Worst Fishing Etiquette You've Encountered?

["hamma"]

  Poor etiquette on the water? the heck you say.,...lol. 

 Over the past 50 some odd years of my fishing, you could say I've come across a few. Most on the water, some at the ramp, and even some at the local coffee shop nearest the ramp. There are people everywhere, and whenever you get strangers together there's bound to be disagreements. It just seems that you come across more while angling your favorite areas. They will buzz you close by while your bottom bouncing deep cover. They will run right over your line while topwater angling. They will invade the cove your fishing with jetski's providing incessive, self induced, wave jumping. They will come up and ask questions in a demanding manner. They will spotsuck your every move for the entire day. They will provide unnecessary info at the ramp, and expect you to offer your best areas to fish in return. They will cut you off, on and off the water.,They will climb on your boat and just trash it, or be back fishing your best spots on their buddies boat every weekend after. The lovely lakefront homeowner that "owns" the area abutting "his" dock.

  But what burns me the most?,... is the unsafe morons that just dont care. Whether its ignorance, or arrogance, doesn't really matter.  Safety should be number 1 for EVERY boater. Boating can be dangerous enough, even without considering mental aptitude. But, when lack of mental aptitude is added to already  dangerous activities, only bad things can happen.

 Consider the idiot thats towing a water skier, and watching the skier instead of his boats path. OR,. the moron that is beyond drunk, and is, as ZZ Top puts it: "Driving While Blind",... OR,. the putz thats cruising on "his" lake, on a 35 ft cabin cruiser, showing off to the hot blonde sunning herself on the rear deck, and he's looking at her curves instead of where he's going. ..Sadly, the list goes on and on.

Spotsuckers, cut-off artists, and rude co-anglers drawn in a draw tourney, suck,.. while tourney angling, I have dealt with them all, believe me. Ive been frontended,... pulled off the spot I just livewelled the tournies lunker of the day from.,. denied my time on my spots,..etc. and this list goes on too. 

 Nonetheless,...safety issues take the cake.

  Please, by all means, I beg all of you, boat safely

 

[Torn Thumb]

Off topic, but are most co-anglers usually random draw types or is that a less frequent format? I couldn't imagine fishing with a stranger on any boat let alone an expensive one.

[BrianSnat]

Not anglers, but in NJ on some lakes people seem to think the boat ramp is a beach, You pull up and they are sitting in beach chairs, laying on towels and wading in the water in front of the ramp.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is with that?

[MikeWright]

The one thing that made me upset were the guys that blowfish in my area. I probably will get some type of grief from some bowfisherman on here. But what I encountered was 50 lbs of carp and gar just thrown in the parking lot with huge gaping holes in them. For starters, why kill something just for your self satisfaction? Might sound like a hippie...but last and not least...why throw them in the parking lot? Why not chum them up and feed them to the perch and cats? Ignorance in my eyes...

[deaknh03]

On August 24, 2016 at 3:31 PM, davecon said:

Torn Thumb,

I was surprised that New Yorkers and the guys from Mass. were not the worst offenders. Don't see that many from Mass. and the New Yorkers       are not as bad as I thought.

It's those 2 other states that will remain nameless that are by far and away the worst.

Now when it comes to going to a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game I have never seen such behavior from adults as I do from Red Sox fans !

Yankee fans root and cheer for their team and I get that. They are respectful and courteous of the home town fans. The Red Sox fans are a whole different story. Got to where I won't even go to the games when the Sox are here as I am afraid I will do something I will later regret. I guess I have mellowed with age.

Alaska and hawaii?

[Gundog]

1 hour ago, deaknh03 said:

Alaska and hawaii?

Got it on the first guess. 

[everythingthatswims]

I fished a few weekday evening tournaments, and there was one boat that would always come waaaaaay across the lake to cut my partner and I off when we were fishing. This didn't start until we finished 2nd place in one of the tournaments. Guys think they are playing defense or something. One time he cut us off and we just kept fishing behind them and I was SMOKING them on a frog, he got all upset and told us we were too close. 

I don't fish those tournaments anymore, it's silly.

[Jeff H]

These threads are, well for me they are just difficult to read.  I have seen many instances of plain old idiocy and blatant ignorance from other anglers/competitors and recreational boaters as well as property owners over the years.  Common sense and courtesy are at all time lows in todays "Me and Mine" society.  It's pretty sickening the mucked up attitudes some people carry with them to public waters these days.  It's sad or even sickening to read this kind of stuff but it is reality.

[A-Jay]

On ‎8‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 5:08 PM, Tracker22 said:

Tell me this...sometimes I paddle up to other fishermen and strike up fishing conversations (I'm really trying to find out what's  biting). Most are glad to talk, others are standoffish. I never stay but a minute. Am I wrong for interrupting them?

Yes.

Unless there's a sign hanging off the stern . . .

A-Jay

[MassYak85]

On 8/25/2016 at 5:08 PM, Tracker22 said:

Tell me this...sometimes I paddle up to other fishermen and strike up fishing conversations (I'm really trying to find out what's  biting). Most are glad to talk, others are standoffish. I never stay but a minute. Am I wrong for interrupting them?

Personally I love it when people paddle/drive by and want to chat for a minute. Especially if both sides are honest and aren't misleading the other just for the hell of it (obviously tournaments are different and I do not fish them). 

[Ktho]

On 8/25/2016 at 2:08 PM, Tracker22 said:

Tell me this...sometimes I paddle up to other fishermen and strike up fishing conversations (I'm really trying to find out what's  biting). Most are glad to talk, others are standoffish. I never stay but a minute. Am I wrong for interrupting them?

When I'm fishing I'm typically pretty focused and don't like people talking to me. I see it like I'm on the basketball court or football field, if you wouldn't walk out and talk to people while they're playing a game then don't do to it me when I'm fishing. If I'm at the ramp or eating lunch I don't mind talking to be people but it's annoying when I'm focused on fishing. If i already know someone it's different but I definitely don't like meeting people for the first time on the water while I'm casting.

[S. Sass]

Guess it depends on different circumstances. I've always wanted to think fishing was a pleasure not so serious. But I guess some take it to the next level.

All my uncle's,  my grand dad, and my  dad from my memory didn't ever act selfish or sneaky about where they fished to others or what they used either. They shared the sport with others. But I see a lot of that "my spot" going on as if it's a tournament and I know in several cases it was not. 

Yeah some days I might not really want to be bothered but honestly if someone spoke to me it's not the end of my fishing. As long as it wasn't some jerk flying in making a mess and being rude I can't say I'd be mad about it. 

 

[Columbia Craw]

I would like to think I've met more nice, friendly, courteous engaging anglers than those demonstrating poor etiquette, although they do exist.  When I do, I address it like Woodrow F. Call in the movie Lonesome Dove.  " I can't stand rude behavior in a man.....won't tolerate it."  Google it.

[jr231]

Hate to be a nag but Am I the only one disappointed to find all the baseball talk ? There's another thread called "everything else" 

I've enjoyed reading the experiences about fishing  though. 

[Bluebasser86]

12 hours ago, MikeWright said:

The one thing that made me upset were the guys that blowfish in my area. I probably will get some type of grief from some bowfisherman on here. But what I encountered was 50 lbs of carp and gar just thrown in the parking lot with huge gaping holes in them. For starters, why kill something just for your self satisfaction? Might sound like a hippie...but last and not least...why throw them in the parking lot? Why not chum them up and feed them to the perch and cats? Ignorance in my eyes...

I bowfish, and I understand the concern. I don't eat them, but I am usually able to find people who will and give them away. In the cases where I can't (usually when I have a bunch of silver or bighead carp), I'll find a remote shoreline to deposit them. Nature takes care of them, and people don't have to smell or see them. Dumping them next to a ramp or in a parking lot is akin to tournament guys "releasing", dead fish, it just looks bad. 

Most rough fish have few predators and very small numbers are removed by hook and line fishermen and can reproduce in large numbers. Bowfishermen help to curb the populations, but just like many examples in this thread about other anglers, some bad apples do the rest of us no good in the PR department. 

["hamma"]

21 hours ago, Torn Thumb said:

Off topic, but are most co-anglers usually random draw types or is that a less frequent format? I couldn't imagine fishing with a stranger on any boat let alone an expensive one.

 The different format tournies are ones you "choose" to enter into. albeit at the club level or a state level. Are the draw formats less frequent? In some states,.. yes. In our state of Massachusetts,.. B.A.S.S. recognizes two different affiliations, I believe one is a draw club format, and the other a team format. The team club format, is you and your partner fish together every tourney throughout the entire year. The draw club format is when you fish with a different person at every tourney. Good for a beginner, because you usually learn techniques and strategies,.(Which is what I fished).. But,..within the same year, I did fish  "team" tournies at the state level, with one of the anglers in my club. Which offers more of a payout, and the competativeness/strategy of a bigger tournaments atmosphere,...  more boats also meant bigger waters fished so learning the bigger waters in your area opens the door for,.. the state fishoffs, tourney of champs, etc. as they are usually held on the bigger lakes.

 But that should be a different thread altogether. Maybe I will start   one in the tournies page,...(which should prove to be good)

 

[MikeWright]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 Nature takes care of them, and people don't have to smell or see them. Dumping them next to a ramp or in a parking lot is akin to tournament guys "releasing", dead fish, it just looks bad.

See that's awesome to put them back in the water, dead or not, at least something will benefit from it. So you're saying those guys were probably in a tournament? I'm guessing that was where they "weighed in" at? As for as bowfishing goes, I'm sure it's fun as hell and it doesn't look all that easy, so thanks for not making the parking lot a carcass lot!!!

[Bluebasser86]

51 minutes ago, MikeWright said:

See that's awesome to put them back in the water, dead or not, at least something will benefit from it. So you're saying those guys were probably in a tournament? I'm guessing that was where they "weighed in" at? As for as bowfishing goes, I'm sure it's fun as hell and it doesn't look all that easy, so thanks for not making the parking lot a carcass lot!!!

They have bow fishing tournaments, but I'm referring to bass tournament guys that release dead at the ramp at the end of the night. 

It is a lot of fun and it's very challenging. 

[JT Bagwell]

I have witnessed this several times and it just drives me nuts:

There will be a family on a dock fishing with their kids and a tournament angler
will pull up and start fishing that same dock. We have the whole lake/river and these
people have their dock and that is it.

Looks bad for Bass anglers.

[strikefc34]

My all time favorite....fishing a championship on Shawano Lake, we had an early boat number and pulled up on a weedline. Next boat stops 30 yards in front of us and goes the same direction on the weedline. A third boat running about 70mph goes between our boats to get to the bank.

[scaleface]

13 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

Hate to be a nag but Am I the only one disappointed to find all the baseball talk ? There's another thread called "everything else" 

I've enjoyed reading the experiences about fishing  though. 

This went over my head . 

Heres one . I'm working my way down the bank , coming up on a lay down tree . This guy pulls in front of me and fishes it . Whatever ,   Later I catch up with him and ask if hes doing any good and he replies  " Yesterday I caught a six lb bass right there where I cut you off. "  .    

[jr231]

@scaleface did you tell him you seen a trailer with a flat tire right where he parked ?

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, scaleface said:

This went over my head . 

Earlier in this thread there are a couple of posts where MLB fans are discussed briefly.

Apparently, Yeajray231 is quite a stickler when it comes to staying on topic  . . . .

A-Jay

[jr231]

Ha-ha @A-Jay not exactly ! As long as it's about fishing 

[A-Jay]

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 0:15 PM, Yeajray231 said:

Ha-ha @A-Jay not exactly ! As long as it's about fishing 

I hear ya ~ Wait until the winter doldrums set in around here.

We're liable to see just about Anything . .

Here ya go - this may help prepare you

A-Jay