How to deal with disrespectful, inconsiderate neighbors fishing on a private lake?

[DitchPanda]

Well I can tell you how I would handle this if I was your neighbor. If you asked me politely to ease up I would more than likely respect that..at least to a point. If the dogs barked it would drive me nuts too so you may not have to ask me I may do it on my own. However if I decided to fish there and wasn't approached  politely or got some smarta$# response or some harassment I'd be there every chance I could just to make it worse for you.

Point I'm making is you have handled it very well up to this point and been very adult about it. Don't take it to a level where he is gonna retaliate after you instigate him..that never ends well. Right now you have 2 people in a little mess and both are in the right...don't make yourself out to be the bad guy and put yourself in the wrong.

[ironbjorn]

Here's the problem. Dogs aren't cattle. They're supposed to be part of the family. I, along with most people it seems, don't believe in "outside" dogs; especially in extreme heat or cold, and being in Florida you have the extreme heat part. If you were a better dog owner you wouldn't have this problem. 

[RichF]

2 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

I read the whole post. Your neighbor is doing nothing wrong as long as he doesn’t damage your property (dock) He is however an inconsiderate *bleep*

Your only sin, one that I suffer from as well, is expecting people to be as considerate of others property, wishes and peace as we are. I don’t fish around docks as I know it might upset someone if my skipping skills are not on point. Brings back memories of when my Dad caught me sitting on someone’s car when I was a kid. He ripped into me about that’s someone’s property, how would I like it if that was my car and someone dented the hood. Never forgot that lesson. 

 

You keep being considerate of others. Don’t let folks like this drag you down to their level.

 

I guess I don't understand how the neighbor is being inconsiderate by simply fishing in front of someone's house.  Am I missing something?  It was a long post, so I admit I mostly skimmed.

[Deephaven]

If there was a fresh 3lb fish there everyday and anyone on this forum was a 3 minute journey from their house we'd all be there catching it everyday.

[.ghoti.]

Sounds to me like your dogs are the problem.

[Sphynx]

I think your best bet for a long term solution is to get your dogs and this guy familiar enough with each other to be on friendly terms, you clearly seem to be the kind of guy who isn't looking for conflict, but avoiding conflict and actively seeking compromise aren't always synonymous, ask the guy if he has any objection to working on a solution you can both live with, make a gesture in good faith and see if he'll meet you half way, he's not been overtly disrespectful or run foul of the law, so whether you like it or not there aren't many options you have to compel him to stop, but he just might be willing to spend a bit of time making nice with the dogs if you ask him to and make him feel comfortable doing so, in a strictly legal sense, if you can't/won't do something along those lines, this falls into a "Your problem" category and isn't likely to have a resolution you are happy with.

[N Florida Mike]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

My dogs bark at all manner of things, I have to bring them in when they won’t stop. They are dirty but it’s better than them losing their minds barking non stop. I would just bring your dogs in when the guy is fishing 

 

hey @N Florida Mike, didn’t you say they were biting good on boat docks??? Just kidding 

I don’t even have to leave MY dock to have dogs bark at me. It seems like my nieghbor watches for me to come out, and as soon as I do, he lets his dogs out...

[Bluebasser86]

Harassing someone who is legally hunting or fishing is illegal in a lot of states (including Florida), which sounds like what you're suggesting and this forum is 100% against any form of illegal activity. For that reason, we're done here.

 

LOCKDOWN!!

 

Florida Statutes

 

379.105 Harassment of hunters, trappers, or fishers.—

(1) A person may not intentionally, within a publicly or privately owned wildlife management or fish management area or on any state-owned water body:

(a) Interfere with or attempt to prevent the lawful taking of fish, game, or nongame animals by another.

(b) Attempt to disturb fish, game, or nongame animals or attempt to affect their behavior with the intent to prevent their lawful taking by another.

(2) Any person who violates this section commits a Level Two violation under s. 379.401.