I think it's great that everyone has an opinion. As TK pointed out, it's great to be Canadian.
As a tournament angler, guy who grew up on the rideau river and someone who likes to fish out of a canoe as well, I have seen pretty much everything that can happen on the water.
I've been accused of fishing bass while fishing for splake see this report:
http://www.fish-hawk.net/hawktalk/viewt ... highlight=
Had cottagers and homeowners run out down to the dock to tell me to move on.
Had to swerve at the last minute because a Kayaker was out in open water with a dark red kayak and dark PFD on virtually invisible to boaters.
The list goes on.
TK has a good point about impressing your ideals upon others. It's clear that some (most) won't understand that desire to strap yourself into a boat that does 70 miles per hour and race down the lake like Ricky Bobby (I prefer Cal Naughton Jr. myself). It's the same reason why some guys are NASCAR fans and others like golf - personal preference.
Now admittedly, there is more than one or two guys in the region that are inconsiderate bass fishermen, however let's not paint all bass guys or gals with the same brush. Most of us are decent upstanding citizens who will do anything to help a fellow angler.
I can tell you though that guys who fish tournaments will continue to fish docks and shoreline structure. That won't change and neither will the increasingly common landowner who thinks it is perfectly fine to walk up to someone they DON'T KNOW and who is NOT on their property and tell them to back off.
Can you imagine walking down the sidewalk in front of some guys house in barrhaven and a guy running to the end of their driveway to tell you to move along cause you are too close...different situation but the principle is exactly the same. You wouldn't allow someone to infringe on your right to use the sidewalk and why would anyone allow another individual to infringe upon your rights to fish on public property.
This is why the government enacted the Heritage Hunting and Fishing Act.
Now, to go back to the original post on this string, Charbyc's post was more than a little one sided. I know because I fished that tournament and pretty sure I didn't hit anyone in a Kayak, well at least none of the locals cause I'm sure I would have heard something smack off the side of the boat or noticed a scuff mark on the hull...
To my knowledge, there was only one bass boat with a 300 HP motor on the back and he was fishing with his 6-year old son and wasn't going to be a speed demon with his son in the boat.
There were roughly 82 boats in the tournament, one or two incidents on a very busy lake in an eight hour day, things like this can and do happen here on the Mississippi regularly (mostly RJ's fault I'm sure...). I didn't notice Charbyc point out the 80+ other boats that went the entire day without causing an incident.
In closing, I can tell you I personally putted through three areas where locals were fishing in smaller boats as to not disturb their fishing, I didn't get so much as a nod from them let alone a hug from any local when I was finally off the water...very hurtful indeed.
