Marker buoy question

[shorefisher]

What do you think about fishing around or passing through someones marker buoys they have put on to say mark a rock pile, reef what have you. I have come across this problem and would like to know what you do? Heading out to fish a rock bar and find someone there fishing and they have the bar marked off with buoys and trolling around bar (buoys spreed out over 50 yards or so). Do you still fish the bar? move on and let them have the whole area they have marked or ? Thanks for your thoughts. I just feel funny fishing next to someones buoys and end up not fishing where I would like to.

[mtreno]

if thats where your heading then fish there. i quit using them myself cause to many people then think there is fish there rather then doing there own homework. but if thats where your heading and where you want to fish then by all means drop a line.

i have been know to go throw one or two over nothing just to see people stop in and check out what is there.

[WigglinMyWorm]

going around the buoys no big deal going inbetween buoy and other boat...just plain rude.....there is enough room on the lake for everyone.... don't crowd.

[mtreno]

rude - well maybe - but the other boat has no more of a right to be there than you do and there marker does not give anyone any special rights.

i call it getting mille lacsed. it happens to everyone and we have all done it before. move in - fish your spot - move out.

i have fished so close to other boats i can read there sonar better than i can read my own. it sucks - but its part of fishing

now what would i do - maybe move off to the side or sit outside of there trolling pattern. give they guy some space just cause we was there first - or join em - hey he already thinks you stealing his spot so why not hop on his pattern for a bit. you can stay way out of his way and work the same thing he is. see alot of this night trolling on mille lacs in the fall.

[fiskyknut]

Marker buoy's? We call them tourist attractor buoys up here on the woods! I have a teal decoy I have painted up to look kinda like a gull, I get some strange looks and laughs when we motor right on up to it and yank it out after the fishing is done.

fiskyknut

[cjac]

With today's equipment you can have "electronic bouys" on your boat. GPS routes do the trick for me! I think I might have to throw one or two out as a diversion!

Hey mtreno, this made me think of the "Chigger" video again when he throws the bouy out in "400 to 500 feet deep"!!! In honor of bass opener, I watched it again today!!

[mtreno]

wow thats creepy - i just was looking for that again...... you heading to WI this weekend for opener?

[cjac]

Here's Chigger

Chigger

No Wisconsin 'skis this weekend. Cabin is out west on Rice Lake by Paynesville. It's a wind tunnel out there as it is, and the forecast is calling for high winds, so I may be hiding in the bays looking for a few bass.

"Where's that Ken Kataro at, if he done get up on my spot again......I'm gonna have to talk to Tom Mann" Too funny!!

Have a good and safe weekend EVERYBODY!

Chris

[eyepatrol]

Personally speaking, if someone has marked a spot or location with buoys and is fishing it, I won't even come close. I don't like it when people do it to me, therefore I won't do it to them. Plenty of other places to fish on a lake than trying to hop in with someone else.

Had it happen to us on Winnie the one and only time we fished it. Found a hump out in the middle of nowhere, through out the buoy to fish it, low and behold everyone who was going wfo past us slowed down, turned around and either dropped anchor or trolling motor and were zigzagging all around us and the buoy. This is one topic I feel strongly about....go find your own spot I say....I shouldn't have to find the fish for you (unless you want to pay me!). Needless to say on Winnie, after there was a cluster#$%^ of boats around us, we pulled the buoy and left. Wasn't worth it, even though we pulled 12 nice 'eyes and some jumbos from the spot.

[harvey lee]

GPS and mark the spot.They cant see that. Or just throw a couple a couple hundreds away and let the rest fish there and move.

[ozzie]

if you have a buoy out and are anchored by it as long as they don't fish between you and the buoy who cares. If you are trollong an area what gives you the right to that area to mark it and consider it your area to fish???? Granted if there are other spots and the lake is not crowded I stay away from people but if you are on a lake like Mille Lacs, Winnie, Minnetonka or other popular lakes you have to come to expect this..........Buoys are good marking devices but they also attractants and attention getters to the other fisherman!!!!!

[Rost]

I think it's a judgement call between both anglers. In Shorefisher's example, it sounds like the person had multiple buoys (50 yrds apart) on what must have been a fairly large reef.

Any experienced and respectful angler knows when he has crossed the line onto somone elses spot. On the flip side an experienced angler knows he can't claim an overly large area.

There's a difference between the guy marks off a 15'x20' rock pile and the guy that dumps 25 buoys around Fischer's Flat (mille lacs) and thinks he owns it.

It's all about using your brain and having some courtesy.

[cliffy]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves!! I try to give others a lot of room on the water...sorta treat their space the way I would like my space treated. I agree, markers can be nothing more then a big calling card for others.....but who is to say that I “own” that spot...I don’t! The bottom line is that we have to be good to each other or else we all are not going to enjoy ourselves on the water. Boy, was that a warm and fuzzy statement..??...I have learned that there are idiots everywhere and it does not pay to get too worked up over someone elses poor behavior....

cliffy

[eyepatrol]

I would agree to a certain extent that marking and fishing a large expansive flat or peice of structure is one thing and marking a spot on the spot is another. We were on a small hump, topped out at 8' or so and was probably 60' in diameter (somewhat guessing as it was 10yrs ago). It wasn't very big, that's for certain, and we had 7 other boats stop by and all were crossing in front of and behind us to the point we felt it wasn't worth getting our lines tangled in theirs (actually vice versa). Winnie is a huge lake, so we picked up and left. No reason to be crammed in that tight just for a fish, 'cause fishing is more to us than getting in there and gettin' 'em. Time alone on the water away from people is much more important.

I think it's all got to do with courtesy. 99.99% of the time if I'm heading to a spot and someone has marked it and is fishing it, I'm off to spot number two. I could care less if someone is fishing the spot I wanted to fish, there is ALWAYS, ALWAYS other spots on the lake.

If others want to hone in on where I'm fishing because I have a marker out, so be it. Usually I'm on a spot-on-the spot location, and if it gets crowded, I'll just pick up, drop the big motor and open her up out of there. No respect for me fishing the spot-on-the spot location? No respect for you (whomever it may be) either. Most subjects and posts on here I'm not so worked up about, but this one ranks right up there at probably No. 1.

[LoonASea]

I typicaly dont have a problem with some one moving in on my marked spot and anchoring ...what pulls my trigger is when some one with a motor with bad rings decides to make the area an obstical course trolling in and out of the area ..it doesnt take long to spook fish off a spot with a bunch of noise.....I have had guys hook my bouys ...pull them out of the water and drop them where ever its convienent ...I now use my GPS to find structure/cover but will at times put out a bouy to mark that spot on the spot ...its hard to say whats worse ...putting out bouys or using your landing net to attract attention from other boats

[eyepatrol]

Wish I had GPS, but don't. Next year when we get our new boat, it'll have it and I'll be using IT instead! And yes, landing nets are another angler attractant, which is why I hand-land all my fish 20" and under when there are boats in the vacinity.

[tomahawk]

I dont mind if a guy throws a marker to mark a structure.I will assume he doesnt have GPS and has the marker as a refrence point. What I do mind is when he throws it directly on a breakline where I and other boats are trying to fish.Throw it 20 or 30 feet off of the breakline instead of right on it please.Now if you are on a flat or a large shoreline break and you throw one because you got a double or somthing and you just want to work the area over a little that to me is just fine Ill give you your space. But dont drift 100 yards from it and expect everyone to stay away from your marker.Throw it work the area and pull it when tou move away.My main problem with marker guys is when it is right on the breakline!

[V-12 Merlin]

I remember one time last year, when a guy was using a marker for drifting - using it as a reference point, and drifting past it maybe 100 yards. At first, I wondered whose marker it was, because there didn't appear to be any boats in the area. But, then I noticed this guy motor upwind of the marker, drift past it, and the repeat the process. It took quite a while to do that, do it wasn't easy for someone who just pulled up to figure out whose marker it was. Still, I stayed away from it - a lot of water out there, and a lot of fish, not just in that one spot.

Last weekend, it was really windy, and I used a marker to help me stay on one spot. As other anglers would get close, I got nervous that they'd see the marker and think we were catching all kinds of fish. But, everyone was very courteous, and we never had to compete against other anglers for that one little spot.

I just got a GPS this year, and that will be a great replacement for a lot of markers, but not all (I don't have an anchor drag alarm on my GPS).

I've said it before, but a little courtesy can go a long way. Even if other people are acting like morons, I really appreciate it when someone is courteous to me.

[joe joe]

here is a trick for keeping people away from your maker go get a sea gul decoy it works

[deepportage01]

if you don't want somone to see your buoy paint it black/dark blue [make it look like water]I have been doing this for years.if someone has put a buoy out and I see it I will take a look see but not if they are there.my thought on the whole thing is if you put a buoy out and leave don't come back when somone is fishing that spot and tell them to leave you maked it for everyone to see it's not your spot if somone is there.

[cold one sd]

I find that I get company right after throwing a marker out. When I troll plugs and get hung up in a tree, I retrieve the plug and throw a marker in the spot where the tree is and keep trolling. It is really amazing when you see 4 people in a boat backtrolling around the marker and all four are hung up in the same tree and they do it more than once. It gives more meaning to the word knothead.

[archer59]

I've been using GPS for about 4 years. Best thing invented. I have marker buoy's but never use them any more. As you all know you just have to have a fish on and you will draw a crowd. Luckily I fish big water most of the time. I don't need the aggravation of the crowd thing. Fishing is great, just to be on the water is great, catching fish is a bonus. ( I can't believe I just said that bonus thing LOL )Anyway relax, have some fun, and be safe.

NIck

[Mr.Perch]

On smaller central MN lakes folks have started to use the marker as a decoy. they toss it far enough from where there spot is to draw the crowd away.