A question about your club rules

[Shad_Master]

Do any of you have a club rule about encroaching on another fisherman's water - not just other club members, but boats from other clubs, local fishermen and even bank fishermen.

I am president of a small local bass club and we have had an issue.  We were fishing a tournament on a rather large lake (by our standards anyway) and apparently one of our guys got too close to a boat that was fishing in a different tournament on the same lake.  Our tournaments are for small $'s and there is no pay-in - - the other club has a pretty hefty pay-in/pay-out and these guys were pretty steamed.

Currently our club rule says you cannot fish within 50' of an anchored boat - but hardly anybody anchors (unless the wind is major factor) and says nothing about encroaching on other club members or others.  I plan to bring this up at our next meeting and wanted to see how some of you handle this rule.  Thanks.

[fishfordollars]

Our club follows the rules of most of the major circuits

No fishing within 50 yards of another boat either anchored or with the TM in the water unless approved by the other boat.

[Shad_Master]

Would this also apply to bank fishermen?  I don't want to set up any kind of punitive action but want to try to establish what people think is sportsmanship for this sort of thing.  Thanks for your input.

[scbassman28]

I am the President of our club.  We do not have a rule about this in our rules.  Although we do have a sportsmanship rule that this would probably fall into.  I have not had this problem yet, so I do not know how it would be handled.  But all other tournaments that I have fished in have had the 50' of anchored boat rule.

[bocraw]

I am president of a small club and this issue has come up for us as well.  I have avoided implementing the 50 yard rule because it is so hard to enforce.  It will boil down to one angler's word against another's and if you are TD or Pres then you are put in the crappy position of being in the middle.

Our club is extremely picky about who we let in.  Most of our members have enough common sense to be courteous to other fisherman.   Having said that, we do have one problem child and it is only a matter of time before we have to implement such a rule.  

The language will say something along the lines of fishing within 100 ft of a competitor's boat that is anchored without permission is prohibited.  Violators will be penalized their days weight.   The TM rule would be too hard to enforce, as would a rule that addresses fishing around other anglers in different tournaments.

[Shad_Master]

I appreciate all of the input and really don't want to belabor this issue, but seems like everybody is focusing on anchored boats - would the same "sportsmanship" issue apply to boats not ancnored or bank fishermen.

We really do have a buch of good guys in our club, but we also fish a lot of small lakes as well.  This sometimes makes it more crowded than any of us would like.  I just think we need to have something clearly defined.  I don't want to be an enforcement officer and am not trying to make it hard on anyone.  I was just curious how other handled this.  

[jhoffman]

I dont know about you but I dont want my motors anywhere near bank fisherman. Not only that but they have such limited room to fish I would never get on top of them.

Id say 100ft from any boat, thats only 33 yards, i can cast that easy.

[southernyankee]

My club has a guideline that states that "as a courtesy anglers should keep appropriate distance from all other anglers weather in out tournament or not. As a rule of thumb appropriate distance should be a minimum of twice your casting distance. This normally keeps problems at bay.

[Sam]

We are supposed to stay 50 feet from another boater.

Sometimes we do; and sometimes we don't.

It depends on who likes who in the club as to who will complain about someone encroaching on their territority.

Therefore, we usualy either 1) avoid the area all together or 2) if we are freindely to the other boater we will fish close by and talk to each other.

Last year on the Rappahannock River we were next to a great guy in the club in a creek when he missed a bass.  So what did I do? I flipped my Senko to the same spot and caught the fish.

The other guy got a chuckle out of it but let me know it was "his" fish.

I have done this before on the Nottoway River when I threw my Zoom worm to a cruising bass along the shoreline and caught him right after a friend in another boat next to me missed him.  We were just talking and fishing.  He was not upset but he let me know that it was "his" fish.

We have never had a problem with this situation in my club. I hope you do not encounter this problem, either.

[mallardecho]

Ok, devil's advocate here. What do you do if two boats are working a long point from diffrent sides and meet at the apex of the point at the same time? Who gives ground? The rules are there for a reason, but I do agree common courtesy is required by all.

[fishizzle]

There isn't a rule that I know in our club of 20 memebers, if there is it isn't enforced.  we are all just courteous and things work out.

If two boats are working toward each other one gives way.  its usually the one whose just loves to fish and be outdoors.  No matter who wins.

As far as other tournaments, its a free world.  If you have a rule and they don't, then what.  Just be a sport and fish and be courteous.

It shouldn't matter whose payout is more.

[Shad_Master]

Thanks for all the input guys - it really is about sportsmanship - I don't want to implement a "rule", 'cause I don't want to have to enforce it - I was just wondering how you all handle it.  This is not a real problem although sometimes our guys get caught up in catching and seem to forget about others.  Overall our club is a really great bunch of guys - I will just have to deal with this incident to try to avoid hard feelings.

[procraft68]

We go by the100' rule as far as bank fisherman it's never been an issue. It all boils down to common sense and sportsmanship. I have been president twice and tournament director 2 or 3 times also. Knock on wood, we have never had an issue but if it ever comes up the rules are written and they will have to be followed. It's tough to do on small lakes but it can be done. If you are friends with the other boater then there shouldn't be a problem as long as the other boat does not mind you being there. We fish for fun and we fish as friends...

Tight lines,

Snag

[beau66876]

A little clarification if possible. Who told you of this , was it the larger tournament guy??? I am a TD for our club and I also wrote all the rules and regs. I found that if 2 or 3 clubs are on the same body of water there are always a few ***** that think the lake is THEIR's and no one should be fishing THEIR spot. so when making a judgement call I choose most of the time to listen to our own member. As far as the bank guys go we always give them a wide birth, you never know they might be next years new member. we also have 100 ft of anchored boat.