Fishing around private docks, etc?

[AlkalineFishing]

When it comes to docks it really depends on your local laws. When it comes to other boats fishing I usually use the FLW 50 yard rule, which is pretty much casting distance. If I want to fish closer ask, the water belongs to everyone, but we should all play nicely. Docks are pretty much public property here, but I'd someone is on their dock I'll pitch it to their dock as wait for them to look and give them a friendly wave, If they're around their dock in their boat I treat the boat ,as long as it's manned, as if it were on open water. Unfortunately people will put on gopros and go around deliberately pushing the boundaries until someone says something to them and they edit the video in a way to make them look completely innocent for an easy 1m views on YouTube. Be friendly because there's not much you can do to stop rude people. If you're not fishing don't let it bother you. Until there's a firm red line we have to try to respect other s and just ignore the douches. Yes it's public water and you can be anywhere you want to be, but that doesn't give you the right to be a *********. If someone is right on your butt on the highway you're going get upset, the roads are public and so is the water, just because one is wet doesn't give you the right to be a Doo Doo head

[S. Sass]

On 7/22/2010 at 11:52 AM, Redtail said:

That's just Rude - Period.  It doesn't matter who owns the water - the fact is you were sitting there.  Hello, a little coutesy please!  I fish docks every time I go out - if someone is on their dock, I never go right up to it and start fishing.  I just keep moving to the next dock.   

 

On 7/23/2010 at 7:49 AM, ww2farmer said:

I always go around docks that have people sitting on or fishing off of. Even though, like people have said, I have every right to fish the water by NYS law, under/around the dock. I just choose NOT to be a discourtious jerk, there are usually 100's of docks not beeing used at any given time. Going around a handfull that are beeing used by there owners is not going to ruin my day. On the flip side, If I have a guy come running out of the house ranting and raving telling me to get away from his dock when I have done nothing wrong, I make him aware of the NYS laws, and tell him my cell phones ready for him to use (or I) to call the authoritys to settle the situation. But in 20 years of fishing I have had 2..............maybe 3 dock owners do that, most of the time they come out and start small talk.

Exactly.

 

Yes in many cases boaters may have the right to fish a dock but did your parents not teach you any courtesy? There is an entire lake and for some reason some people feel they have to get right up on another person. Why? Because you can? There are a lot of things that are legal but it doesn't necessarily make them right.

 

All this attitude does is cement negative attitudes towards all the fishing community. And you guys wonder how a man can get an attitude towards a glitzy boat or post signs on his dock. Guilt by association. It happens diesel trucks get a bad rap from idiots rollin coal, sports cars get it from speeding idiots. I recon some fancy bass boat was holding a-hole that thought he had to prove he could miss a boat by inches with a man sitting in it and missed. Then wouldn't pay to have the chip fixed. Or possibly hit someone. It was the a-hole that left hooks on the dock that possibly the owner would have liked their grandkids to have been able to get on and enjoy the lake. Once the accident happens OOOhhhhh its a whole different story then. 

 

If your fishing skills suck so bad that you need to get right up on a man sitting at his own dock (figuratively speaking) and toss at his boat yeah you're a real winner. Doesn't matter if he was holding a pole or answering a text back off. You have an entire freaking lake go fish somewhere else.  

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, AlkalineFishing said:

When it comes to docks it really depends on your local laws. When it comes to other boats fishing I usually use the FLW 50 yard rule, which is pretty much casting distance. If I want to fish closer ask, the water belongs to everyone, but we should all play nicely. Docks are pretty much public property here, but I'd someone is on their dock I'll pitch it to their dock as wait for them to look and give them a friendly wave, If they're around their dock in their boat I treat the boat ,as long as it's manned, as if it were on open water. Unfortunately people will put on gopros and go around deliberately pushing the boundaries until someone says something to them and they edit the video in a way to make them look completely innocent for an easy 1m views on YouTube. Be friendly because there's not much you can do to stop rude people. If you're not fishing don't let it bother you. Until there's a firm red line we have to try to respect other s and just ignore the douches. Yes it's public water and you can be anywhere you want to be, but that doesn't give you the right to be a *********. If someone is right on your butt on the highway you're going get upset, the roads are public and so is the water, just because one is wet doesn't give you the right to be a Doo Doo head

 

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

Interesting first post and on a thread brought back from the archives  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

A-Jay

[the reel ess]

If you're fishing or swimming or just enjoying your day on the dock, it's bad form for someone to come pick apart your dock with casts. If you're not there, it's fair game, IMO as long as they don't damage anything. Here, in SC, they can legally get on it and fish if they want and you can't even run them off. It is illegal for them to fool around with a boat that's docked there because it's registered as someone else's real property.

[NYWayfarer]

Oldie but goodie thread here.

 

If someone is on a dock don't go near it. Float over to the next one. Unwritten rule of courtesy.

 

Same rule can be used for so many other things. Like walking your dog. If you want to let your dog pee on other peoples mailboxes its Ok as long as they are not sitting on their porch staring at you doing it.

 

 

[Choporoz]

what

[S. Sass]

54 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

Interesting first post and on a thread brought back from the archives  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

Oh my last Posted July 23, 2010. 

Guess the topic is still relevant as the same things do happen even today.  

[lo n slo]

black labs love to go swimming just about anytime. especially when you throw the rope toy in ; )

[blckshirt98]

Basically just follow the Golden Rule here.  If you were on the dock and someone on a boat came by and started casting around you would it get on your nerves?  Chances are it would, so don't do it to other people.

[gim]

4 hours ago, Finesse Wayfarer said:

Oldie but goodie thread here.

 

If someone is on a dock don't go near it. Float over to the next one. Unwritten rule of courtesy.

 

Same rule can be used for so many other things. Like walking your dog. If you want to let your dog pee on other peoples mailboxes its Ok as long as they are not sitting on their porch staring at you doing it.

 

 

This.  Home owners put a lot of effort, time, and money into their property which does include docks, posts, lifts, boats, etc so put yourself in their shoes.  Would you want people constantly slinging lures towards your stuff?  Sh** no.  Yes, I realize that they do not own the water around it or under it.  I do what Wayfarer does.  If a person is in sight, move on to the next dock.

 

[J Francho]

I fish a lake, only accessible via a private launch. There is NO FISHING docks, period. You caught, and the ramp owner bans you. This is the lake that produced a 7-1, just one ounce shy of my PB from my state. I abide.

[Team9nine]

How many Power Poles did said glitzy tournament bass boat have?

[soflabasser]

This weekend me and a couple other people where fishing a dock in a public park when several boaters came less than 20 feet away to fish the dock.These boaters have the whole place to fish yet they decide they must come fish one of the few places people fish from land in the park,which proves to me these boaters where very desperate to catch a bass.None of these boaters caught a bass while I was there but I did catch some quality bass.

3 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

Basically just follow the Golden Rule here.  If you were on the dock and someone on a boat came by and started casting around you would it get on your nerves?  Chances are it would, so don't do it to other people.

Sadly people rarely follow this golden rule,I see boaters fish right next to public piers,docks,bridges,etc where land based fishermen where fishing before the boats came.

5 hours ago, Finesse Wayfarer said:

If someone is on a dock don't go near it. Float over to the next one. Unwritten rule of courtesy.

 

 

Well said

[MickD]

I wonder if all the dock fishermen who claim every square in of water as theirs would feel the same way if they were repairing their boat covers and canopies of damage inflicted by fishing lures.  Some can be effective fishing docks and doing no damage, but others cannot.  But that does not stop some of them from trying.  It would be nice if fishermen would not even go close to a dock with a person on it, or on shore by it.  It would be nice if those who are not really good at accurate casting would simply cast a good distance away from a dock and take the fish that come out.   There is the law, and there is common courtesy.  They are not the same.

[WCWV]

In my home State there's a law that you can't fish within 20 feet of someone else fishing. I guess it would depend on local or state regulations 

[scaleface]

Sounds like those guys were excellent casters .

[N Florida Mike]

On 7/23/2010 at 8:49 AM, ww2farmer said:

I always go around docks that have people sitting on or fishing off of. Even though, like people have said, I have every right to fish the water by NYS law, under/around the dock. I just choose NOT to be a discourtious jerk, there are usually 100's of docks not beeing used at any given time. Going around a handfull that are beeing used by there owners is not going to ruin my day. On the flip side, If I have a guy come running out of the house ranting and raving telling me to get away from his dock when I have done nothing wrong, I make him aware of the NYS laws, and tell him my cell phones ready for him to use (or I) to call the authoritys to settle the situation. But in 20 years of fishing I have had 2..............maybe 3 dock owners do that, most of the time they come out and start small talk.

Exactly my approach.Except I let THEM call the law if they want to.Ive never done it. I dont fish docks with people on them and I might even leave if you're rude,esp. if I have a kid with me. 

[RoLo]

2 hours ago, Team9nine said:

How many Power Poles did said glitzy tournament bass boat have?

 

 

If indeed that boat was glitzy, they were Minn Kota Talons  

 

Roger

[david in va]

 This is an old tread, but it has nothing to do with the dock, you were fishing and the glitzy boat just paid you no attention. Well that is just wrong , call me old school but it is un acceptable for any fisherman be it pro or a Sunday come lately. It is no way to justify anyone acting like that.

If it is like was said. I  am old enough to know it takes an awfully thin pancake to only have one side  

[RoLo]

16 hours ago, scaleface said:

Sounds like those guys were excellent casters .

 

That's exactly what I was thinking too  

 

Roger

 

 

 

[lonnie g]

sorry to here another fisherman treated you in such a manner. but am pleased to here that you conducted your self in a positive way. you are the better man! you never know when some one else is watching ,possibly even a young kid. hope some one was and observed your positive lesson.

[Columbia Craw]

There is one dock on my home lake where the owner takes issue of anyone being even close.  They put a large industrial sprinkler on it with a motion detector.  Get within 20 yards and the pump starts and it sprays out about 25 yards. It's to keep the " geese " off her dock.  Pretty ingenious actually.  You know that that white stuff is on the top of goose s**t ?  Yup, it's more goose s**t. .

[LBASS01]

It's pretty simple folks.  If someone is on their dock, don't fish it!  If someone is fishing from the bank, then move along and don't disrupt their fishing!  If you are not an accurate caster then don't cast close to someones boat that is docked!

[ThePolkFolk]

My home lake is pretty interesting. Small body of water. There are two docks on opposite sides of the lake (those are not the only ones). On one side is Bill. I catch a lot of fish around his dock and I thought it was because it was a nice shallow flat next to some deep holes. Turns out Bill just feeds the fish off his dock! I learned this as he stopped me one day as I was passing his place going from spot to spot.

On the other side of the lake is a man I have never met. I caught my largest fish of the year under his dock two months ago. A few weeks ago I went back to his side of the lake to see if any fish were still shallow. I apparently stuck around long enough for him to call a sheriff's deputy to come out to talk to me, but would come talk to me his self. In the end it turns out I did nothing wrong as I did not hit his boat, dock, or shoreline property (I did try to shoo some ducks away from my lures though). Last week I went back and saw he put some chainlink up under the dock so you can't throw there. He also put a sprinkler on his dock that shoots out.

I agree with all the posters; I will skip any dock that has people on it or around it, fishing or not. I do; however, think that some dock owners can have more class as well.

[sully420]

I respect people's property and I respect dock and bank fisherman's space boaters as well for that matter. In Minnesota all water is public and property owners on the lake have the privilege to have docks and boats on public property as such there is a cost to having you property on public water people can fish around your dock and boat and any your property could be damaged that's the price of having your property on public land live with it or move. I would gladly deal with those issues to live on a lake.