Worst Fishing Etiquette You've Encountered?

[BankBassing]

I'll share one other story from earlier this year.  I usually fish with my family from the local marina's dock.  The only time you really get a bite there is early morning or just about dark.  We usually go down in the evening for this 2 hour period that is decent.  We were down there, got all set up, and a boat is coming down the shoreline.  They are fishing the bank with these unbelievably bright lights on their boat.  They get to the dock, and, rather than getting past us and fishing the bank in the next available spot, they come so close to us we all reel in our lines for fear of getting tangled up with their boat, they continue at a ridiculously slow speed with the lights shining so brightly, I literally could hardly keep my eyes open at all even looking to the side.  It was probably only 30 seconds they were in our way, but they spooked the fish in our area, blinded us for probably another 2 minutes, and had us just sitting there like idiots looking into the sun.  I did say to my wife loud enough they could hear, "It's amazing they didn't put an off switch on those lights."  I honestly debated just casting my Carolina rig straight ahead and saying I couldn't see where they were because of the light.  I had just had to get on 2 kids with jetskis who were buzzing our lines at that same spot the day before, so I was not happy.  I like to think of myself as pretty laid back, but sometimes goofs turn you into the "Get off my lawn" old man.

[Acerty]

Being a bank fisherman, I have most issues when it comes to boaters who decide they "HAVE TO" fish where I am fishing or run the boat right in front of where I am clearly casting. The worst offenders being bow fisherman, who don't seem to care that I am knee deep or hip deep in the water and decide they need to buzz full bore as close as they can get to me and spotlight the entire area. Yes, there are more to these stories naturally.  I apologize if there's any bow fisherman here, but all the bow fisherman I've met in the last year do not put a good reputation out for you. 

The two most infuriating stories I have:

Buddy and I came to the local lake and decided to fish a common spot. Just a pier that juts partly into the lake with a lot of deep water access and rocks. I'm casting a plopper and on the third retrieve a Muskie surfaces and you can see its coming after my lure. Naturally, right as it surfaces, a red kayak rounds the fishing pier as close to the bank line as possible right in front of me. Not only do I have real quick get my lure back in, but the muskie surfaces again and you can see it clear as day about face and swim back out deep. Kayak dude looks at me, laughs, and keeps following the bank line of the pier. 

 

Story two:

Buddy and I seek out pretty remote areas, or so we think. We are out fishing and in a spot where we've had good success in the past where we've not seen any other people fishing in the past. So we just get there and decide to wade the water knee deep and start hearing pops of fish around us. You can see bright lights a small distance away but we think nothing of it. 3 casts in, 4 spot lights round the far corner maybe 300 yards down coming straight to us. Being late at night, we both hit our headlamps to let them know "hey there's fisherman out here." The boat keeps coming toward us, firing into the water as they inch ever closer. Finally at about 100 yards away, I get my flashlight out and just spotlight the boat. They curse me out for spotting them, never mind the fact they've blinded us for the last 10 minutes, and proceed to get as close as they can to us (I swear we could have touched the boat) and max throttle back to the other end of the lake.

[bigbill]

Me and my son were shore fishing close to each other. No one else is around the place. This guy shows up and gets inbetween us and says excuse me I want to make one cast.  I'm thinking when does my rod becomes a whopping stick. I held back but how rude.

My buddy is just home from nam. He was the guy they sent into caves with a 45. A little uneasy still. This guy would give you his shirt off his back. Do anything to help you. Ok he borrowed his dad's new boat. He's anchored and fishing. This boat pulls up and bumps his dad's boat. My buddy moves. The guy follows him and bumps the boat again. My buddy moves again. The guy follows him again and my buddy lost it. He pulls his 45 and tells the jerk he's going to put one round below the water line. The guy left.

This same buddy is with us all lined up in a cove shore fishing. A guy in a boat makes a pass so close to shore he cuts all our lines. My buddy picks up a rock and hits the guy in the boat. What a shot. Not all boaters are bad.

[A-Jay]

A-Jay

[2tall79]

Had a guy throw bricks and gravel into the water to dissuade me from fishing around his dock.

[Jack Fate]

On 8/24/2016 at 11:12 AM, visagelaid said:

Not with an angler but...I was fishing a tournament on Wilson Lake about 2 weeks ago.  We were fishing the bank off a channel, so you expect boats to speed by.  However, this one clown passes by us full trim doing about 60mph by about 25ft.  I understand boat traffic since we were just off channel, but really guy?  You couldn't give us 50ft?  Come on man....

Wilson Lake boaters are notorious for doing this. I have yet to figure out why

[Rhino68W]

Being a kayak fisherman I run into many jerk faced power boaters with big egos. This cat thought it would be cool to A. wake me from about 15 feet away. B. Pull up right behind me and start fishing around me C. Cast about 3 feet from my kayak. I keep a 3/4 oz jig tied on at all times anyways. Sometimes it comes in handy more than others. We exchanged words, and I invited him to the boat ramp. Keep in mind that I had been fishing one cove all morning and he pulls in about 2 hours after first light and starts this jazz. No tournaments going on, just leisure fishing. 

I'm not so small when I am on dry land. Ole buy didn't want any part of me then. I took his numbers off the boat and called the GW afterwards. He said to video his antics if there were a next time. 

[bigbill]

Me and my son were fishing from shore locally when a family walked by and the son started throwing rocks in the water near us. We left rather than argue. I live in a rural area.

[GORDO]

On 8/25/2016 at 5:06 PM, ww2farmer said:

Then I pulled each fish out of the livewell one at a time, calling out the weights, and tossing them in right into the area he was casting.

LMAO!! I would have felt bad about it afterwards too, crushed his self esteem. But I bet that is the last time he snakes people like that! 

[Tracker22]

Ok, my kayak stories. I was heading back to the ramp in my kayak. I'm following the shoreline about 75 yards out because the waves were white capping. Suddenly this ol fart on the bank starts hollering and cussing "YOU GOT MY LINE!". I knew he was crappie fishing and I was surprised since I was so far out. So I killed my motor and raised it. No line. He's still cussing and raising Cain. Turns out he had caught a fish about the time I passed him. I left him a few nice words as I went about my way.

At another lake, two guys were bream fishing at the ramp. I pull up to load my boat and they start fussing and giving me the evil eye. There's only one ramp on the lake! What the hell did they expect me to do?! I gave them a friendly gesture to the gun on my hip and they shut up.

[dwh4784]

The first time I took my 4 year old out on my kayak I ran into a nice group of guys, the first ones on a large boat that were making a giant wake for their waverunner friend to jump. Not a big deal on a lake this big, except they were hitting me with white cap rollers, it was a week day, and this lake is huge. I could hear the boat driver talking about going 9mph to make the biggest wake he could from where I was at. They  could have been a half mile away and done the same thing, but had to do it right next to me. Never went back to that lake and probably never will.

[Josh Smith]

I've often wondered if fishing from the boat ramp is really that good. When I'm bank fishing I've tried it with some success, but I have much greater success when I hike back into the woods some where the cover of thicker in the water.

Just from that point of view, I don't get it. A couple casts of the ramp on the way to your better spot I understand, but not setting up on the ramp. Anyone know if there's an advantage I'm overlooking?

Josh

[Scott F]

2 minutes ago, Josh Smith said:

I've often wondered if fishing from the boat ramp is really that good. When I'm bank fishing I've tried it with some success, but I have much greater success when I hike back into the woods some where the cover of thicker in the water.

Just from that point of view, I don't get it. A couple casts of the ramp on the way to your better spot I understand, but not setting up on the ramp. Anyone know if there's an advantage I'm overlooking?

Josh

I believe the reason many fish at the ramp is because of the easy access.  It requires almost no effort. There is a road that goes right to the spot. Plus there is a dock to fish from.