Most all of us that use this board for fishing info respect the people that give us what we want too know.Just the other day myself and a friend were out and another friend showed up and told us what to do.We were the only two boats in the area that we were fishing and we were fan casting.
Then a couple of boats that were fishing below us (WAY BELOW US) came up and started to vertical jig right in our casting area.What ever happened to fisherman courtesy,at that point I saw one boat go within 20′ of my friend,(we were fishing a wing) with his outboard(which was an older and loud)I know that the River is a public place but people should have respect for others that leave the pack.I hope that others will post on this and maybe we can wake up the few that do this.(My friend did catch and realease a 9.3lbr)

Len

If you’re looking for a little courtesy and respect, that’s exactly what you’ll find, “Very Little”. Especially if you’re fishing near the/any dam. From the jigger’s point of view, it’s common to have a line of boats taking turns drifting and vertical jigging an area and then have some clown drive up and plunk down an anchor right in the middle of “the-spot-on-the-spot” and start throwing lines out to all sides. It’s something that drives you nuts, but there’s not much you can do. I’d be happy if they could at least let you pass by on a drift before horning in on a spot, rather than anchor right in your path so you have to start your motor to avoid them. I’m sure this won’t be the last post here. C’mon guys, vent a little!

Here is another aspect of respect on the river. How many of us do not slow to a slow no wake when passing by a canoe or a kayak. I fish a lot around Merrick State Park, a lot of canoes and other small boats. I slow down, I’ve only seen a couple of others do the same. Most just blast on by. This is back waters, small craft have a right to be there and shouldn’t have to put up with that.

its hard to know how to respond to this… sure there is a part of me that feels I have been “pushed” at times…
then there is another part of me that hopes Ive not pushed anyone else…..
everyone has their own view of what limits to put on “community” behavior…..
I remember this summer on the croix I was trolling cranks slowly up river and had some people in a boat start yelling and waving me off when I was nearly 100′ away!!…. yeah.. that kind of hurt my feelings….
and today.. there was a boat that would move and anchor over the last spot I caught a fish on EVERY drift through!!.. now I thought THAT was funny!….. we would drift through catch a fish… they would pull anchor and move…. we would then drift through where they HAD been.. catch a fish… and they would move back…. gotta love it……..
but I think what we really need to realize is that everyone is out there to catch fish and have a good time… and we should try and make a connection with these people… talk to them…. and maybe.. just maybe an understanding will dawn.. and they will join OUR community of fisherman who DO care about what the other fisherman on the river think of us… the more people we can convert to that ideal the better everything will be…….

i think rivereyes hit the nail on the head on this one. For some people their idea of common courtesy isn’t what other people consider it to be therefore we get conflicts like this. There are lots of things other people don’t understand that people do. Sometimes people say something, but i have learned in the past to just let them be, it only makes matters worse. IT seems if you act more respectable then them, sometiems there understand and just didn’t realize what they were doing. sometimes you just run into guy s like that though. Hard to deal with

Here’s an idea…………..

Next time someone parks it right where you’ve been making passes, approach them and ask them for advice on whatever technique they are using. Claim yourself to be challenged in that technique and that it’s forced you to struggle with another technique for your results. They just might be cool enough to give you information you probably already know but this establishes a position of common interest. Then, if they’re not catching fish, but you were…………it’s again possible that they’ll ask you for advice and you just might find yourselves working together for a common cause.

I’m not saying it will work or work every time…………but there’s a strong chance that by appealing to their preferences that you’ll end up getting what you wanted in the first place.

Some of us catfishermen have a stash of rotten liver in the boat. Just load up and land a glob on their floor. Won’t solve anything but sure would be fun.

I wish I had some of that liver when fishing lakes like Minnetonka and you have all those pesky jet skiers flying around. I have giving up on expecting anyone to behave properly when I fish any popular fishing spots whether it be the dam or Minnetonka. When bass fishing you just have to deal with the angry dock owners and when you fish the river you just have to deal with the inconsiderate jerks who don’t know what they are doing. I have noticed that most of the good fishermen are very nice and more then happy to help. It is the guys that don’t realy know what is going on that cause the most problem. For me I just try fish where others are not and if I am up there I just lead by example and hopefully they will figure it out.

Eric Ahlstrom

Every situation is different. if someone is being doing something very obvious out of ignorance or I should say do to lack of knowledge I have let them know that there might be a better way, and there are other fishermen to consider. If one look at someone says leave me alone, there is nothing you could say them that would make any difference, so I just leave them alone, and not come by again. what we treasure in Fall thru early Spring is going to get very crowded especially on weekends, we can all lead by example, and pray some will follow. Jack.