On the water angler ethics

[squeedunk]

I will ask the question again. If you had been sitting just off a spot and someone else came in and started casting where you had planned on going, would you be slightly irritated? Maybe you wouldn't be angry with the person but you would likely be bothered that you wouldn't have first shot at a promising spot.

You also proved my point about the smaller boat. If I had a fancy muskie/bass boat would you have thought I was panfishing with bobbers? Doubtful. It was assumed that I wasn't muskie fishing because I didn't have the "right" type of boat, even though I was out at 5:45 on the morning of a muskie tournament sitting and waiting for 6:00 to begin fishing.

If it were someone in a smaller boat it still would have bothered me because I still intended on fishing that location.

[bronzeback]

maybe you should have just motored back and forth in front of the whole weedline to mark your territory.

It's unfortunate that that happened to you, but that guy wasn't in the wrong at all. If you had been definitively moving in that direction, and casting, then maybe I can see where he would be at fault, but cut the guy some slack. No need to hold a grudge.

[JRedig]

LMAO, it's not this hard. When did I ever say that the type of boat had anything to do with appearing to be pan fisherman? It has nothing to do with the kind of boat, it has to do with the fact that you were sitting down and 75+ yards away from a given spot which would look like pan fishing regardless if you were in a 621 ranger or a canoe. Keep tryin' though.

[Flakeoutdoorsguy]

Not to change the subject or anything but how many of you guys say something or do something about this when it happens. I have been having this happen to me on a lake in wisconsin like crazy this year. We work the shore lines and are within a good cast of the shore and pleasure pontoon boaters feel that they have to cut in between us and the shore! Why there is an entire lake on the other side of me that you could make your pass! This lake also has a no wake within 200 ft of the shore and some of the pleasure boaters but more of the bass guys are just blasting through the weeds right by us( within casting distance), and dont even care what they just did. They broke the law, chopped up the shore line weeds to make even more surface weeds, and just wrecked my run. When, if ever, do you guys decide to say something. Its hard for me to do this because I am laid back and out there to relax, not start a fight but I mean come on! These guys obviously dont know about fishermans courtesy, so if we dont say anything they will never learn.

[bronzeback]

More people will catch on if everyone on here decides to practice what they preach. Give them a little courtesy and hopefully they'll give you some back. It's not worth it to chase them down and talk to them, chances are that'll just up the chances of them buzzing your boat again. Maybe just let them know they're Number 1 next time they do it and leave it at that.

[Flakeoutdoorsguy]

Thats the thing. this lake is not a huge lake by any means so I do try to always give everybody there space. But some of these a$@holes are repeating offenders! They didnt do it by accident one time they are either just that stupid or that big of a@$holes! either way they are not gonna stop if nothing is said or done. I think that I am just going to start calling the dnr on the ones who are making the wakes and ripping up the weeds on the shore, and start kindly asking the pleasure boaters to stop. I think they just dont know any better.

[DHanson]

Karma. The ones that are jerk-baits have whats coming. People who show respect will be rewarded eventually, trust me. Not just on the water, but life in general.

As far as the 75 yard cutoff when a boat is just sitting there....bad luck man....like was stated....how does the other boat know what your intentions are? I guess you could hold a big sign up with an arrow saying what your intentions are, lol, j/k.

When you get cut off, it sucks, but be the bigger man. It happens to me and I expect it with the crazy pressure on the lakes the last 2 years. Heres what I do. Watch what the person who cut you off is throwing and how deep he is fishing and try something a little different. Deeper or shallower or a different presentation.

[Platz]

i'll say it again...make up a 2 sided sign on a stick or something you can hold up...ex; "PLEASE GO AROUND" the other side "THANK YOU"...write whatever you feel fitting per the issues...it should do the trick and be less confrontational...vs personally saying it and/or gettin in thier face etc ;0)

some just don't get it until thier told or its pointed out...

[FLnick87]

haha...or a good hard cast that you stop the spool before it lands in their boat..im guessing the combo would even work better

[Shawn Kellett]

"Heres what I do. I take that negative energy and turn it into a positive energy."

Ommmmmmmmmmmm......Ommmmmmmmmmmmmm......Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[HugoBox]

And people wonder why yesterday was the first time in about a month that my boat has actually been on a body of water during daylight. I'm not totally anti-social but the folks I trolled past on Friday night who were "spawning" in their pontoon (without lights on) didn't yell at me for anything.

I just don't get it - we do this for fun right!?!?!?

Unless your paycheck is on the line this week IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU CATCH A MUSKY today!! The only thing I can think of is that when you see someone do a crappy thing instead of assuming the worst maybe chat them up and do a bit of educating. Also, does it count as being cut off if the other guy who shows up is fishing for bass or panfish or do we only care about it if OUR SACRED muskies are what's being targeted? We don't own the spots and the fish but we do own our behavior.

[AnglerX]

Another ray of hope! Ventured North this weekend, Leech Lake area. Not the greatest fishing although we boated a couple plus one dandy. Quite a few Muskie anglers on this particular body of water and everyone either waved, smiled, or wanted to talk fishin'. Amazing what a little slower lifestyle and no fishing jock ego strokers on the lake can do to ensure a pleasurable experience. I'll definitely be back. Now back to the metro B.S.

[b1gf1sh1]

i liked reading this stuff. when i fished lakes a lot i ran into people like that all the time. if i trolled i'd get the hurry up and run in front and act all mad this troller is still coming my way and cast my lure at his boat guys. i always just laugh at people to be honest. i don't care what they do really. why give them any power over me is my thought. then there's the stalkers. my favorite is to just change tactics and fish areas they couldn't. like severely heavy weeds. didn't take long and we could fish where ever.

but just to rub it in... again... i'll give you a week off, 9 days including weekends, i took last year and fished the croix/ssippi... just one time, but they all pretty much go the same way.

day one, beautifull morning on the croix. partly cloudy, 70 degrees. drank coffee and planned. we fished muskie hard till noon, had a couple show and a few northern landed. decided it was walleye time after bag lunch. went and got minnows at beanies, talked a bit with people there and hit the bridge. got dinner, some walleye/sauger and a few crappies, then headed up for shore dinner on a nice little island. built a fire, walleye crappie and potatoes, mmmm. drank more coffee, loaded up and went to look for the two we seen earlier. hide nor hair but got two more northerns. went back to beanies and got some suckers before dark. put some cut suckers out on one line for cats and jigged for whatever came by with another. drank lots of coffee. pretty dead but managed to release a few sheepshead and a skinny cat. didn't see one muskie fisher all day and night. we pondered... why? packed up and decided to go home.

day two. drank coffee. buddy caught a muskie on the third cast. pretty much the same deal as the day before with everything else. except the cats were biting better. still seen no muskie fishers. again we pondered... why?

buddy had to work so i fished the ssippi. drank coffee then pounded muskies all day, boated four and seen a few more. buddy called me and met me after he ate. brought me mikkie d's and some more coffee. fished some more didn't get any. i bragged and did the shimmy shake about how my buddy missed out on all that hot action. buddy was calling in sick in the morning with the 48 hour flu or food poisoning, he'd just wing it. still no muskie fishers. we pondered... why?

next day at the ssippi, drank coffee with my sick buddy. pounded muskie all day and boated 4. me 1 three for him. he was feeling better. but that pizza must have had something in it. he needed another day for sure to recover. buddy did the shimmy shake, i acted like my battery was dead. HA. told him he's gotta paddle. got the battery to work somehow and motored back to the launch. we got moored and saw something weird. took a bit but we figured it was a muskie fisherman because of the size of dare develle he had on. but the rod was pretty flimsy, and a zebco 808. so we figured he was a part timer or beginner. hmmm. still no muskie fishers.. we pondered... why?

all week. no muskie fishers... why?

[RumRiverRat]

How far in front of people would you consider rude?

snip

So what if the guy pulled in 75 yards in front of you.

How was he suppose to know what your intentions were?

It is not like you owned the area you were going to fish.

[broodwich]

This is a good topic Shawn and it needs to be discussed, like adults of course. I too Shawn was fed up with other anglers. Unfortunately I gave it all up 3 years ago, I quit muskies inc. and all but quit fishing for ski's. It just wasn't any fun anymore. I was seriously getting more stressed fishing then working. I lived on Mille Lacs for 3 summers and it took only 1 to hang up the heavy gear. I now have gone back to the basics and fish for what ever is biting, and honestly it's made me love fishing again. I suggest to all anglers to quit limiting yourself to just one species, IMO thats whats hurting the sport of fishing.

[urban cowboy]

Hey Rum river rat,

If your boat is pointing one direction and your trolling motor is down then you are probably skirting that direction.

Common sence bro.

[sheephead2]

I was out on metro lake and a 2 guys were chucking around a point heading west I went to the other side of point. started to get my trolling motor down they hightailed around the point and started chucking at my boat then my buddy said theses guys are pi## at us so they started there motor up floored it and came within 20 feet from us wide open with a nice wake I was at least 200 yards away planing on going behind them . I did not even cast yet .

[ryanmitchell]

This topic is depressing and enraging. I would like to harness in the good and block out the bad. I would like to dismiss it and shake it off, but that is just not possible. Sometimes it is so bad you have to leave and move, other times I want to chase these boats down, and well who knows. I have had more unmemorable experiences with pontooner and recreational boats than anything else. I don't butt heads with many other anglers. If they are on a spot, I go to another and/or come back later. Pontooners cutting between your boat and the shore (la la la, oh isn't that a nice home Gertrude, waive to the fisherman, did they just cast out in front of our boat Gertrude?), with the shore being an average topraider cast away, leaves me dumbfounded. My confidence in the area is shot after that as I feel the water has been disturbed. Skiers have jammed real close to my boat a couple times as well. It comes with the territory though with all the beings in the world, some of which were not raised properly in life or boating etiquette.

[RumRiverRat]

Hey Rum river rat,

If your boat is pointing one direction and your trolling motor is down then you are probably skirting that direction.

Common sence bro.

So if a boat is moving along a stretch of shoreline no other boat is allowed to pull 75yards, 175 yards, 575 yards, 1075 yards in front of that boat and start fishing?

The people complaining in this thread about people taking their spots or pulling in ahead of them as they are trolling need to realize they do not own the water.

I have plenty of common SENSE.

[Shawn Kellett]

RRR, you seem to be one of the people we're p!ssed about. If a guy's fishing a spot let him fish it. All you're doing by pulling in is budding in line like a 3 year old.

As you said they don't own the water, neither do you. In that case it's FIRST COME FIRST SERVE; the first guy has the right of way.

Maybe you should post your rig so we all can know who you are. This way the rest of us can "not own the water" 75 yards in front of you all day long.

[bronzeback]

You probably don't run into a lot of these issues on the Rum anyway, not that that is important. Apparently both of you(urban and Rumrat) missed the discussion about that post earlier, and there was no need for you to bring it up again, just beating a dead horse.

There is a reasonable distance in which someone can pull in in front of you, but to be honest if you're working a weedline and someone jumps in in front of you you're going to be re-fishing their "dirty water". And some people say they "like" to do it, but to be honest I'm sure they don't prefer it.

[Duffman]

You guys really need to start filming some of these escapades, it's amazing how peoples attitudes and actions change once when they realize they are being filmed.

[b1gf1sh1]

Quote:

And some people say they "like" to do it, but to be honest I'm sure they don't prefer it.

here's me on a weekend packed to the hilt lake... i'm the one just outside your ''muskiespace'' fakeing like i'm jigging for walleye, watching you but not letting you know it. i'll even wave at you if you ''catch'' me looking your way. might even yell where the heck you get crappie in this lake? and when you get a follow and your figure 8 doesn't work i'll know it but you won't know i know it, because i'm acting like i'm trying to untangle a knot or retying so i look oblivious. then when you leave to come back later i'll slide in and get your fish.

or i could be the guy with binoculars looking at ten boats casting a bunch of water... waiting... just waiting.

but that was a long time ago. now i don't fish lakes. wink wink.

side note. by and large i've found river anglers more adept at ethics than lakers. most are better boaters overall than lakers too IMO. i'm not sure if i could narrow it to one reason because it's muli-facetted. sure you get the fly-by-night newbies and visitors that don't know better but not too often. it starts with the fact you drive a boat for several miles at a time on a river, for an hour sometimes. unlike most lake's where you go maybe five minutes max and shut it down. practice makes a better more informed boater. but i think the biggest reason for ethics is the amount of ''fishable'' water on a river is humungous compared to most lakes. fishable muskie water on the croix for example (just muskies) matches pretty much any lake around minnesota. all of it is accesessable all the time. big lakes are only fishable if a boat can safely get to it. try a 14 footer on mille lacs once. most wouldn't go out very far i'm sure. heck i'm chicken in my 18 footer. on a river pretty much the whole thing is get-to-able in any boat. maybe not when it's real busy. but most times it is. put the mississippi in this and there's not a single lake in this state that has more ''fishable'' water.

just sayin' if you want true ettiquette, rivers, IMO, offer some of the best anywhere when your talking fishing folk. pleasure boaters not so much because they drive houses out there and can't really help it. but they can only go so many places with big boats. easy to avoid.

but river fishers by rule are pretty tight lipped about those honey holes to strangers. so don't even bother asking without a smile and a cup of coffee handy. we're suckers for that.

[urban cowboy]

Originally Posted By: urban cowboy*

Hey Rum river rat,

If your boat is pointing one direction and your trolling motor is down then you are probably skirting that direction.

Common sence bro.

So if a boat is moving along a stretch of shoreline no other boat is allowed to pull 75yards, 175 yards, 575 yards, 1075 yards in front of that boat and start fishing?

The people complaining in this thread about people taking their spots or pulling in ahead of them as they are trolling need to realize they do not own the water.

I have plenty of common SENSE.

Think about it... thats not what we are saying. This is either 1 of 3 things and I dont say this in a disrespectfull way.

You dont muskie fish very often on public waters,

or

You have never experienced this on the water.

or

You are the guy that cuts people off and cant understand where we are comming from.

[jclund]

This is why I hate most Muskie fisherman. Most are in too much of a hurry and are only worried about catching Thier Fish. I see people anchoring and casting a spot for 3 or 4 hours. I fish tonka alot and I get more respect from jet skiers than other fisherman. I also notice they do not care if you fish the same spot if your fishing for bass(muskie fishing with bass lure with open face muskie gear). They only care if your throwing big lures. I see people catch muskies in front of me quite a few times. The only time it really [PoorWordUsage] me off was when the boat who caught a 46in muskie in front of us was trying to rub it in our face that they caught it instead of us. What an Ahole. I go fishing for fun and sometimes or many times I get skunked. Thats the way it goes. Muskie fisherman just need to lighten up a little bit. Go do some trout fishing or pan fising sometime.