Ever have another boater jump right in front of your next spot?

[Muad Dib]

hey fellas,

Fished a lake with mr fishsticks on sat. best 5 fish went 17 even so it was a great day ;D. exceptttttt..............in the morning we started working or way around the southern pt of the lake. we were movin along pretty well. we wanted to fish a small section of overhanging trees in particular but slowed down about 35 yards a way to fish a flat. so were fishing the flat and the next thing i hear is a sploosh. i look over my shoulder and 30 yards a way is a guy tossin a spiinngerbait right to those trees!!!!!! seriously  >:(he jumped right in front of us knowing the line we were taking and he was stealthy about it) i couldnt believe with all the other space on the lake he sat right there. obviously the fish gave him the memo about where they were gonna hang out today. now if he was in that area first i def would have moved to a different section of the lake being the respectful bass man that i am.  i was gonna say something but figured it wouldnt do any good and realized that best thing to do was catch a fish and rub it in his face. ofcourse not catching a fish all day i would need some help from the fish gods. after 15 minutes i was still feeling a little  :o/ >    so finally i cast my rig about 15 feet from his boat. and WHAMMMMMMMMMMO ;D hook into a 3lber.  then i casted behind my boat and caught another 3lber. then after that  guess he got fed up watchin the show and started motoring over to another area on the other side of the lake :'( as he was leaving mr fishsticks hooked up with a 3lber and i made it seem like a 10lber for the enthusiasm i had. haha i felt better after that. but honestly he could have respected my line and pace i was going and either waited till i left or found some other spot to work his rig. sorry for venting. anyone ever have a fish "cutter" in your neck of the woods >

t - RAGE

[TommyBass]

yea, I honestly think some people are just plain ignorant.  In their eyes there was nothing wrong with what he did.  However, 30 yards is just plain too close no matter who you are.  I run into this on alot of my lakes that are smaller in size.  Especially with with crappie fisherman etc.  They will motor right on by your and pull in just a few yards down the bank your working and anchor.  Would be nice to have a huge resevoir around here   If only everyone could fish responisibly and respectfully   :'(

[BrianinMD]

Yep, actually had two guys in a boat start casting into the trees I was fishing. It was 2 trees right beside each other, I was moving along the edge fishing into them. They came up the other side and started casting into the same area, one time thought the guy in the front of the other boat crossed my line he was so close. Wanted to start cussing them but decided it would be better not to. I guess he thought he was privileged since he had a $20,000 boat while I was in my little 14ft jon.

Satisfaction came when I caught a LM about 18 inches while they got nothing. Made a point to hold it up were they could see it real well....

[-badhabit-]

That happens to everyone once in a while. I refuse to let it tax my mind and put me in a bad mood because I love my time on the water. I will just turn up the stereo real loud fire up the boat and throw a wake at them you could surf on

I have faith enough in myself to believe when they leave I can come back and get the one I was after anyway.

Best Wishes but don't let it ruin your good time.

[fishfordollars]

Happens all the time. Water is like alcohol to some people. The closer they get the dumber or more inconsiderate they get.

[Pitchinkid]

sad to say but yes. It is happening more and more i think. Usually i say something loud enough for them to hear and they usually get the hint. Some profanity and hard looks work wonders.

[Jimzee]

sad to say but yes. It is happening more and more i think. Usually i say something loud enough for them to hear and they usually get the hint. Some profanity and hard looks work wonders.

Usually from the back of the boat I hear, "Cut plum the @#*& off!!"  He's right, it does work wonders. ;D

[Big Mike in Fl]

I was fishing a canal on the garcia reservoir and had a couple guys jump about 30 yards in front of the line I was on and started fishing down the canal, about 5 minutes after they did that I hooked a nice 8lber on toad, while I could tell they were fishing worms.I made sure to hoot and holler and held it up in the air so they could see, then I made the comment loudly "you may have jumped in front of us, but you don't know what to use to catch them." I didn't see them catch a single fish, while my buddy and I continued to catch fish on top water. they left abouyt 20 minutes later. ;D ;D

[DINK WHISPERER]

What i hate is those guys that get waaaaaay too close to me while i am fishing and they are on plane! I had one do that to me this weekend and i almost fell out of the boat the wake hit me so hard!!!!  >

[Hammer 4]

Boy, ain't that the truth..

Happens all the time. Water is like alcohol to some people. The closer they get the dumber or more inconsiderate they get.

[Sam]

Just finesse fish behind them and let them go on their way.

No confrontations on the water.

If they are that set on fishing where I am fishing either I am doing something right to be fishing that area or they don't have a clue and are looking for somewhere to fish.

May I suggest marking that spot as it may have a sunken Christmas tree or something else those other guys know is there that will attract and hold fish.  

[Siebert Outdoors]

Boy, ain't that the truth..

Happens all the time. Water is like alcohol to some people. The closer they get the dumber or more inconsiderate they get.

Yup I agree.  I usually just go around them.  I had one guy get mad at me for cutting him off.  LOL.  

[Olebiker]

I don't think I have ever had a problem with another bass fisherman, but the local bluegill and crappie fishermen around here have no manners at all.  And they complain about us!

I was casting a spinnerbait to the trees along the Iron Curtain on Lake Talquin yesterday when an older man in a jon boat putted along between me and the bank.  I asked him if he didn't see me or what and he just responded that he thought I was casting out to deep water.  Even if I had been, he came too close.

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

On road trip I heard a story of a boat doing this. The boater who got approached said to the enchrocher:

"Hey you guys want come jump on board, we got room"

I think this is a perfect way to deal with that situation. Its funny and lets them know they are too close lol

[Simp]

Personally I hate boaters who get to close while on high throttle. When I was at KY lake this weekend a guy had plenty of space but instead came right next to us at close to full throttle. I figure he wanted to fish our area and was  > but he should have shown better manners. The other side of "cutting" people off is boat traffic. You try to never do it but there are days where I've been on some lakes where there isn't a spot that won't cut a guy off in some fashion.

[Fishing Rhino]

The world is full of ignorami.  But I find most to be respectful, and courteous.

There are a couple of guys with bass boats who fish my favorite pond from time to time.  

Working the shoreline is the best and only way to fish it if you're after bass.

The exception is a few brush piles someone dumped in the pond.

They have trolling motors, and ease along casting toward shore and bring their lures from the shallows to deeper water.

On windy days, I anchor at the depth I want, then work an area thoroughly.

I've told both of them to leapfrog me, when we are working the same area.  They cover a lot of ground, but not as thoroughly as I do.

They both thanked me, but said they'd move to another area in that situation.  

[Big-O]

Happens too often and should never happen at all.....

And yes, we should be calm and invite them to get in our boat and drink our beer while their at it. Then say, "What kinda rod will you need....I got plenty of those for you too. Anything else I can do for ya while you're here on the lake...maybe go scout some more fishin areas for you.....How bout dinner tonight with me and my elderly Dad....he gets kinda lonely and needs a person like you that doesn't mind dropping in unannounced, uninvited and for no apparent reason. Whats your number pal....I'll be sure and call you when we get the ribs on the pit....

Don't ever let them get away without your honest opinion, or their disrespect will surely continue.....

Big O

www.ragetail.com

[Fishing Rhino]

Jumping ahead, crowding, all that stuff is minor.

You need to try commercial lobstering, and have some klutz set their gear on top of yours.

Contrary to the oft repeated tales, guys carrying guns and shooting at each other, as well as cutting off someone else's gear are greatly exaggerated.

No one can win if something like that gets started.

You either learn to live with the idiots or do something else.

I lost over two hundred traps to a scalloper who towed through my gear which was well marked by large polyform buoys and high flyers with radar reflectors.

At that time, the cost to put a trap in the water, with line and terminal gear was over 40 dollars.

Any of the screaming that goes on is mostly bluster.

If you want to get even with someone, you never, never threaten or warn them.  If you do, you'll be blamed for everything that happens to them, whether or not you did it.

Road rage, fishing rage, it's all the same.

It's a dangerous world, and people get killed everyday by a nut with a gun, or even a crossbow here in Massachusetts.

Confrontations provide a lot of business for funeral homes.

It's one thing to defend your home, your rights, and your family.

It's another to confront someone because they lack common decency and courtesy.

[J Francho]

I think a lot of these, "he cut me off" arguments on the water stem more from perception that reality. You might not think you are too close, but the other guy does. I try to err on the side of caution, but sometimes I screw up.

Example. We were on a small lake, there were maybe 5 or six boats fishing that day. The lake is a narrow north-south lake with two main points. Wind whipping from the north that day, and fish were very shallow, on the windy side of the flats adjacent to the point. There was a boat fishing directly on the point already. We figured he was moving south over the point, using the trolling motor to slow his drift, so we pulled in about 200 yards north, and figured we'd fish after him.

Nope. After about five minutes, he starts trolling over to us, where we were holding our position on the flat, since we were catching. Once he gets in about 50 feet from us, fires up the big motor, and barrels around us to fish north of us. I was like, "that guys ticked." Oh well. If he had said something, we'd have simply left.

I posted a report on a local forum, and this guy replies that he was the guy that we cut off, and that if it was a TX, it would be a different story. I explained our perception in a PM, but he was adamant that we were wrong. He claimed that he was moving into and casting into the wind, to present his jerkbaits in the most natural manner. Makes sense, but didn't play out at all for us. We didn't see him catch anything.

My perception was that he was fishing as I had suspected, saw us catch fish, and decided that we were muscling in on his territory. He may have had the idea to fish where we were, but didn't act until we got there.

We went back and forth, but it was a useless debate. I apologized three times to him, and told him it wasn't intentional. I wasn't even the one driving that day, LOL. I told him that next time, he should have given us a friendly heads up about what he was doing, instead of deciding after the fact that we were in his way, and posting in an online forum. I also told him that come tournament season, he'll need to adjust his opinion as to what is "too close for comfort," and sent him a satellite image of that point showing 17 boats working that point, LOL.

Cut to this past Sunday. I'm fish in a different lake, casting crankbaits across a main point. Angle was important to getting bit, and it didn't matter which way you threw the baits, just that it be perpendicular to the direction of the point. My read on this is that the point is adjacent to a boat outlet to a "much larger lake," and the path I was running my crankbaits was actually the same route the bait fish were using.

Two men in an electric power jonboat pulled up right next to me, I mean right next to me. I felt like it was the king run on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY! I smiled, and asked them how they were doing. They hadn't caught anything, but only started a half hour ago. They asked how I was doing, and I said "a couple of dinks," even though I had caught 9 fish already.

When they started casting, I could see that they had effectively cut me off from my lane. I told them that what I was doing was casting across the point, not parallel, and that it would be hard to get in there, and I didn't want to hang up on their lines. They simply moved over a bit, and gave me room, though I would have preferred they just left, but I managed just fine. That's a case where friendly dialog went much smoother than, "Hey, your cutting me off!" or simply silently festering in your anger and frustration.

Sorry for the long post, but its a tough topic to cover in a few words.