You've got to be kidding!!

[mojoputter]

So I'm fishing a tourney on a lake on the east side of town, Big C. The wind was blowing pretty good and we were moving along the shore on the east side of the lake and picking apart the docks as were floating by. The wind was blowing pretty good so I didn't really have to use the trolling motor all that much. I see another fisherman and his partner coming up behind us and really don't pay to much attention to him, but he is moving much faster then we are. He finally catches up to us and literally just keeps going right around us, I mean cuts right in front of us 20 feet away. I said " You've got to be kidding, your going to cut right in front of us" he said "Yes, were moving faster then you" I was speechless for a few seconds because I couldn't believe what this Meat head just did. I could of done some thing really stupid, but just held back and let the knucklehead move on by. I've met some of the nicest people fishing tourneys, but not this guy.

Edited June 7, 2015 by eyeguy 54

[CCGinMN]

Yeah, that stuff used to bother me but now it's so commonplace that I have come to accept it.  If he was in your tournament, you might be able to check the rules and file a complaint.  Quite a few tournaments have distance rules.  I wouldn't though; nobody likes a whiner.  You're better off venting on a board like this and letting it go.  Etiquette has really taken a back seat in the last few years.  LOL, imagine how he drives.

[mojoputter]

He wasn't in our tourney, but if he was, I would of mentioned without pointing him out to the whole group, to use a little common sense and courtesy while on the lake.

[RuddyDuck]

He probably threw his cig out of the window on the way to the lake too. It is the me first era these days.

[mwal]

I just shake my head and watch them fish. Nothing surprises me. If you would of mentioned you were in a tournament it would of only caused bad blood. Most people are opposed to us saying we ruined their lake yada yada. I could tell you stories about tournament anglers of years past that would camp on a structure and patrol it and scream and yell at people trying to sunny fish with pontoons etc or  bass fish etc. I have bass fished on vermillion and had a muskie tournament punk who was fishing 1/4 mile away race over to me and start screaming it was his spot didn't i know it was such and such tournament. I said I am bass fishing  good luck to you and kept casting he promptly trimmed his motor up and sprayed me with water he was that close. Wish I would of got his boat registration numbers. I think you are better just biting your lip and dealing with it the way you did.

 

Mwal

[MuskieFever]

Maybe you should speed up! Ha, couldn't resist.

[bassfshin24]

I was fishing a tourney last year and there is a very well known rocky area on this lake and everyone knew there would be quite a few boats fishing this area. Well I was the first to get there and other boats stopped on the spot as well but were spread out enough to make it comfortable to fish. Well there was one boat that was fishing off of the spot (I don't think he knew exactly where the rocks were) and I proceeded to catch 3 fish on a carolina rig in the first 10 minutes or so. Well I snagged my carolina rig on a rock so I trolled up to get it and when I finally got it removed the one boat that wasn't on the rocky area moved exactly on top of where I was. I could not believe it! I trolled back and pushed my way back to my spot but the guy wouldn't move and ended up being 10 yards away from my boat. I couldn't even cast to the right of me because it would have been right in front of their boat. At one point the guy in the back of his boat launched a cast all the way across my boat so I couldn't cast. I finally said "at least cast in front of your boat and not in front of mine". I was fishing this tourney solo so it felt pretty good when I ended up beating them in the tourney. Some people just have no common sense when it comes to fishing etiquette.

[Doufish2]

We fished a tourney on Minnetonka some yrs ago, had a guy actually throw rocks at us from "his" shoreline because we we fishing around and under his dock. Luckily, it wasn't my boat and luckily I have gitten much nicer as i have aged. Yrs ago, i would have had a much more tragic reaction. Also had a guy on Crystal in Burnsville actually come down to his dock, sprayed us with a hose so we would not fish under his dock. Ya just have to laugh at them

[RK]

It does seem like this kind of stuff has gotten worse over the years. Out muskie fishing on some lakes, I routinely see stuff that would have meant a fist fight at the boat ramp 20 years ago. 

I hate to say it, but sometimes tournament anglers are their own worst enemies in this regard. When one tournament angler behaves like a tool, all of them get painted with the same brush. A couple years ago I was on the lake my cabin is on, pitching a jig into a clump of rushes off by itself on a flat. The rush bed is maybe 20 yards across, with a band of really thick rushes on one face, and sparser rushes on the other three sides and in the middle. So I'm just starting to hit one end of the thick band, when a boat roars in on plane, drops their TM and darts in front of me to start pitching to the middle of the band, maybe 15 yards in front of me. Asked him what he was doing cutting me off, and his answer was "I'm fishing in a tournament" - as if that was some kind of excuse for cutting me off. I had a spectacular meltdown... 

The lakeshore owners yelling at you for fishing around a dock always amazes me. There's one dock on the lake my cabin is on that's stellar early in the season, and a 'conversation' with the owner has become kind of an annual event. I'll probably have it this weekend actually. I've had several tell me there was a law that says I can't fish within x number of feet of a dock ("you know, a lot of people think that there is...but there's not...") , threaten to call the sheriff ("Go ahead...I'll wait.") . Most of the time I try to be as respectful and friendly as I can while explaining that it's public water, including the water under their dock. Rock throwing or spraying with a hose would generate a call to the sheriff though - fishing around a dock isn't illegal, but angler harassment sure is...

 

[mojoputter]

I will avoid a dock if I see the owner close by, not worth the confrontation. But it is pretty funny when they threaten you while your floating and fishing in public water.

[delcecchi]

The other side of this is the guys who fish between the Rave and the docks of the folks next door.  It's all of 20 or 30 feet between the two.  

On the other hand I find a nice musky bait on the beach every once in a while.  Lots of slab wood out a little ways..

Some friends of ours get a little irritated by guys fishing close to their cabin alongside the white buoy that indicates "fish here" to some folks.  Many of them talk loud and don't watch what kind of language they use, expecially after dark.  It's legal but inconsiderate.

[TKaai]

I was skipping a jig under docks recently and a dock owner woman nagged me from up at the house. She yelled "would you please not fish under my dock? I mean, you just hit it and it made a sound". I said "my lure is lead and your dock is aluminum so it won't do anything to it." She didn't even have a boat on the dock so it's not like I could have damaged fiberglass or chipped any paint off of anything. I was pretty upset because the wind was blowing me around and it was raining. I can't relate to someone that would yell down from the comfort of their nice big house to a guy fighting the elements in a kayak to catch bass. It seems like a lot of dock owners don't understand that at certain times of the year bass bunch up under docks. The lake I was fishing has a dock about every 20 feet, almost around the whole lake, and it's about the only good structure to fish. I don't think she really knew what was going on, but I wish she would have kept to herself. I get tired of banter with dock owners anyways, even when it's friendly. I will probably just avoid docks more and more as I find lakes and areas that don't have homes all around them. I really wish there weren't docks at all and that no one could own land within a couple hundred feet of the shoreline, that'd be perfect. The lake I fished today has one public access area from a county road and someone posted "No Lake Access" signs about every 10 feet where the trees open up. There was about 5 feet between the shoreline and road and some home owner wants to call that their private property, yeah right. I was worried about my car the whole time I fished, although nothing happened.

[delcecchi]

I don't yell at people fishing my dock, I do chuckle some since the bottom is sand and the water is about two feet deep.  

[mojoputter]

Your dock would be safe when I'm fishing if thats the case, I need to see some kind of cover and a few sunnies swimming around prior to pitching