Was I wrong, Ethical question.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Situation:

Lake faces north to south. lake size 70 acres approx Lake is long and skinny.

A boat with 3-4 people were sitting on anchor crappie fishing front of the boat facing south. They were bank beating.

So as I was motoring down south to north I stopped and fell off plane approx 100 yds before I reached them and idled at no wake 1k rpms closer to them.

I stopped probably 50-60yds before I reached them dropped the trolling motor. Still behind them about 30-40yds toward deep water I proceeded to go north since they were facing and fishing to the south. I looked at it as fishing already fished water. I reached down to pick up a rod a and see a bobber splash about 10 yds from my boat and one of the guys glaring at me. I didnt say anything because its not worth it. I just proceeded to use the trolling motor and go about 40-50 yds north where I was headed and started slaying the fish. Was I at fault here?

[Banor]

No.

B

[harshman]

It is public water isn't it? there is no fault her at all, just a simple case of someone being greedy.

Harshman

[Bass Smacker]

Some peole think they own the whole lake/river. When I fish from the bank lord forbid if i come within 30yards of some one sitting bank fishing..    

 

[roadwarrior]

I don't think you did anything wrong, but "moving on" was the right thing to do, too.

[frogtog]

50 yards is enough to be considered polite. Then you have those that think

being on the same body of water is impolite. :-/

[JiggaMan512]

IMO, you did nothing wrong at all GMAN. If anything, The bobber-splasher 10 yards away from your boat is the only one i see at fault... just my .02

[tallydude]

No, you're fine. Sounds like you were perfectly ethical.

[Guest avid]

I think it speaks volumes about you that you thought to bring it up on the forum.

It says that you are a considerate guy.    Kudo's to you.

No,  you didn't do anything wrong, but I don't think he did either.

IMO he was letting you know that you were encraoching on what he considered his "spot"  he did it in a reasonable way.

You did not react but kept moving on as intended.

This was handled pretty well.  

We all know stories where it's gotten much uglier.

[MALTESE FALCON]

Absolutely not. Actually you were quite a gentleman. I've had guys come right to my boat and and cast over my line. After our lines got tangled, they got upset with me. It's happened twice.

It's hard to believe that on a 475,000 acre lake, they couldn't give me a little space.

I just don't understand people sometimes.

Falcon

BTW, was Gerald Swindle in the boat by chance?LOL

[Gotta Love It]

I don't think you did anything wrong!  If they were anchored and you were using the TM then I see nothing wrong.  Especially if you did all of those things and then proceeded in the opposite direction after lowering the TM.

[Catt]

You were an absolute gentleman  

[Guest the_muddy_man]

I agree with Avid MrG just the fact your asking shows the kind of gentleman you are 50 yards was more than enough and YOU DID THE RIGHT THING MOVING ON

 On the other hand I'm from Brooklyn and for such occasions we keep a negotiating tool on board know as an M-80 And you don't have to use a bobber

[senile1]

Fifty yards!!!  Please.  You didn't give them enough room! You know that crappie fishermen are known for their long casts with those 1/32 to 1/16 oz jigs.  

[justfishin]

I feel you were a absolute gentleman  and very considerate in how you handled that particular situation. Want to see rude and inconsiderate? Fish a State Federation Trail for 8 or 10 years, you will see rude !!!,lol.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Ditto to Catt.  All around

[hi_steel_basser]

Here are bad ethics- someone stops to fish a bank, and then you zoom in and stop to fish the bank within easy casting dictance in front of them. Then slowly retie your lure. Or zoom in on a bank fisherman, pitch the same laydown he is on, and be sure to let the tail end of your boat walk across the tree in the wind before you zoom away. Or tangle another bank fishermans bobbers with your main motor. Or put your cabin cruiser on plane less than 50' from a man in a 14' jonboat. These are all things I have witnessed, or things that have happened to me personally. What you did was completely ethical, in line with falling in a considerate distance behind another boater to fish the same bank.

[jasone]

You did the right thing.  It miffs me when I see people here or off-line that tell about how someone got too close so they fired a warning shot (casted in their general direction).  It has to be about the rudest thing that can be done.  Its so obviously maliciously done.  Saying, "Hey man, you're a little too close" is less rude and takes more tact than what those guys did.

I've beat the bank behind crappie fishermen where they were casting toward the middle.  If they think im too close they turn around and start tossing them toward me.  I hope they don't plan on catching fish there!!

J

[Tom Bass]

Gman,

You did the right thing. I'd like to Thank you for being a courteous fisherman. Many do not have your ethic when fishing, be they trolling, anchored or shore fishing.

Tom

[tuxdaddy]

Sounds like you did the right thing... I bank fish mainly and folks on boats are pretty rude ... I've only had 2 folks in my past stop and ask how far out I'm casting and then ask if I minded them fishing around me but out of my casting range...

I think dude was just giving you a heads up of his range, but he could've done it without the nasty looks..

I guess it's all a matter of communication...

[tbone31]

50 yard seams like plenty to you and me, but like the one guy said just being on the lake is to close for some people. You did nothing wrong.

[Guest avid]

These kind of posts always bring out the horror stories of 'can you believe what this a+&%$$%$ did??

But  in my experience MOST guys are pretty considerate.  Maybe because I'm in a canoe and even the most arrogant of them realize that they can capsize me and posssibly be the cause of a serious injury, but I find that the rule is that I experience courtesy on the water, the rude, dangerous jerk is the exception.

[FIN-S-R]

Heres a twist on ethics. Came into a little cove during tourney full of pads. Another boat was in the cove on other side fishing a bed. I hit the opposite bank and pads about 75-100yds from him. Saw schoolers in back of cove and tm'd that way on high. He noticed me haulin butt...further away from him, and then niticed schoolers. He headded to them also...I had the jump and got there first...missed 1 before he got there..at this point we are about 25yds apart. He saw I had the goods and he really couldnt fish the area, so he big motored into the pads where the schoolers were and blew the whole are out w/ trim up so it was raining pad stalks. I gave him the high 1 as he departed.  ;D

[Guest avid]

I"m not a tournament guy, but I know this is hot topic among you guys.

My feeling is that you are in a competition.

defense is part of any game.

If he can't score himself, the only tactic remaining is to use the rules to prevent you from catching.

defense, defense, defense.

It sucks, but hey if your gonna compete to win you gotta play hardball.

[Ozarkie]

Were you wrong? Do you feel you violated thier area? This is something only you can really answer for yourself.

I fish lakes and White River often, 2-3 times per week.

On the river bank fishing I have had guides run over my line and within ten feet of me. I dont think thats right, they have a 50 to 75 yard wide river to use in most cases.

As a boater on the river I still have had guides get right on top of my boat. Close enough we could have shaken hands. That also is not right.

Even  on Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes I have had tourney fishers come right in on top of me. It is not right.

So what is the distance to stay away from other fisherman? I say past casting distance. Some people think they can set a hook with 150 feet of line out, we all no its not really a good idea but we have to share the waters.

We have to share the waters thats the main thing and sometimes it sucks. I have had fly fisherman standing right in the channel on the river, blocking the egress up and down stream. That also  is not right but they think its fine.

We all have to shear the waters. we should try to get along, so do what you think is the right thing.

Just remember someone might have a set of grabhooks on high test line.

I had to use this on a guide a few years ago. Today he stays away when he sees me and yes he told other guides. So now sledom do I have other boats come close. There are channels we all have to share and I have found the guides fish the quick catch water, I  have changed to slow catch waters and catch bigger fish.

It should not be combat fishing.

Just wave and stay out of the range of their cast. Respect for each fisherman.

I am not in total agreement with fishing private docks, some of these the owners have done some work to attract fish for their fun, so I try to stay away especially on week ends.

Good luck

Ozarkie