Civility among ice fishermen

[ozzie]

Each situation is different so there should be different things to expect or consider but if you are all alone and people pull up and fish in the hole you just walked away from then they should at least say "hey do ya mind company" but if your in a big area with alot of people hole hopping you come to expect that behavior with no words exchanged.

[Wanderer]

*Would you consider it civil to, without asking, start fishing in a hole another person drilled immediately after they move to fish another hole 30 feet away (working a small grid area around your house) without asking if that person is going to return? (Everyone was hole hopping out there.)

I get to my second hole outside and begin catching fish immediately. A group of guys drive by and see my fish next to my hole, immediately turn, and pull their truck within 30 feet of me. They start drilling 20 feet away from me.

As soon as my hole goes cold, I move over to my next hole which is only 30 feet away. Before I got to the next one, a guy walks over to the hole I just left and starts to fish it. Well they caught one, then they proceeded to swiss cheese the ice to within 20 feet of our house. They never spoke to us. Not even a "Hey, you gonna fish that hole again? Mind if I try it?" I would have gladly said "yes I'm coming back, but go ahead and give it a shot."

It sounds like the setting might've been tough to tell if you were the one who drilled ALL the holes? They pulled up to an area that sounds like it was already engaged in some combat fishing. Sometimes hard to tell who's holes are who's or who belongs to what shack and what group.

To answer your question though, YES, they could've been civil enough to at least say Hi, how's it going? We could all be civil enough to say that to one another.

[centralmnguy]

I have never understood why people think they need to fish a crowd. I would rather find my own hump or point to fish than someone elses let alone their holes they have drilled. I know the regs say at least 10ft. away from another angler but that is to close for comfort for me & wish it was 10 yards not feet.

Early ice my neighbor & I had a similar incident where a guy tried to park his chevy silverado & sleeper house in between our houses (we have small houses)...there wasn't even a foot of ice yet & it was already slushy all around us. Ice was popping & water was coming up our holes in the house. We both came flying out our houses at the same time & asked the guy what the "heck" are you doing?? (not in that nice of words) He had no business driving out there yet & he should have known better than to try & squeeze between us like that. He moved further down the line but later I measured with a tape measure & he was 12 ft from my neighbors house & 8 ft from mine...some people don't have a clue or courtesy of others!!

[mtbucket]

I sometimes see people referencing some regulation that stipulates a 10' distance between anglers. The only MN regulation that I have ever seen is regarding 10' minimum distance between shacks, not people. 10' between anglers would really impact the number of anglers that could legally fish inside a shack, the distance between you and your kid or buddy on the ice and the distance between holes at an ice fishing contest.

[birchbranch]

There are knuckleheads everywhere........ So happy I live up north where that can be kept to a minimum.

[centralmnguy]

mtbucket...that is what was meant 10 ft. between our houses not each angler...I think that is common knowledge don't you think???

Sorry if I didn't state that clearly enough for you!

[MaxGoldman]

Centralmnguy I don't think mtbucket was referring to your post. Earlier in the thread other posts stated something along the lines of claiming 10ft around your holes legally, or reminding someone of the law if they are within' 10ft. There is nothing wrong with these posts, they are just misleading in that there is no specific talk about setting shacks up or not, which is most likely why mtbucket posted. Don't see any need to get all worked up, we are talking about us anglers being civil, eh?

[centralmnguy]

Sorry i guess i though he was referring to my post since i stated 10' from another angler...nobody getting worked up lol...just clarifying what I meant.

[mtbucket]

Max is right. My comments weren't directed at anyone in particular. I have just noticed it in this thread, and others. I even had a friend that was convinced of that by reading it so often on forums. I won a beer on that one.