Coping with the crowds this year

[plawren53202]

So glad to hear that so many of you are in exactly the same boat as me (pun intended). I'm trying really hard not to be "get off my lawn" guy about the stampede of crowds. I understand that ultimately more fishermen=good for the sport, more revenue for manufacturers which means more new products, more license fees for the conservation department (well maybe, I have my doubts that a lot of these new "anglers" are buying licenses, see below), yada yada yada, but....

 

I understand some "etiquette" comes from time on the water, things you would only know from experience. For instance a couple of days ago I had a 8 or 9 year old kid cast across my line while bank fishing. Of course it was a line with a beach ball sized bobber on it, while I'm targeting bass in super shallow and very clear water ? but it's a kid, so that I can tolerate.

 

On the other hand, a lot of the nonsense I'm seeing has very little to do with fishing experience and much more to do with just not being a jerk. Certainly more to do with just respecting nature in general. The litter has been awful in the places where I bank fish. Lots of live bait containers, but also wads of discarded line which really bothers me because that can be life threatening for birds and other shore animals. That has nothing to do with fishing experience and everything to do with just being a decent human. I try to pick it up as much as I can but I'm getting tired of going home every time out with pockets or a backpack full of garbage.

 

Some of the other behavior is similar. Couple of weeks ago a group of older teens (looked 16-18) came and started "fishing" near me on a pond. I say "fishing" because they were holding rods and reels and ostensibly were casting in the water. But it obviously wasn't an earnest attempt to catch fish. They were shouting profanity, throwing rocks in the water, just acting absurd. I understand that with the crowds these days fishing isn't going to be like escaping to some remote fly-in lake in Canada. But their behavior was ruining the experience for everyone around that pond. And I was very glad I didn't have my 10 year old with me based on the garbage they were shouting. Again, no fishing experience needed to know not to act like a jerk.

 

That's what bothers me the most about these sudden new crowds. By and large, I've found fishermen (and fisher-women) to (overall) be some of the most gracious, respectful, and welcoming people around. I know there's a few bad apples, and I've run into them on occasion. But so much of the time, I more often meet people who go out of their way to be decent. Guys on trout streams who gave me not only so much useful advice but also flies they've hand tied themselves. Guys coming off the lake as you're putting in who give you their leftover Cokes or beers in their cooler because they're headed home. So many instances over the years like that. My theory is that when you fish enough, you get skunked and get humbled enough to learn a little respect for the sport and for nature. Even more than a little more space or quiet out on the water, that's the part I miss more during this newfound rush of people.

[Fin S]

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

I have some advice for any of you cursing about dealing with crowds at the access and/or on the lake: go fishing in the rain!  Inclement weather will keep virtually all of the people off the lake other than the die hards.  Plus, there's also another perk: the fishing will often be better too.

I agree. Something about an overcast day with drizzling rain seems to make the smallies hit, and it keeps the pleasure boaters at home.

[Fishin Dad]

I live in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and now 10,000,000 fisherman.  Geeeez.   This has been nuts.  

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, Fishin Dad said:

I live in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and now 10,000,000 fisherman.  Geeeez.   This has been nuts.  

And 100,000 idiot boaters...

[TnRiver46]

If you don’t like the heat, stay outta the kitchen!!

[slonezp]

My home water is the busiest inland waterway per acre in the US. I'm used to the crowds. Start early finish early is the best advice I can give.

[Cdn Angler]

Man do I feel fortunate. I was out on a good sized body of water last Sunday, probably went about 7 miles. Did not see another boat, let alone anyone fishing, until close to noon. And I started at 7. 

 

I also took my kayak out to a lake about 50 metres from the road last week. Smalll lake, maybe a mile long. Nobody else there. No buildings on it. Nada. 

 

Sometimes it does pay to live somewhere so cold no people want to be here. 

 

I'll try to remember that in February. 

[Bird]

Every day of the week closely resembles memorable day weekend on all the lakes I fish.

 

Most are snagging high in surrounding sycamore trees but still HEAVY boat traffic. 

[redmexican5081]

My local spot has been slammed. It’s only 13 acres or so of water with one access point and the bridge where it empties out under a road.  I drive by it 2x a day going to and from work.  Every day there are at least 2 cars at the access point on my way in.  On my way home, they are parked on both sides of the road and all for corners of the bridge.  This little pond that only ever had people fish it during trout stocking season and maybe 2 or 3 of us regulars on the weekends is getting hammered with people.  The trash is unbelievable and the fishing has dropped off significantly. I’ve never been skunked in this pond in the past but I haven’t caught a bass out of it the past 2 weekends. Even the crappie fishing has been tough enough that my kids have noticed it.

[schplurg]

Calero Res. is so small you need a reservation to launch, power or non-powered, and they don't give out many per day. So in this one place I can fish in peace*. Well there were two Jet-skis or whatever spinning around and one or two other boats, but more or less had the lake to ourselves.

 

* It was the windiest day of the year so far and we got our butts kicked for 3 hours before calling it a day. Yay. Did get to play with the new Garmin Echomap so that was a plus. Glad I went.

 

I'm taking the yak to my Dad's on Lake Tulloch tomorrow through Sunday. Finally a body of water with good (as in alive and present) bass in it!

[Jleebesaw]

Sounds like ice fishing season to me! Theres always big crowds on hard water.

       Yea, here in northern new york im seeing it too though. There is definitely more people on the water than im used to seeing. Bass seasin opens on the 20th. Its going to be quite a mess. I might just set up a lawn chair by the launch and watch the show. Early season it seems like most of the anglers are experianced. The guys chasing perch, walleye, and crappies tend to be capable at the launch and on the water. When bass opens up and we start seeing the googan wannabes,  thats when it gets wild.

[N Florida Mike]

My lake has had way more people out in it than it has in many years. Almost all of them are just paddling or trolling around- not fishing. The few new ones fishing are pretty much all in the “ upside down “ reel camp. Nothing to worry about. These same people dont know much ,if anything about boater etiquette. The other day 2 men Id never seen before were having a go with a canoe, and by the looks of things, hadnt seen a canoe before either.?  They were trying to turn but it wasn’t happening. They went between me and the bank I was casting to. I don’t even think they had any idea what they did. Another group of foriegn folks kept following me, and Everywhere I went they would come too. Not fishing, but they seemed interested. Probably thought I was one of the “swamp people “ or something ?.

 

[islandbass]

Thankfully, I don’t have that issue ... oh wait, that’s because I haven’t gone out fishing yet, lol. 
 

I imagine it would be the same here in my state but that is a guess at best. 

[LCG]

Same here in ontario, Canada. People line the banks, shoulder to shoulder. Crazy considering what's going on. I take the kayak out to the ponds and lakes now. Allows me to keep my distance, no boats allowed, so it's pretty peaceful. 

[DanielG]

I'm in Southern Maine in an area that host people from Mass, NY, and Canada. I live on one 4.6 mile lake amoung a cluster of 22 of them. So far the lake is pretty much mine. Few fishermen and very few other recreational people. Memorial day... summer never started. June has been dead. I'm thinking the 4th will be the quietest I've probably ever seen.

Maine: 14 day quarantine for any out of state visitors. And we're a very heavy tourist state. Not many takers. Then again we've got a fairly low number of infections so far.

 

I noticed today that uptick on the end of the graph from the John Hopkins site. That's just the phase one opening up. It doesn't even reflect the protesters yet. I think my area will stay even quieter in the near future.

 

[walleyecrazy]

The spot that I like to bank fish the most has been packed pretty much everyday. I haven't found it has effected the fishing too much, and for the most part everyone has been pretty respectful of everyone else's space so it hasn't been too bad. I have however found that pretty much any day it rains or if I go after dark I have the spot to myself which is always nice.

[Squarebill79]

Yep, same thing here in Iowa! I was wondering if I was the only die hard annoyed by all this extra fishing pressure. Ive never seen anything like it in 35 years of fishing. I fish alot of ponds and this is the first year Ive seen paths worn around them. I wont even get into the extra amount of trash this is generating now or the fact that I went to 4 places one Saturday looking for 6lb mono and they were all sold out of it!

 

Our local Fleet Farm has completey been picked clean in the fishing department also. 

[plawren53202]

Hate to add to my earlier comments but it got even a step worse today...now apparently we don't have to deal with just the Covid anglers, but now the Covid swimmers ?? It's now getting hot enough here in MO that people are going swimming. 

 

I was at a small stream that flows through a city park today. I was fishing in a spot where I had already caught a couple of little smallmouths when I see the bobber brigade coming up the path along the stream. They got to within 20 yards or so of me, so I thought, great, they're going to crowd my spot. Oh if that were the worst that happened. 

 

Better yet, about 15 yards downstream of me, one of the women with the group started wading out into the water carrying a camp chair. She started wading upstream and out into the middle of the stream...directly into the spot where I had been casting, straight out in front of where I am standing on the bank, and plants her chair in the water. Where she is is only a foot or two deep, but now she's directly in the line from where I was standing to the deeper water behind her where I was casting. Sure enough, here come the other four or five people with her and do the same thing. 

 

I'm standing there on the bank, clearly obvious to them the whole time, just dumbfounded. It was literally the most mind boggling thing I've seen fishing. So to top it off, one of the men asks me, "They bitin'?" I could barely contain myself at this point, so I say "Well they were." "Were until what?" he asks, obviously knowing what the answer is. "Biting until you all waded out right in the middle of where I was fishing." He offered an unconvincing "sorry" as they continued to arrange their chairs out in the water.

 

If this were the only swimming water in the park, I might have been a little more sympathetic. But this park has over a mile of river frontage and lots of other places to go sit in the water or swim. This is yet another example that I wish I could attribute to new fishermen who don't know the "rules of the road," but this one clearly falls more into just not being a jerk of a person. It's several hours later and I still can't wrap my brain around clearly seeing someone standing on the bank casting into a spot, and then marching your whole troop out into the water directly in front of them and planting chairs right in the line of where that person was casting. Unbelievable.

[Fin S]

7 hours ago, plawren53202 said:

Hate to add to my earlier comments but it got even a step worse today...now apparently we don't have to deal with just the Covid anglers, but now the Covid swimmers ?? It's now getting hot enough here in MO that people are going swimming. 

 

I was at a small stream that flows through a city park today. I was fishing in a spot where I had already caught a couple of little smallmouths when I see the bobber brigade coming up the path along the stream. They got to within 20 yards or so of me, so I thought, great, they're going to crowd my spot. Oh if that were the worst that happened. 

 

Better yet, about 15 yards downstream of me, one of the women with the group started wading out into the water carrying a camp chair. She started wading upstream and out into the middle of the stream...directly into the spot where I had been casting, straight out in front of where I am standing on the bank, and plants her chair in the water. Where she is is only a foot or two deep, but now she's directly in the line from where I was standing to the deeper water behind her where I was casting. Sure enough, here come the other four or five people with her and do the same thing. 

 

I'm standing there on the bank, clearly obvious to them the whole time, just dumbfounded. It was literally the most mind boggling thing I've seen fishing. So to top it off, one of the men asks me, "They bitin'?" I could barely contain myself at this point, so I say "Well they were." "Were until what?" he asks, obviously knowing what the answer is. "Biting until you all waded out right in the middle of where I was fishing." He offered an unconvincing "sorry" as they continued to arrange their chairs out in the water.

 

If this were the only swimming water in the park, I might have been a little more sympathetic. But this park has over a mile of river frontage and lots of other places to go sit in the water or swim. This is yet another example that I wish I could attribute to new fishermen who don't know the "rules of the road," but this one clearly falls more into just not being a jerk of a person. It's several hours later and I still can't wrap my brain around clearly seeing someone standing on the bank casting into a spot, and then marching your whole troop out into the water directly in front of them and planting chairs right in the line of where that person was casting. Unbelievable.

I admire your restraint for not throwing a crank bait out into the middle of them. 

[plawren53202]

5 hours ago, Fin S said:

I admire your restraint for not throwing a crank bait out into the middle of them. 

Oh trust me, the thought was there. 

[Log Catcher]

6 hours ago, Fin S said:

I admire your restraint for not throwing a crank bait out into the middle of them. 

I think he should have yelled snake and see how fast they get out of the water.

[soflabasser]

This has been the year I have seen the most people fishing in the +20 years I have fished. With the current situation happening many people are fishing to relax and have something to do. 

[DitchPanda]

On 6/9/2020 at 12:19 PM, DitchPanda said:

My experience has been similar. I fish a small local lake..what I would consider my home lake...all the time. Used to be weekends would be decently busy but weekdays there would usually be nobody. This year's weekends are almost pointless and weekdays there is usually people in the majority of the good spots and 10 to 20 people splashing around on the swim beach. It has forced me to find new areas and new ways to fish them.

Since I first posted this it has gotten worse. But I figured out today that if you go out in the rain it will separate the posers from the anglers. Went this morning in the rain never saw another person..managed 3 solid largies and lost 1 before the lightening scared me off.

[TnRiver46]

28 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

This has been the year I have seen the most people fishing in the +20 years I have fished. With the current situation happening many people are fishing to relax and have something to do. 

Those bast&@$s!!! Who do they think they are??? Hahaha

[soflabasser]

Lol @TnRiver46. I am used to having a lot of people fishing in the places I fish and I catch lots of nice fish. Most people I see fishing are still learning how to fish. I hope they respect the environment and pick up the garbage they leave behind.