etiquette?

[rainbowchaser]

I was wading along in the shallows of a local backwater and catching a few fish tonight when a boat comes in and anchors to cast an area about fifty feet in front of me. I kept fishing along while wading around their bobbers until I was a past them by about as far as they had initaially been in front of me. Then they started their motor and moved about that far ahead of me again. When I kept going along I was soundly cursed for not respecting the water they were already fishing. I ended up telling them both they could come and do something about it if they could. Not real likely as that water is still fairly cold and has a trecherous bottom in there. Should I have turned back to the launch ramp when they came in there? Not many other options though I could have stopped fishing until I was by them.

[CharlaineC]

i have this issue often. I find that if they keep going in front of you then accidently cutting their lines and they stop after two or three times

[rainbowchaser]

C'mon Char I'm trying to avoid a brawl not get one rolling. If I wanted to fight I have a what they tell me is a fairly rough bar just down the street to go to without messing up my fishing.

[LadyFisher]

Unfortunately there really are people who were either "born in a barn" or "raised by wolves." Your safety and peace of mind are much too important to try and educated them on fishing etiquette. Take a short walk away, eat a sandwich or a snack....they will leave, especially if you aren't there to show them where the fish are *S*

[Betty Hiner]

Jim,
I think there are times "other" fishermen are just looking to instigate trouble ... or maybe not "trouble" trouble, but trying to be funny ... which they are NOT either!
Mayhaps that is the time to just sit on the bank for a bit, and hope they move on (knowing they're not going to ruffle your feathers). Hate it when that happens, especially when it cuts into your rehab time ... but some guys are like that.

[hungNtree]

This is probably NOT the correct way to handle the situation. however the same thing happened to my Uncle Cordell one time. (He's long since passed away, but this story will never leave my family ) Uncle Cordell was a good man, sort of. He never left home without his pistol, I don't know why, and I've always been sort of afraid to ask. Some guys did the exact same thing to him that happened to you. That day all he had to drink was a coke, but the other guys could only see he was drinking something out of a can. he turned his cap sideways a little and started yelling and acting drunk. Then he started shouting at something down in the water, pulled his pistol out and started shooting down in the water. The other guys hightailed it out of there. Of course the fish probably did too, but I'll bet the other guys thought twice before trying that stunt again.

hNt

PS That is a true story. One of the deacons in my church was with him and can swear that all he had to drink was a coke. I'm not sure they fished together anymore after that though.

PSS Uncle Cordell was my great uncle and this was years ago. You'd probably go to jail for that now a days and in my opinion rightfully so. I just thought you might get a chuckle out of the story and maybe brighten up your day a little.

[BSwan]

Far too many people these days just don't get it. I was on the Big Hole one day and worked my way across the far rock-strewn bank to the prime fishing area. It was 20 minutes or so of really arduous work. I sidled into position, worked out some line, and as I was about to cast, PLOP! A large Mepps spinner was lobbed all the way from across the river by some guy who had just gotten there. Well, I waved my arms and made all sorts of juvenile demonstrations both visible and verbal to no avail. The pia just kept on casting. I must say he was pretty good; he never once missed the spot I had worked so hard to reach. The traditions and etiquette of the sport just aren't being handed off the way they once were.

[dudley]

False albacore (little tunny) are speedsters. Most people run 'n gun chasing them around to get a shot.
When you fish from a kayak, you need to be more patient. There's a pattern to their feeding and if you sit and wait, they'll come to you

One afternoon I was doing just that biding my time when a man with his young daughter on the back came roaring up on their jet ski and proceeded to do doughnuts around me.
The guy couldn't hear me swearing at him but the young girl was watching me, a horrified look on her face. After three or four times around off they went, presumably to harass someone else.

He latter came back to apologize. Apparently he thought he was giving me a thrill, but the girl got it through his thick skull that I was fishing. At least he came back.
I can think of a number of times when people in power boats have purposely bore down on me and swerved off at the last second, laughing their fool asses off.
Real funny

[rainbowchaser]

Dudly, my dad used to tell a story about one of the first real speed boats in our area. The owner would buzz anchored fishermen and turn sharply just before he hit them. After a couple weekends of this he did it to two guys who worked at the local foundry. They pulled out a pair of wrist rockets and put foundry stars right through the bottom of his hull at six feet. When he sued them for wrecking his boat the judge thew it out of court. The guy couldn't show any legitimate reason for having the bottom of his hull exposed at that range. I sometimes wonder if similar logic would apply today to jet skiers hit by a big clouser minnow within my very limited casting range.

[Kaboom1]

Jim

My first thought was to whip out the 44 mag and put 6 holes at the waterline, but I decided that it would be a good waste of ammo. Just smile and wave, because you can't fix stupid.

Brad