Dock etiquette when fishing

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tim hurley wrote:</div>
The owner of the dock put their property onto public property-I have a park down the street what if I put something of mine in that park and later saw that it was damaged? Do I have a complaint? You have to be careful and respectful but the property owner does also-lakes belong to everyone.

You park your car on a public street. Just because it’s a public street doesn’t mean it’s ok for Joe Blow walking down the sidewalk to go huck a spinnerbait off your fender

The dock/boat owner have created artificial cover in public water that some days is very attractive to bass. Easy solution if they don’t like their stuff getting hit by lures. Remove it from our lake. Getting snagged on a dock, boat, or boat lift sucks, and nobody tries to do it. Getting a lure hung up may result in a lost lure. Getting the lure unstuck is a hassle that has resulted in many an angler getting equipment scratched,busted up, or going for an unplanned quick swim. An errant cast can happen to anyone, and the only way to get better at skipping docks and casting around docks is to do it. Cry me a river for the poor lake property owner or fellow fisherman who never considers things from a bass fisherman’s perspective.

Bass Pundit wrote:

the only way to get better at skipping docks and casting around docks is to do it.

You show a tremendous sense of entitlement by expecting to use someone else’s property to improve your casting skills.

Bass Pundit wrote:

The dock/boat owner have created artificial cover in public water that some days is very attractive to bass. Easy solution if they don’t like their stuff getting hit by lures. Remove it from our lake. Getting snagged on a dock, boat, or boat lift sucks, and nobody tries to do it. Getting a lure hung up may result in a lost lure. Getting the lure unstuck is a hassle that has resulted in many an angler getting equipment scratched,busted up, or going for an unplanned quick swim. An errant cast can happen to anyone, and the only way to get better at skipping docks and casting around docks is to do it. Cry me a river for the poor lake property owner or fellow fisherman who never considers things from a bass fisherman’s perspective.

all I can say is wow. that attitude and perspective is the exact reason why property owners and fishermen butt heads. respect goes a long way but it doesn’t look like its gotten you anywhere

when you get into a tight parking spot, do you swing your door open wide as possible to ding the car door next to you to practice opening car doors?

There are many ways to practice casting that don’t involve vandalism

Also, following your logic, the bass wouldn’t be as thick in those spots if it wasn’t for the landowner creating the cover for them. So the landowner creates cover/habitat for them and you repay them by having no problem vandalizing their property. Great sportsman there

I’ve stated this before on this type of fishing but its worth mentioning again.

If there are people present on their dock, in their yard, etc I do not fish that dock. I am not perfect fishing around docks, but with some recent years of practice specifically targeting them, my accuracy has gotten to be pretty good. If there’s someone there and you get hung up or start banging balls of lead off their equipment, it creates a potentially hostile situation or confrontation. No fish is worth that risk for me, so I just move onto the next dock. At least in the event I get hung up, I can go remove it with no one around.

I think most of here are in the shoes of the angler, not the property owner. There are a few that have chimed in that are lakeshore owners though and that perspective is appreciated from my point of view. Heck, most property owners don’t bass fish, much less fish at all. At least the ones I see don’t, because they have pontoons or wake boats on their lifts/docks.

Lastly, I have completely moved away from using anything except a soft weightless plastic now around and under docks. I do not us treble hooked lures and jigs anymore. Weightless plastics do not make any noise if they happen to bump something, and they are far less likely to get hung up. You go start banging a ball of lead off a pontoon float and half the lake is going to hear it. That’s just asking for attention and potentially trouble.

“Bass fisherman’s perspective”.

Yeah If I ever think that way Ill take up golf

Quote from Bass Pundit:

Cry me a river for the poor lake property owner or fellow fisherman who never considers things from a bass fisherman’s perspective.

If that does not scream entitlement, I don’t know what does!

I agree with ganderpike.

Buffalo Fishhead

You guys are going to cause me to read this whole thread from the beginning. Can’t wait to see where it started going off the rails.

The term “vandalism” keeps popping up in this conversation. Vandalism by definition implies malice and intent. An occasional errant cast is neither malicious, nor intentional. So if it’s your “intent” to ascribe malice, you’re either a mind reader, or someone with too high of an opinion of yourself.

Why spend thousands of dollars on electronics and boats, only to go fish under somebody’s dock? Seems if people have invested those kind of dollars in boats and electronics, wouldn’t you be able to fish the whole lake? Seems silly to fish under somebody’s dock and only to put yourself in a confrontation situation when you should be out relaxing.

Tlazer wrote:

Why spend thousands of dollars on electronics and boats, only to go fish under somebody’s dock? Seems if people have invested those kind of dollars in boats and electronics, wouldn’t you be able to fish the whole lake? Seems silly to fish under somebody’s dock and only to put yourself in a confrontation situation when you should be out relaxing.

Certain times of the year the dock bite is the hot bite and the big fish. Isn’t hard to fish docks and not ruin people’s stuff or tresspass. I seem to have managed doing better of those in 20 years. I have caught a occasional plank on a dock but can usually sneak up and poke my rod over it and pop it off. Never have a snagged a boat or ruined property

I used to do a lot of shore-banging and of course, docks were part of the search area. Once in a great while, I’d screw up and hit something or get tangled and have to tactfully retrieve the lure. Once, I got on a dock, and I was down on one knee working to get the lure up from between the planks and I was asked if I needed a hand by the owner. I replied, “I just might. My coordination just went on strike or something, because I don’t normally cast this poorly.” I apologized for the errant cast and they guy stated that he could see I was clearly after a lure and not where damage might occur, so he told me not to worry about it. “I don’t usually care until I see people hitting the canopy.” I understood that and agreed.
I’m human. I make mistakes. But I try to be friendly with everyone in everything I do. Kindness is rarely a bad idea. Displaying appreciation for patience and grace/mercy, it simply goes a long way.

I do a lot of trolling now. When someone is on the dock and fishing over my lane, I check to see how far out they’re casting and I loop outside of the cast zone by 25′ or more, and sometimes, it catches me a fish! There is no need to be an idiot with people that are just trying to have a good time. Give each other space, be friendly and courteous, pop a beverage of choice when the sun goes down.

Only once have I encountered a negative dock owner. She did it tactfully though. “There’s no need to cast up in here. See those weeds below you? All the fish hang out in those weeds, not up here by the docks.” I told her that I had hooked fish in both areas and that I appreciate the tip. Then my buddy cast about 15′ behind her, at an angle, and she barked, “I just told you that the fish aren’t up here! Why don’t you listen to your buddy and fish out there?” Just then, the water exploded and a 29″ pike took his #9 black and silver floating balsa Rap. She jumped from the startling so hard I thought she was going to fall into the water. My buddy, as I netted the fish, asked her, “Now, what was that you were saying? I was busy catching a fish?” She smiled and said, “Okay, you got me. I was just trying to keep you away from my dock. But you guys know what you’re doing. You’re not getting too close or hitting anything. Have a nice day and make sure you laugh about this later, I know I will!”

I was just talking with my son about all the videos you see online with pissed off homeowners thinking they own the water and how we have never seen it. Well then we fished Osakis in June. apparently resort owners are worse then home owners. Mid-day docks were producing so we come around a corner. 2nd cast my son makes he snags up in a piece of old rope submerged and out from the dock. As soon as we pull up to unhook it this guy comes down the dock yelling and screaming about the only place to fish on the lake is his dock. Kid thinks he is joking and laughs which only makes him more insane. At this point he has his phone out like he is taking a picture an says he should call the Sherriff and report us for trespassing…I was steadying the boat holding the dock while my son tried to pull the treble hook from the old rope. I tried to explain we it would be dangerous to leave a lure in the old rope but after continued yelling we cut the line and backed away.

You would think it ends there, but as we move up the shoreline he continues to yell, telling some people sitting on another dock that we are only catching docks. As we are starting to pull the trolling motor to leave the area he is further done the shore and starts casting something at us. not sure if he broke his line or cut it but he made a couple cast across the front of our boat with a 3 oz weight and probably a 3/4 oz jig with a hook.

Snagging his old rope was an accident. Casting at us was insane. Would have made a great video.

I sat at my folks place on a very popular bass fishing lake yesterday morning and probably watched a half dozen guys fish their dock. I said waved, they waved back. Couple guys even caught some fish. In 15 years I’ve never seen or heard of an incident between fisherman and property owners.

It’s amazing we all can’t be a little more civil towards each other sometimes.

I could give a rats a$$ is when someone fishes my dock. I usually make a comment about how I hope he does better than me because i’m a fisherman not a catcherman.
I’ll even point out the deadfalls to cast to.
but if someone hit the canopy? it better be a kid or a gal in her bikini and not a seasoned angler.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

or a gal in her bikini and not a seasoned angler.

Now that’s just plain discrimination. How do you know what I might look like in a bikini?

i’m still trying to figure out why anyone would intentionally fish for bass!!!!!!

jon_wbl wrote:

…I was steadying the boat holding the dock while my son tried to pull the treble hook from the old rope.

Stop using treble hooked lures around docks. They are much more prone to snagging something than a single hooked plastic.

While I do not think the resort owner should have reacted with the way he did, your son did in fact snag his property, whether it was an accident or not. He’s probably had to deal with other anglers prior to you that snagged his stuff too.

I’m still trying to figure out how someone hooks the canopy? As gim said, what the hell are you trying to throw under a dock with treble hooks, and two how to do you hook the freaking canopy when trying to do so? Some people should stick to walleye fishing where you just sit in your chair and pull a crankbait around until a fish runs into it.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’m still trying to figure out how someone hooks the canopy? As gim said, what the hell are you trying to throw under a dock with treble hooks, and two how to do you hook the freaking canopy when trying to do so? Some people should stick to walleye fishing where you just sit in your chair and pull a crankbait around until a fish runs into it.

Hard to hook a canopy while vertical jigging in 30 FOW!!

Last time the kids and I went fishing there was a guy fishing on his dock drinking coffee. He told us to throw the anchor down next to his dock and fish cause its where the best fishing has been. He said he would go in and come back when we were done. Apperently all dock owners arent the same.

Matt Moen wrote:

Hard to hook a canopy while vertical jigging in 30 FOW!!

About as hard as fishing a dock. That’s what I don’t get. If you are older than 5 you shouldn’t come anywhere near hooking a canopy.

Agree – if I am fishing near docks it is with a single hook plastic lure of some sort.

Technically if you mess something up (tear a canopy or boat cover, etc) and the dock owner writes down your boat license or snaps a photo … you could be liable. It would have to be someone with some pretty high clout to generate interest in pursuing that investigation.

I find bass relate to docks – yes. But the ones way under are usually full and napping. I could say more, but most on this site know more about bass than I do.

Huntindave wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bass Pundit wrote:</div>
the only way to get better at skipping docks and casting around docks is to do it.

You show a tremendous sense of entitlement by expecting to use someone else’s property to improve your casting skills.

HuntinDave

A situation for your consideration. A pontoon boat sitting on a lift or in the water with no side access to skip because the pontoon won’t allow it. So the only shot the angler has to get under the boat where the bass will only be caught is a couple of small openings on either side of the motor. Unless one is Olympic-level accurate as a caster, they should just move on to the next dock, then? That is your solution? What if that choice causes the angler to miss their one and only life’s shot at tangling with a state-record bass, something that is truly priceless? You think the right choice is to put somebodies property above that because of the chance it may get inadvertently struck by a lure? I say no, and hell no. Do you understand where I am coming from even a little bit now? You have the entitlement thing backward as you can get, and as a fisherman, for goodness sake, You should be ashamed of yourself. You were obviously set off by my tone and didn’t think through your reply. None of the people that thought I was the entitled one did. We have a right to pursue that fish of a lifetime where it may be found. Many a Personal Best has been caught under a dock. Innumerial tournaments have been won, or tournament lunker has been caught fishing docks. Docks are your best bet for a giant fish so many days out of the year it isn’t even funny suggesting, “don’t fish there because the cast is too difficult.” Even on a day they don’t seem to be using docks, all it takes is one big momma hanging out there, and your entire season is made with one cast that may have glanced off the bottom of a boat getting there. And you call foul, screw that.

Unless one is Olympic-level accurate as a caster, they should just move on to the next dock, then? That is your solution? What if that choice causes the angler to miss their one and only life’s shot at tangling with a state-record bass, something that is truly priceless? You think the right choice is to put somebodies property above that because of the chance it may get inadvertently struck by a lure? I say no, and hell no. Do you understand where I am coming from even a little bit now?

I don’t understand where you’re coming from at all. Do I shoot a monster buck if the farmer’s tractor is parked on the road in the background? It might be a state record! The tractor is on public property and he’s not in it.

Only one state in the country has a smaller state record bass than MN, so who cares if you caught one anyway?

No fish is worth getting into a potential confrontation with a property owner. Not even a state record. At least it’s not for me, and I am an avid bass angler. Respect people’s stuff when you’re out there.

main reason the fish are under docks, the lake front owner has removed all underwater vegetation around their lake front. they created they’re own problem,

Picklerick: You are comparing a rifle bullet that could ricochet and hit God knows what to bass jig that at worse might make a small ding cast from a few yards away, really? Really? Really, you just did that. Your words, not mine. Maybe think before you speak. Let your emotion guide you to better thought next time because that one is trash. That shot is against the law is it not? A fisherman casting around or under a dock is 100% legal and the dock owner that intimidates or harasses an angler to get them to stop fishing their dock is breaking the law.

Bass Pundit I’ll just say what many are thinking. You sir are an arrogant a__! You are just as bad as the wake boat owner/driver that thinks it is all about ME!!
What is your take if you are working a shoreline and I would pull in front of you by 30 feet and work the shoreline in the direction you had planned on fishing. Hey you don’t own the water it’s for everyone to use.

BP how would you feel if the shore fisherman was bouncing jigs off your boat?

It’s up to the angler to know what his or her limitations are. If you can’t hit the small areas in between pontoons floats, then you should not be trying to cast in that area. If I owned a pontoon and had it on a dock and saw some guy clanking cast after cast off of it, I’d be pissed too. Both sides need some understanding.

Bass Pundit wrote:

You think the right choice is to put somebodies property above that because of the chance it may get inadvertently struck by a lure?

A fisherman bouncing lures off another persons property, snagging another persons property, putting even little tiny dings in the paint is NOT acceptable.

Respect people’s stuff when you’re out there. You should be ashamed of yourself. I can’t believe you even fully comprehend what you wrote. Did you even think through your reply?