Dock fishing upsetting owners

[vis]

personally i was raised to be friendly and ask the owners permission first. generally speaking it has always worked wonders for me they seem to just want the respect and courtesy and are usually fine with it

[ted4887]

personally i was raised to be friendly and ask the owners permission first. generally speaking it has always worked wonders for me they seem to just want the respect and courtesy and are usually fine with it

Do you mean to retrieve a lure, or to fish a dock?

[HellaBass]

I'd just not fish them, there are no fish there anyways

[Igor Drackenwolf]

Since a dock or lift is private property in public water, there is no hard and fast answer other than common sense and courtesy. The dock is the dockowner's, and the water, weeds, bottom, and anything else in the water - including the fish - are for public use.

The homeowner takes the same risk placing his dock in the water as he does parking his vehicle at the grocery store. It might get dinged. Most people will use common sense and respect in an effort not to damage someone else's property. Some people won't. Other times accidents happen; mistakes are made.

Responsibility for peacefully dealing with this dynamic falls on two people: the fisherman and the homeowner. If either of the two are asshats, and you get confrontations.

[marineman]

I live on a northern metro lake and we get a lot of dock fishermen. I usually talk to them to see how they are doing. Last summer, I asked a guy how the fishing was. He replied that they were doing okay until my neighbor (5 homes north of us) jumped in the lake and started swimming after them! Now, that's what you would call over-reacting.

[vis]

both cases actually, seems how i don't have a boat i usually fish from shore and sometimes asking permission gets me a long ways not to mention have met some nice people that way. actually had a guy offer to let me use his boat when i was fishing by coon lake last year. a little courtesy can go a long ways

[tolle141]

I think it's up to the owners to be a little understanding and us anglers to just become better casters. Personally I'm with the other guy earlier in that keeping all those lures has to be a perk.