? WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO FISHING ETIQUETTE ?

[Keyz45]

While out Bassin' from shore this morning, I hook into an nice little large mouth about 2 lbs or so. As I am reeling it in there is a boat passing by. The guy in the boat sees me fighting with this fish that is jump out of the water like a seal at marine world. He idles his boat and watches me land the bass, then starts heading my way. At first I was like cool, he’s coming over to see how my morning has been but, he stopped about 15 -20 yards straight in front of me and starts throwing his spinner towards me. People like this really turn my crank, I was pee pee! I bit my tongue as all I could hear racing through my head was a bunch of not so nice words.

Here I am fishing from shore and as you know there is a very limited area of fishing opportunity when throwing a lure from shore. This jerk is in a BOAT, he has the whole @%$&ing bay to fish. Why is it that when some people see fish being caught, they feel the need/have to fish that spot no matter what?



WHY?

[aciddrop]

Was he close enough to toss your spinner (or rocks ) at him 'cause I think that's probably what I would be doing. Some a$$hole went by in his boat yesterday a whole bunch to fast to be passing by anybody fishing off shore and ended up soaking me up to my knees. So I waited and watched for him to come back when I saw the prick coming I threw on a crap lure I've had forever and oops I hit him with it because he was coming a little to fast under the bridge and I didn't see him then I had a few words for him when he stopped about boat etiquette.

[Jebby]

very funny... good idea... i have been pushed to teh edge by less than intelegent boaters many times.... wish id thought to do that...hehe..... least the BLEEP BLEEPER got what was commin.....

jebby

[wolfe]

That IS annoying. But I still think I'd rather one of those than the kind who see you fishing and come rip roaring past at close range. Even with our 2 little kids in the boat. Now it's THOSE people I really, really can't stand.

W.

[Badger Shark]

The boating ettiquitte is really poor now adays. If you read Clown worship report and my report last weekend about Lake Muskoka you would see you are not the only ones who have noticed this problem, and this is a serious problem. We were on the Rideau today and I am still wobbling from the constant wake from boaters that dont slow down or at least not pass so close to us especially while it is obvious we are anchored. It is non stop and really gets me angry. Last year we had a water skier purposely soak us while we were trolling, unfortunately they were to quick for us to catch or else someone wouldnt have been skiing anymore for quite some time. I look forward to getting out on the water every weekend and dont want to have it ruined by people who just dont care and dont have a clue. This is why I said once before, instead of badger shark on the side of my boat I should get O.P.P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wallyboss]

I had something happen to me a couple of weeks ago at Victoria Island, I
was watching my rodtip for any fish action, I was also keeping an eye on the Ottawa Fire Department guys that were training for open water rescue stuff they had there boat (zodiak i think) and they were having a good time doing the equivalent of a high speed U-Turn on water, then all of a sudden they start heading my way and I'm fishing for catfish so I have a 3oz sinker on bottom and my line is tightened right to the rod tip, so I try to warn them of my line cause the line would've burned until the 3 oz weight hit them in the head then I would kind of call the next step automatic hookset. so they swerve to miss it, but they come back around and they do one of those u-Turns right in front of me. So they are very luckey that my 3 oz weight was at the bottom. Fireman or not, they would've been a target, it's really funny how far somebody can cast a 3oz weight.

[aciddrop]

Just do what I did next time, I'll bet the prick still tring to get my donated lure out of his arm.

[mikemicropterus]

Last year the wife and I are, well she is catching BIG smallies on one of our favorite lakes. After about 5 fish, one 5.3, two over 4 and a couple of 3's and some pictures we keep fishing. The american boat that was 300 or so yards away kept watching us but decided to leave. The other BOATLOAD of %$^^&*^% decent came over on their trolling motor and started fishing 30 ft away and kept getting closer. I asked them to back of and they said no so I asked them if they get at least casting distance away. They ignored me That was 2!!!!! I picked up a spinnerbait and threw it towards their boat, stopping it short and then I asked them to move back, they said it was not my water and they could fish where they wanted. My next cast caught his line under water and he thought he had a fish. I pulled up his line and cut his tube off. I alomst pulled the rod from his hands as he was fishing with at least 10 lb test. Then it got ugly until they finally left.
Here's a tip for the Rideau river never on Sat or Sunday after 10 am and 5 pm. The week is fine most days. But it's a ditch and it's full of transients who show little regard for slow zones, PWC's on PCP, tuned out tubers who turn on a whim, water skiers sun suffering from sun stroke and then a well meaning person thinks they are going to tackle this in a canoe, they've been smelling too much pine gum. I USED to try the DITCH on weekends in my 14 ft aluminum and after surfing cruiser wakes all day and bobbbbobbobobbobobbobbobobobobobobobobbobbobing like a cork I said NO F&^$%%$^%$^$ WAY There is just TOO much traffic these days 10 years ago it was OK now it has become dangerous. And into this mess you throw 40 or so HIGH POWERED HIGH TESTOSTERONED boats capable of 70 plus mph and YYYYYEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW we got ourselves a PAAARRRTEE. Buckle up and HANG-ON
But seriously little boats on that river on the weekends are taking a chance and it's just TOO bad. I know I used to try and some days it was not worth the headache. So now if it's not a tournament I won't fish it on the weekend until after mid sept or I will wait for a weekday. After 10 am the wingnuts are loose and the tranients are in a rush to get to the next lock. Wear your PFD all the time

[CNs]

Actually the Rideau is fine until about 11:30 am.

My rule of thumb is thrtee cruiser within 5 minutes of each other in any direction and I'm off the water.

Onr thing you might try to do is get the boat number (or name if it is a cruiser or large speedboat) and get it to the police. They are waiting for info like this so they can crack down on miscreants.

Most Marina operators on the Rideau have the number to call and will gladly help in identifying the boats causing wakes and driving dangerously.

Oter than that I agree completely with mikemicropterus and the others about the Rideau

[Jigs]

Parking in no parking zones, handicapped zones, trailer turn arounds, too close to the boat ramp, all common place now, and getting worse.

Cruiser wakes, speeders, seadoos, fishers too close , all have been common place and getting worse also.

Trash chuckers: They're everywhere. A pile of garbage within spitting distance of the garbage drum. Floating cig packs, beer bottles, you name it.

Two years ago I nailed a guy with a spinner bait at Cedar Lake in ALGONQUIN PARK. Idiot pulled in front of us(anchored), and proceeded to cast . Not 10 feet from us. A WHOLE LAKE and he's ten feet from us a hundred miles from nowhere. He left; wondering why "we were so excited"

Years of this garbage finally took it's toll. Found myself not giving others the benefit of the doubt, and started hating the idea of fishing. Sold the boat, motor, trailer, this spring.

Now the canoe slips quietly in - no launch required, no fees, no loud mouths, no "officials".

Fishing the way we used to. Fishing the way we loved it. Again. Finally.

So, you see a canoe drifting calmly through the lillypads, don't come over and say hi. Might be me. Still have some spinnerbaits. Joke.

Also: Not that I'm a prude; far from it, but: Using the word "prick" to describe someone used to be frowned upon on this site. Ladies and kids still here?? Has FishHawk slackened the rules to pump up the membership?

Just wonderin.

Jigs.

[Jimmynorth]

I have to agree with you guys, its getting out of hand these days. Its with everything from people taking liberties at street lights, to boaters ignoring the safety of others. It's the decline of Western civilisation as we know it. All people do is think about themselves and their time. What is affecting THEIR space and THEIR universe. Selfishness is an epidemic.

I witnessed several instances like you guys mentioned this past weekend. Very dissapointing. I'm going to be carrying an "anti-intrusion" rod from now on . Should be an interesting summer.

[Kpin]

It's unfortunate but there will always be those of questionable ethics and brain-power, (for lack of a better word). Common courtesy seems to have taken, not only a back seat but tossed out the window completely. We can only hope these yahoo's...I prefer the term wingnuts but it was already used , grow up, or finally learn to harness the power of their brains.

[clown worship]

As Badger Shark mentioned in the similarly themed thread that Joco started, we've had two trips virtually ruined this year by the same behavior be it callous disregard or ignorance it's completely inexcusable!

We've been swamped by boats going full bore in a POSTED 9km/h no wake zone.
Had a boat run over a lure while we were trolling (two rods in the holders off the side of the boat clearly visible and me frantically waving him off our lines.
Two weeks ago a pontoon boat with 4 or 5 guys motors up and starts fishing within 15 feet of us and we were anchored in the middle of Constance Bay!

After yesterday I don't think we'll ever fish the Rideau on the weekend again. We had a bad experience there a couple of years ago but I thought maybe it seemed worse because we had three of us in a 15 foot tinbanger; it seemed every boat that passed threatened to completely swamp us. Yesterday though only 2 of us in a 17 foot Alumacraft and we still got swamped, (thank God for splash wells.) I really felt bad for the guys trying to fish from shore under the 416 bridge as well.

I used to think some people, (espescially fishermen,) had a severe unwarented bias against PWCs. this year I've been paying a lot more attention... so far I've probably seen at least 50 PWC's this year and no more than 5 of them displayed ANY etiquette. I even had one run over my line while I was shore fishing in the Ottawa at Dick Bell park... the river is 4 kms across there but he had to fly by 15 feet from shore!

I'm beginning to think the only places that are fun to fish are the few waterways that ban PWCs and aren't big enough for the big pleasure craft. When you're dealing with mostly fishing boats, the idiots seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

It's enough of a challenge to find that elusive 26lb pike without having to split my focus worried about the moron who just dumped 20 grand on his new toy and wants to make sure everyone gets an up close look at it!

I agree totally that these cretins should be reported. We may however need to buy a couple of extra memory cards for the camera to be able to fit all these photo ops.


Okay I've vented and I feel a little better now

[Badger Shark]

Unfortunately I think I am done with the Rideau after this past weekend. I will only return if I can get out on a weekday or if it is to windy for the Ottawa. At least on the big O there is a little more room and seems a little more respect for other boaters. It is really too bad. There needs to be a crackdown on these people who dont respect the rules. Somebody is really going to get hurt, I am surprised no one did yesterday. I saw two hydrofoil type boats racing each other at the highest rate of speed I have seen in such a small area. Clown and I were trolling and almost had to crank up the motor to get out of the way. Maybe someday things will get better, but until then I am sticking to the water that I know wont be so bad and to lakes that are not flooded with weekend boneheads. And also try to watch what is said on this site as I am sure there are kids who check it out. Dont be firing lures at people try to stay cool, plus its a waste of a lure.

[clown worship]

That's a little weird we both posted to the same thread at the same time!