Fishing in front of homes & cottages

[Dances With Fishes]

I'm an avid fisherman who owns a a cottage property with a very long shoreline. In the 10 years that I have been spending time there I have never had an altercation with anyone. When we sit on the docks people give us room, I have never heard or seen anyone bounce a cast off my boat. When we are swimming the boats steer well clear. I have unhooked lines for people a few times and have always appreciated when a fellow angler takes the time to get back a hook rather than leave it tangled on the shoreline or in the shallows. However not all people live up to this sort of mutual system of respect. Some boaters (not specifically anglers) leave garbage strewn on secluded parts of the shore or use our docks when we aren't there. Why should I mind if I am not there you might ask. Well, if I can tell you were there it means you left something behind, usually garbage, or you used the fire pit and burned wood that I worked to put out for my family's use. I probably pick up a dozen or more tin cans every year. I also find lures, line, styrofoam and bits of old docks. Most of the stuff could come from anyone who is using the water but since a few objects are specifically from fishing I suspect most if not all of it is blamed on anglers. Some property owners are real jerks. They will put up bouy lines to try to keep boats away or string old javex bottles to tangle lines. Some throw stones in the water to scare the fish when boats come by. I hope the guy Bobber met was only holding the rock for this reason. One other thing to consider is this. Some owners live on the water and feel that when a boat is slowly passing by your property it is the same thing as someone slowly walking down the sidewalk looking in your window. I don't think this but there is a retired couple near us who do. They've been broken into and are fearful when they see people hanging out near their place. One final reason why some property owners lash out at anglers is this. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONES THEY CAN LASH OUT AT. By this I mean, many properties have a lot of noisy or fast or invasive traffic near them. The SeaDoos zoom noisily by, the pontoon boats cruise by making big waves maybe erroding the shore line, The skiers, tubers and wakeboarders zoom by also making waves and noise. The speed boats and cruisers come by and sometime they park and party and play loud music. (to me this is all part of life by the water) The angler comes by and is the only one who is quiet and slow enough for the property owner to make contact with.....so they do. None of this excuses rudeness on anyones part but they are all things to consider the next time you find yourself puzzling over an unexplained rude reation. I accept all of this as something that comes with the territory when I am on the shore or on the boat. Water is a shared resource and private property is not. where the two meet is where the two different groups of users get into a fuss sometimes. It is the few poorly behaved on both sides that ruin it for all. Take the high road whenever you can
My two cents worth
Cheers
Dances with Fishes

[joco]

I myself do the same..i fish the shore ...cast under the docks..or boat house etc...WEN PEOPLE ARE NOT on them..or by the water.

but they can t do anything about it...its legal to do so..

actualy you could even land your boat on the shore and still can t say a thing because there is a amount off feet off shore that they dont own.

plus on the water nobody owns that.

some people are just......... .meen....not frendly..not fisherman or outdoor sport related etc etc.

or they dont want people to catch the fish in front off there property..think its there fish...there spot..and so on.

i saw and talk to some off those kind off people there all over....good thing ,,the most are just great people and just wave..to say hi etc.


they just can t ask you to leave that area..at all.

but its better to do so..just to save some hassle.

but what he did is some harrastement.that is illigal.



joco.

[joco]

just to ad something...for the quebec side at least..in quebec province.........ITS NOT LEGAL TO HAVE A DOCK.but they dont say anything or put the law into it..

i no that because we have talking to the quebec gouv for that subject a cople time.

so if its illigal to have ther dock there,,,its sher is ok for me to fish all around it....but again wit some respect.,,to the materiel and people around it.


but the best thing its to go.because if it get worst..next thing we will see its will be worst and worst for the other fisherman that will go fish there and so on..

some people are just.. .


but i do agree about where people go shore fishing and leave garbage and so on that this is......not smart,,and if i was the owner i would be realy pist... ,,,and would do something to.

but on the water........its something hesle.







ONE THING THAT WOULD AND DO ANNOYE.ME

its the fast boat close to other boaters

or those people going close to shore or to other boats in those annoying jet ski.. .


joco.....

[kunobasski]

As a tournament angler I have the opportunity to meet some of the most outlandish humans in ontario.
Many times, when fishing a dock or a float dock or even a shoreline, we have been threatened, verbally abused, had rocks thrown, a gun waved in our direction, and people who even attempted to actually get in the boat to mount some sort of feeble offensive assault.

Heres the facts....They do not own the water around, under, beside or near thier dock. It is public domain. As a matter of fact they do not even own thier lawn on the wet side of the flood plane or high water mark.


Of couse, As an angler, manners is someting to be considerate of. If you cant cast accuratly or flip a jig. dont fish around peoples little peice of heaven. But NEVER let a Water front land owner push you around whislt enjoyong your time afield. You have all the right in the world to persue your activities on the water, and any attempt by another individual who makes you uncomfortabe can be charged with Harrassment and uttering threats, Amoungst other things depending on the severety of thier numb skull actions.

My advice, Shake it off and keep fishing. There has only been one case in my 25 years of angling that an altercation has escalated to "not so proud of personal choices" level. .........It did feel good retaliating, and truley making an expample of a 65 year old man in front of his grandkids and family....but, on the upside, maybe the youngsters watching thier Gpa get takin down a peg and pleading sobs of regret thanks to his pride and temper, may help them make better choices in the future while visiting the family cottage.

Keep fishing..........Its your water too!!!!!

Militant

[Mick]

Kunobasski

I really enjoy your posts on this site and normally you are a pretty informative person.

I don't like stirring $hit on this site and obviously I do not understand the circumstances around your altercation but let's be clear about something: there is no upside to kicking the butt of a 65 year old grandpa

Mick

[Bobber]

I think we all know what Trevor is saying and he already stated was a wrong personal choice (we don't know the details nor do we need to) other than the fact that he made an example of this guy in front of children. I doubt if he actually kicked is butt in this case, but whatever.

The point I hear with him is that there are different ways to handle this type of situation, one is the "stand firm" way and the other is the "take the high road" way. Let's leave it at that. I would prefer to not have this post become a judging of the way people have handled things in the past...it's more to understand how others would approach the situation.

Thanks for everyone's thought and cheers,

[muskymatt]

I can see how if a cottage owners scenic view is disturbed by and endless flow of one after another bass boats working the shore line day after day, he might grow a bit impatient.

However this does not give them any right to be rude , verbally abusive or potentially violent towards anyone. There is no difference between that and having a really slow walker in front of you at the mall.

I think anchoring your boat and staying in front only drives the wedge a little deeper.

I tend to comment on how much of a shame it is to have a beautiful piece of property and on such a beautiful day to be such a negative and unfriendly person and then move on.

On a river such as the Rideau it's hard to put it into perspective as to how much traffic there is and without living on the river you will never get the whole picture.This doesn't give them the right to be abusive because as people we have the right to carry out our lives un-molested and not harassed.

Next time you encounter a person not thrilled to see you , put yourself in his/her shoes for a second and try to understand why that person may be in the state of mind they are.

A smile and a sorry goes a lot further to the cause than a tirade of verbal abuse in return.

JMO

[TLunge]

Let's face it, there are nasty, bad and wierd people all over the place and we will run across them from time to time. Congradulations Bobber for doing the right thing as this guy may have wanted to escalate the situation into something ugly......not cool.
I have to mention a time I was lost snowmobiling, and trying to get back on the main trail, going through a field that I thought led to the trail, I noticed a guy motioning to me from a back yard and I thought,great, I'll go and ask this guy. I pulled onto the road and stopped in front of his driveway to talk to him and then noticed he was coming my way with an axe in his hand....and really pee pee...voice quivering and the whole bit. It frightens me to this day what potentially could have happened there if I had not de-escelated that situation wayyyyy down in a hurry.
It was'nt even his property?
There out there folks and you can't always explain it
TLunge

[Wallyboss]

MuskyMatt The anchoring thing was just until the Police showed up, to sort out everything, I never said I fished while anchored.

[Dock Hunter]

Funny you made this post. I was fishing with my wife the night before last on Mississippi Lake and the same thing happened to me. This older fellow comes out of his cottage while we were fishing by at a respectable distance without hitting docks or boats. We were pulling out dinky smallies and putting them back. Anyway the guy says in a harsh tone "We fish here too". My wife thinking he may actually be friendly says "do you have much luck" he doesn't answer. So I said "What do you mean by that" again he doesn't answer. A long pause latter he says "it's just common curtisy". My wife said "we put them all back". He just walked away and we kept going but I was taken back by the rudness of the old guy. The people at the next cottage were laughing and partying and said we could fish there any time.
After we got off the water I was speaking to a buddy who fishes Regegade and he says this type of thing is becoming a bit of a problem for the tournament anglers. Cottage owners are actually putting up no fishing signs on their docks. The Renegade folks asked that the teams respect the signs so fishing doesn't start getting a bad name.
I agree with this notion but I'm still concerned That there are folks out there that actually feel they have ownership of the water and the fish in the water.

[BigSim]

Well, I haven't posted in a while, and I haven't even run into this problem. chances are, most cottage owners probably know I'm not gonna catch anything anyways

But my two cents is this:


They ( I presume) bought their cottage to enjoy the waterfront property in the way in which they see fit. The problem is not everyone sees "fit" the same way.

I just bought a house. Its on a road, as I presume everyone elses is to. People walk past my house everyday. Its on a country road, so who can blame them. I like to drive on roads. Some people like to walk on them.
(okay so no-one fishes on them) (sober at least)


My point is, just because I like to drive on my road doesn't mean i'm gonna throw a rock at the next guy that walks past my house.


Thats the long way around to say if you live on water, people will fish, and as mean as it might seem sometimes, ( and I'm speaking on behalf of the conciencous outdoors people) you don't own the water any more than I own my road. So if someone walks past my house on the road, it's their decision. as long as they don't damage my property, I have no claim, as a cottage owner holds no claim on the water. (We all know the RVCA owns that!)

Heck, I'd even let someone fish on the road in front of my house.

Good frickin luck to them!


I hope that made sense.



B

[wolfe]

Bobber,

A very good, food for thought thread. Sorry to hear about your negative experience which undoubtedly put a sour taste in your mouth and possibly even ruined the outing. I imagine that old fella has had some kind of negative experience himself, which perhaps has got his feathers in a bunch towards all fisherman.

It seems most members responding here are in agreement and quite reasonable about their expectations and behaviors from both sides of the shoreline. That tells you something!

Being both a (new) cottage owner and a long-time fisherlady , my opinion is this:

fish those docks and shorelines and those lovely little bays with only a cottage or two on them & do so with respect for belongings/property...but when you see a cottager(s) out and about, move along for another day.

I do think this is common courtesy, and having the perspective of both sides of the fence, this is what I think makes the sanest (and safest) choice.

An interesting side note, I met some elderly folks many years ago that I am still close friends with to this day. When I was a kid, I fished the shoal off their boathouse. One day, the woman struck up a conversation with me and joked that she would keep one fish to my every two caught as a way of payment. (Of course, I release all my fish, so the joke was on her.) Anyway, I was known as the "young lady with the dog" as I always had my big black lab with me. Later I was invited in to see their fairy-tale cottage and spotless grounds and to this day, Brian, the kids and I visit with them 2 or 3 times a year, sharing goodies, wine and fun memories. The husband will be 95 in less than a month & is unfortunately declining, although they once again made it up this summer. To me, they are the epitomy of warm and hospitable cottagers.

W.

[Bobber]

Great discussin folks and thanks a lot for sharing your oppinions.

I think it rings loud and clear that we all agree that the waterfront is everyone's property and that we are well within our rights to fish it.

For those cottage owners who think they own the water and make it a point to walk down and make a big deal of it, when there is no one in the water or out front, then I'll propably just ignore them moving forward.

I will respect property and also the space if people are enjoying their property out in front of the water, and move along, coming back another day. Good point Wolfe.

If there is a sign on the dock or something, not that it's legal or anything, then I'll most likely also respect that.

Onc thing I also forgot to mention, which many may find quite amusing, is that I was told by some tournament anglers during the Rideau River SEBO tournament that someone actually put a SPRINKER at the end of their dock, and when a fishing boat approached the dock, they turned it on, spraying everyone in the boat, and then turned it off when they left. Talk about a sign......I think this one says it all. Time to strap on the raingear and get right in there I'd say.

[kunobasski]

Just to clear things up. My post did not mentioned or insinuate any act of violent behavior towards a land owner. In fact, the mentioned actions taken regarding my poor judgement was primarily verbal witt that belittled a small minded individual and his unjust view of superiority towards fellow humans.

As noted in your statetment directly opposing my post, you quote that you do not mean to cause S*&t, but open ended comments such as your pre-mentioned statement does favour negative attitudes and fuels the Cottage owner/ Angler paranoia.

Respectfully, use better judgement in such respondant posts. There is no need for poor assumptions about anothers character with out know the full story, regardless if you understood the posted reply or not.

Good luck in your future endevours, I'm confident your on-line emmsions surley don't represent your best attributes as an outdoors person.

Take care,

Trevor Kunopaski

[eastfisher]

I'm actually a magnet for these types of people. I had a guy charged last year for throwing a rock at me and a friend who just happened to be a police officer. He had hit me and proceeded to throw one at my friend. I'm in the process of taking him to court. He had no right to throw the thing in the first place. He damaged my boat . He was mad about some guys fishing there all weekend in a tournament. I think from what the lawyer said he will probally agree to settle out of court. I will agree to that after he apoligizes to me in person. I only made him pay for the boat being fixed and my lawyer. I have run into these guys time and time again. Some of them have valid points annd I agree with them when they say that sometimes people hit their boat/docks. They have by no means any right to hit people with rocks. There are alot of jackasses out there like this. I had a guy during a tournament tell me to not cast around his boat, dock, or shoreline and I just proceeded to ignore him and not say a word. They usually give up after a few minutes you are gone anyways. I'm 240 lbs and can handle myself if need be but why. Its much more fun to get the law involved to straighten out these narrow minded people. We all have a right to that water but just keep in mind be courteous to your fellow cottager as well.