How close is too close???? What would you have done?

[Stump]

My wife, my son ( almost 4 yrs old) and I were fishing a point which dropped off into deep water.I decided to move to the other side where it basically has the same structure.There was two guys anchored sort of at the end of the point and floating slip bobbers.I dropped the trolling motor and proceded to shoot over to the other side.This is a pretty long point by the way. As we were going over the point one of the guys started screaming and yealling..for quite a while...saying we are scarring all "HIS" fish away and he should come over and f#@K me up!Now their bobbers were at the very least 50-75 yds (their boat being farther)out from where we passed.If it had been just me or a friend and I it might have???? whent another way,but hey my wife and kid were in the boat.Although steam was probably coming out my ears.LOL...I simply told him thanks for the generous offers,maybe another time and OH GOOD LUCK ON THE FISHING Then waved,smirked and kept on our way.I think that pi##ed him off more!I dont think I was too close at all.I think it was more then enough space ,especially with the trolling motor. What else could I have done without influencing a 4 yr old??My wife on the other hand....well, Ive seen her angry...she could have taken him LOL!

[Stump]

My wife, my son ( almost 4 yrs old) and I were fishing a point which dropped off into deep water.I decided to move to the other side where it basically has the same structure.There was two guys anchored sort of at the end of the point and floating slip bobbers.I dropped the trolling motor and proceded to shoot over to the other side.This is a pretty long point by the way. As we were going over the point one of the guys started screaming and yealling..for quite a while...saying we are scarring all "HIS" fish away and he should come over and f#@K me up!Now their bobbers were at the very least 50-75 yds (their boat being farther)out from where we passed.If it had been just me or a friend and I it might have???? whent another way,but hey my wife and kid were in the boat.Although steam was probably coming out my ears.LOL...I simply told him thanks for the generous offers,maybe another time and OH GOOD LUCK ON THE FISHING Then waved,smirked and kept on our way.I think that pi##ed him off more!I dont think I was too close at all.I think it was more then enough space ,especially with the trolling motor. What else could I have done without influencing a 4 yr old??My wife on the other hand....well, Ive seen her angry...she could have taken him LOL!

[mnjimcarp]

stump, good job handling this situation. don't waste your good energy trying to figure out what these guys were thinking. all they had in mind was catching fish and you, your wife and child were obviously a threat. have you ever seen a dog that doesn't let another dog close to the dish? they look really scary.
most anglers are understanding of sharing a spot. use your best judgement and only fish as close as you would like others to fish to you. good fishing! jim c

[mnjimcarp]

stump, good job handling this situation. don't waste your good energy trying to figure out what these guys were thinking. all they had in mind was catching fish and you, your wife and child were obviously a threat. have you ever seen a dog that doesn't let another dog close to the dish? they look really scary.
most anglers are understanding of sharing a spot. use your best judgement and only fish as close as you would like others to fish to you. good fishing! jim c

[ChuckD]

I had situation on Sat. evening with a guy that would not give up waterskiing. My wife and I were fishing and this tuber kept buzzing us, too close to us while we were fishing. We later moved to fish a point and turns out the guys lived on the point.
We thought they would quit tubing because it was after 9pm (sunset) at that point. Turns out they then decided to try skiing. It was getting dark at that point and illegal in MN to waterski at that time.

Both the driver of the boat and I were not paying attention (I was watching my graph and reeling in a perch) when all of a sudden this yahoo is driving right at us and he's got his head turned looking at his skier, and not where he's driving. My wife and I were freaked out when the boat came at us and swerved 15 yards away to avoid running us over in my 14' boat!

I never said a word, just looked at him and he started cussing. I just about picked up my cell phone and called the sheriff to get this guy to obey the laws of the water before his ignorance killed someone. We left the area immediately and they continued to try to pull the waterskier from the water until it was almost too dark to see!

[ChuckD]

I had situation on Sat. evening with a guy that would not give up waterskiing. My wife and I were fishing and this tuber kept buzzing us, too close to us while we were fishing. We later moved to fish a point and turns out the guys lived on the point.
We thought they would quit tubing because it was after 9pm (sunset) at that point. Turns out they then decided to try skiing. It was getting dark at that point and illegal in MN to waterski at that time.

Both the driver of the boat and I were not paying attention (I was watching my graph and reeling in a perch) when all of a sudden this yahoo is driving right at us and he's got his head turned looking at his skier, and not where he's driving. My wife and I were freaked out when the boat came at us and swerved 15 yards away to avoid running us over in my 14' boat!

I never said a word, just looked at him and he started cussing. I just about picked up my cell phone and called the sheriff to get this guy to obey the laws of the water before his ignorance killed someone. We left the area immediately and they continued to try to pull the waterskier from the water until it was almost too dark to see!

[YO]

My partner and I were fishing in a tournament in early June a few years back. Fishing was tough during a cold front but we were right on top of fish which were few and far between. We had 3 or 4 in the box when up pulls this husband and wife team who had probably seen us boat a fish. They pull along side within a couple of feet from our boat and wouldn't you believe they stick a fish. I can still remember how my partner wanted to ram them but it was my boat and the husband of this team had a big wide grin with a mouth full of teeth.

Unfortunately for us, we never got another fish but the fish they got could of won us the tournament.

Whenever I see them, what hair I have left stands up. The husband of the other team still has a silly grin and a mouth full of teeth but we have held our composure.x(

[YO]

My partner and I were fishing in a tournament in early June a few years back. Fishing was tough during a cold front but we were right on top of fish which were few and far between. We had 3 or 4 in the box when up pulls this husband and wife team who had probably seen us boat a fish. They pull along side within a couple of feet from our boat and wouldn't you believe they stick a fish. I can still remember how my partner wanted to ram them but it was my boat and the husband of this team had a big wide grin with a mouth full of teeth.

Unfortunately for us, we never got another fish but the fish they got could of won us the tournament.

Whenever I see them, what hair I have left stands up. The husband of the other team still has a silly grin and a mouth full of teeth but we have held our composure.x(

[Coach]

Sounds like you did the right thing. No, you were not too close.

Keeping your cool when being verbally assaulted and threatened is not easy. Further, when a man keeps his cool in a situation like that one (and I have), he can feel like he is less a man (I did) ... especially if he grew up in the John Wayne culture (I did). However, the John Wayne culture is no longer appropriate in today's litigious society and a man who behaves other than the way you did can find himself both the victim of verbal assault and the target of a lawsuit or an over-zealous liberal prosecutor.

My advice is to pat yourself on the back for behaving the only sensible way available to you. Then explain to your family that the man behaving like that might have been unbalanced, on drugs, armed, or able to target your unprotected parked car and that the smart thing to do was to distance yourself from the threat without fleeing or feeling demeaned by his unconscionable behavior.

Just my opinion.

[Coach]

Sounds like you did the right thing. No, you were not too close.

Keeping your cool when being verbally assaulted and threatened is not easy. Further, when a man keeps his cool in a situation like that one (and I have), he can feel like he is less a man (I did) ... especially if he grew up in the John Wayne culture (I did). However, the John Wayne culture is no longer appropriate in today's litigious society and a man who behaves other than the way you did can find himself both the victim of verbal assault and the target of a lawsuit or an over-zealous liberal prosecutor.

My advice is to pat yourself on the back for behaving the only sensible way available to you. Then explain to your family that the man behaving like that might have been unbalanced, on drugs, armed, or able to target your unprotected parked car and that the smart thing to do was to distance yourself from the threat without fleeing or feeling demeaned by his unconscionable behavior.

Just my opinion.

[Mother]

My general distances

If jigging, Lindy rigging or Slip bobbing, I feel at minimum
50-75 ft. Casting, at least 100ft.+
Another question- Do I need to be that close to others to maybe
catch a fish ?

If some 'clown' pulls right next to you,within 50ft. time to
be concerned-
Shake your head and bite your tongue
Talk loudly of the other 40,000 acres of water
STARE!!
Justice- out fish the weasels, as in crush'em!!!
Say 'Time to break out the Jack Daniels and to get friggin'druunk !
Hopefully they will get the message.

If their is a women in the offenders boat -Time to talk skank-
Solid dirty nasty XXXXX rated stuff, not loud ,but enough for her
to hear. Rare,but sweet.

Kids blow everything - grin and bear it, be the better person.
Take the high road here.

If completely oblivious - once again MUSKY tackle saves the day ,
a couple casts - nuff' said

Mother

[Mother]

My general distances

If jigging, Lindy rigging or Slip bobbing, I feel at minimum
50-75 ft. Casting, at least 100ft.+
Another question- Do I need to be that close to others to maybe
catch a fish ?

If some 'clown' pulls right next to you,within 50ft. time to
be concerned-
Shake your head and bite your tongue
Talk loudly of the other 40,000 acres of water
STARE!!
Justice- out fish the weasels, as in crush'em!!!
Say 'Time to break out the Jack Daniels and to get friggin'druunk !
Hopefully they will get the message.

If their is a women in the offenders boat -Time to talk skank-
Solid dirty nasty XXXXX rated stuff, not loud ,but enough for her
to hear. Rare,but sweet.

Kids blow everything - grin and bear it, be the better person.
Take the high road here.

If completely oblivious - once again MUSKY tackle saves the day ,
a couple casts - nuff' said

Mother

[HumorMan]

You know, I had an uncle that liked to fish. He had a lure that was bright silver, shaped like an elongated lead weight, and had a single hook at the end of it. No spinner, no feathers, no wobble. Nothing!

At the end of a very long and unsuccessful day fishing in the hot sun he looked at me and my dad and said with heavy sarcasm and frustration in his voice, "You know, this thing doesn't catch fish worth a dam#, but it sure casts like a bullet!".

One would be tempted to cast that "bullet" right into the other boat ... it probably would have made the 50 yards if you had enough line.

But, then again, that would not have been politically correct, would it.

[HumorMan]

You know, I had an uncle that liked to fish. He had a lure that was bright silver, shaped like an elongated lead weight, and had a single hook at the end of it. No spinner, no feathers, no wobble. Nothing!

At the end of a very long and unsuccessful day fishing in the hot sun he looked at me and my dad and said with heavy sarcasm and frustration in his voice, "You know, this thing doesn't catch fish worth a dam#, but it sure casts like a bullet!".

One would be tempted to cast that "bullet" right into the other boat ... it probably would have made the 50 yards if you had enough line.

But, then again, that would not have been politically correct, would it.

[bigfish1965]

We fish for salmon on Lake Ontario often. There is no discernable structure out there to relate to. You just drive untill you find a school. During tourneys the charters share the info and others listening in can hear where the action is. Some years there must be a hundred boat on each school. We long ago gave up trying to stay certain distances away. We try to troll paralell to one another but I have had the occasion to see some turn before others and have watched flat-lined lures go through my prop wash. Everyone does the best they can and we try to help the newcomers. We found sharing all the info we had helped the new guys understand why everyone was trolling at certain speeds and turning at certain points. They then learned to go with the pack and some days it was actually alot of inter-boat teamwork to orchestrate the manoevers. All in all it works quite well. Just fish and leave the competition to the weigh in.

[bigfish1965]

We fish for salmon on Lake Ontario often. There is no discernable structure out there to relate to. You just drive untill you find a school. During tourneys the charters share the info and others listening in can hear where the action is. Some years there must be a hundred boat on each school. We long ago gave up trying to stay certain distances away. We try to troll paralell to one another but I have had the occasion to see some turn before others and have watched flat-lined lures go through my prop wash. Everyone does the best they can and we try to help the newcomers. We found sharing all the info we had helped the new guys understand why everyone was trolling at certain speeds and turning at certain points. They then learned to go with the pack and some days it was actually alot of inter-boat teamwork to orchestrate the manoevers. All in all it works quite well. Just fish and leave the competition to the weigh in.

[eyecatcher_1]

Ok, this is going to sound brutal, but boy does it work! I'm not sure but it may be illegal too, can't imagine that it is though. My circumstance was a little different in that I knew the people that kept cruising by us on PWCs while we were fishing and it drove me nuts. So, I bought a paintball gun and the next time they buzzed by me I open fired! Those guys where so surprised when I pulled that gun out,but in the end they came over to the boat waving their white shirt and said they would leave the area. They were laughing and saying they couldn't believe i could hit them on the fly like that. I would never do that to a complete stranger, but imagine the looks on their face when you plaster their boat with paintballs!! It sure is tempting sometimes!

[eyecatcher_1]

Ok, this is going to sound brutal, but boy does it work! I'm not sure but it may be illegal too, can't imagine that it is though. My circumstance was a little different in that I knew the people that kept cruising by us on PWCs while we were fishing and it drove me nuts. So, I bought a paintball gun and the next time they buzzed by me I open fired! Those guys where so surprised when I pulled that gun out,but in the end they came over to the boat waving their white shirt and said they would leave the area. They were laughing and saying they couldn't believe i could hit them on the fly like that. I would never do that to a complete stranger, but imagine the looks on their face when you plaster their boat with paintballs!! It sure is tempting sometimes!

[mikie]

Yeah, those paintballs sting, too; especially when left in the freezer overnight. m

[mikie]

Yeah, those paintballs sting, too; especially when left in the freezer overnight. m

[Stump]

Thanks Guys
You know.....I am comfortable with people getting kind of close if they are on the trolling motor and just passing, but I try to stay much farther away then I expect people to .Its just common courtesy....especially when they are drifting floats. Unfortunately its a thing like this that distracts a person from fishing,family and enjoying a whole part of the day. Man, I would be fishing and I would get the slow "burn" going again each time I thought about it. But, hey....my son got a fish on and all was forgotten until the next day.
As for the posts about the launches..hey, we were all there before.New to the art of loading or unloading the boat.Practice makes perfect right?Give the guy having problems at the launch a few pointers and some advise..maybe next time he'll be in and out in a flash.
Tight lines
STUMP

[Stump]

Thanks Guys
You know.....I am comfortable with people getting kind of close if they are on the trolling motor and just passing, but I try to stay much farther away then I expect people to .Its just common courtesy....especially when they are drifting floats. Unfortunately its a thing like this that distracts a person from fishing,family and enjoying a whole part of the day. Man, I would be fishing and I would get the slow "burn" going again each time I thought about it. But, hey....my son got a fish on and all was forgotten until the next day.
As for the posts about the launches..hey, we were all there before.New to the art of loading or unloading the boat.Practice makes perfect right?Give the guy having problems at the launch a few pointers and some advise..maybe next time he'll be in and out in a flash.
Tight lines
STUMP

[Fishing nut]

We were fishing a small rock pile a few years back getting ready for the Merc nationals.
When a well known guide in the area see's us net a fish.
He pulls up to within 10 feet of us and throughs out his slip bobbers.
I am sure his guests were impressed.
After a short while we moved and lowe and behold he does it again.
My partner was steaming this time.
My partner looks over and quetly says to this guide well I see you can't find your way around the lake again would you like us to show you where all the reefs are.Maybe we should put your clients in our boat.
This ticked off the guide so bad it hurt. His clients were rolling in the boat and so was I, but you know he never followed us again now he drives by and gives a friendly wave. : )

[Fishing nut]

We were fishing a small rock pile a few years back getting ready for the Merc nationals.
When a well known guide in the area see's us net a fish.
He pulls up to within 10 feet of us and throughs out his slip bobbers.
I am sure his guests were impressed.
After a short while we moved and lowe and behold he does it again.
My partner was steaming this time.
My partner looks over and quetly says to this guide well I see you can't find your way around the lake again would you like us to show you where all the reefs are.Maybe we should put your clients in our boat.
This ticked off the guide so bad it hurt. His clients were rolling in the boat and so was I, but you know he never followed us again now he drives by and gives a friendly wave. : )

[BigEye]

My distance rule is this...tie on a 1/2 oz. daredevel and cast it as far as you can. Now double that, and thats how much room I try to give other boats. When boats get too close try bouncing a daredevil or a 1/2 oz jig off the side of thier boat. Oops, sorry bout that. Have I ever lost a jig or spoon cause I over shot my target and made it in their boat? Yup.:+ Always seems to work.

Tight Lines!
Bigeye.

[BigEye]

My distance rule is this...tie on a 1/2 oz. daredevel and cast it as far as you can. Now double that, and thats how much room I try to give other boats. When boats get too close try bouncing a daredevil or a 1/2 oz jig off the side of thier boat. Oops, sorry bout that. Have I ever lost a jig or spoon cause I over shot my target and made it in their boat? Yup.:+ Always seems to work.

Tight Lines!
Bigeye.

[JIMK]

you said he was screaming you were scaring the fish:'( then how do we catch them while trolling? ignorance is very abundant nowadays.if i am still fishing and someone trolls by, even at 10 feet i could care less,just don't hit me. sometimes it is fun to shoot the doo with someone passing by. all these stories has me worried about "getting too close" so how many times are we going to hear this? we here pretty much know how to conduct ourselves in a civil manner it is the ones that don't read this stuff.the paintball gun is a good idea.also will carry cell phone to report any stupid people.thats all we can do.soon you will hear about drive by boat shootings.makes me wonder if it is even worth getting a boat.Jim

[JIMK]

you said he was screaming you were scaring the fish:'( then how do we catch them while trolling? ignorance is very abundant nowadays.if i am still fishing and someone trolls by, even at 10 feet i could care less,just don't hit me. sometimes it is fun to shoot the doo with someone passing by. all these stories has me worried about "getting too close" so how many times are we going to hear this? we here pretty much know how to conduct ourselves in a civil manner it is the ones that don't read this stuff.the paintball gun is a good idea.also will carry cell phone to report any stupid people.thats all we can do.soon you will hear about drive by boat shootings.makes me wonder if it is even worth getting a boat.Jim

[risor39]

BigFish you are one classy guy.I wish more people were as helpful as you.May all you reels scream.

[risor39]

BigFish you are one classy guy.I wish more people were as helpful as you.May all you reels scream.