I'd like to write about something that all shore fishermen  have probably experienced but most likely remained silent. I'm talking about shoreline courtesy. This doesn't really apply to boaters but I will have a comment later.
I went to a local lake (90 Mi from LA) and I found a good spot at 5:15 a.m. Soon after a group of LOUD guys parked themselves next to me. Only a tree and bush separated us. I did my best to mind my casts and tried not to cross over my neighbor's line. My parents raised me to be respectful pf those that surround me.  
His first cast crossed over both my lines. After a 15 min of untangling he did it again. This time he seemed oblivious or indifferent. I kept quiet and figured that when one of us caught a fish we'd deal with it later. Around 6:30 a another guy and his wife parked themselves on my right. His first cast he crossed over my line on the right very carelessly. We spent about 10 minutes untangling. From then on, he would wade out to cast which I though was very polite.
My neighbor on the left caught a bow and started to reel in his catch. He was mad that we were tangled!!! I started to get angry but bit my tongue. However this affected my cast, then, I crossed over his line. But this only happened once. He mumbled to his 6 friends who just laughed. I cut my hook, line and sinker so we would not waste time out of the water. But he seemed ungrateful or impatient. And then neighbor and friends started drinking. Loud and obnoxious. I don't mind people having a good time but dropping F bombs as kids passed or when there were women is not my style. I tried to make conversation, but it was obvious that they would have nothing of it. When they spoke in Spanish they thought I didn't understand (I'm very white) and ironically I'm a Spanish teacher!! I didn't care about that but a tangling happened every hour or so. To top it off, he and his friend were catching, and I had caught only a tiny fish. This created a really bad vibe for me and pretty much ruined my Sat. morning.
When they left, two new guys came to that same spot and crossed over a couple of times. I was angry but I was determined not to create a scene. These guys realized that they crossed over. After a few minutes, to their credit, they left and a father with his two sons came. I left.
A far as boaters go, at a small lake nearby, I was fishing a youth derby with my daughter and some troller came so close to shore that they snagged all three of our lines. Later I found out he did it to someone else. This also happened to a friend and me a a huge tournament in Orange County. A boater came between us and the shore. What the hell?!!
So the point is let's try to be AWARE and courteous when we have fellow fishermen to our sides. It sucks when this happens. Everyone loses time in the water and not to mention $ when cutting is the only solution. I know there are rules about certain distance but nobody obeys those rules. I will never go back to that little lake on a weekend, and that means lost revenue for that little town.

If I had to fish next to someone, chances are they will cross my line.  Seems like it's a very common thing that happens.  For some people, part of their fun is to make someone else irritatable.  Just like bad drivers on the road, there's just too many of them.   It's usually not a race or ethnic deal, but it's very common when they and you are different that these problematic cross casting happens more frequently.

I always bring multiple rods, so if one line gets tangled by a neighbor, I can cast out another while I work out the tangled mess.  If things get really bad, I usually have a hefty combo and start fishing a large noisy topwater lure for entertainment purpose.  I can say words that makes people's ears bleed while fishing.  It's not being angry at the fish, like I've seen others do.  It's for just releasing my anger at those who will ruin my leisure time that I wanted to try to relax and do some fishing.

I think it's really ridiculous when someone in their excessively expensive bass boat has to try to move into a shore fishing spot while there is no where else for the shore fishing people to go on the whole lake.  I get a real laugh when they can't cast worth any distance and I can hit them with my lure.  A total riot, when I catch a fish right off the bow of their boat.  It's really totally out of line when they fan cast and then I've got nowhere to cast to the left or right.  I should never hit a boat, but not so sure if someday I find myself knocking a brass sinker off the outboard motor.

If I ever get a boater snagging up my line with their motor, they'd better be on guard when I set out some hefty braid line.  Braid line can ruin prop gearing, sooner or later.

I will say, I avoid weekend fishing on holidays.  It's hooligan days for all the hooligans coming out.  Yeah and opener days can be just as nuts.

It is just to bad people don't have to take a fishing courtesy class before getting their license Kind of like a drivers Ed class.

  This is a sore subject to me and I find that when something like this happens I get very irritated. I try to move before it gets the best of me. As for folks using foul language, Not cool when kids are around. Now I can swear like a sailor but If kids, families or other folks are around that I don't know I try to be sensetive to their feelings. I consider myself a courtious fisherman and I try to instill this ethic into my children as my father did for me. I think we all need to try and set a good example whenever we are out. Unfortunatly there will always be the people who will never change.

Thanks for starting this post and telling your experience.

Brian

Posted By slipperybob on 24 Jun 2010 12:14 AM
If I had to fish next to someone, chances are they will cross my line.  Seems like it's a very common thing that happens.  For some people, part of their fun is to make someone else irritatable.  Just like bad drivers on the road, there's just too many of them.   It's usually not a race or ethnic deal, but it's very common when they and you are different that these problematic cross casting happens more frequently.

I always bring multiple rods, so if one line gets tangled by a neighbor, I can cast out another while I work out the tangled mess.  If things get really bad, I usually have a hefty combo and start fishing a large noisy topwater lure for entertainment purpose.  I can say words that makes people's ears bleed while fishing.  It's not being angry at the fish, like I've seen others do.  It's for just releasing my anger at those who will ruin my leisure time that I wanted to try to relax and do some fishing.

I think it's really ridiculous when someone in their excessively expensive bass boat has to try to move into a shore fishing spot while there is no where else for the shore fishing people to go on the whole lake.  I get a real laugh when they can't cast worth any distance and I can hit them with my lure.  A total riot, when I catch a fish right off the bow of their boat.  It's really totally out of line when they fan cast and then I've got nowhere to cast to the left or right.  I should never hit a boat, but not so sure if someday I find myself knocking a brass sinker off the outboard motor.

If I ever get a boater snagging up my line with their motor, they'd better be on guard when I set out some hefty braid line.  Braid line can ruin prop gearing, sooner or later.

I will say, I avoid weekend fishing on holidays.  It's hooligan days for all the hooligans coming out.  Yeah and opener days can be just as nuts.

I own a big expensive Bass Boat, a small pond boat, and I do fish from shore also. I never come near those guys on the shore as i hate it when they do that to me. It is not a particular race, or bass fisherman with big boats, none of that.. It is just a group of people who no matter what they were doing, who would be so inconsiderate that they would bother someone else who was a decent considerate person. I never fish on the weekends anymore anywhere except at 2 private lakes. I am glad in one way that I have stopped fishing in tournaments and guiding for a living as I felt this type of frustration too often anymore. Now i have fun almost all the time. lol

I feel that it gets even WORST right after you catch something! If you're catching fish and they're not, forget it, they are going to do EVERYTHING they can to force you out of your spot. It happen to me once. Since I'm disabled they don't think twice about doing it! So, I gave my spot up, RIGHT AFTER I DUMPED THE REST OF MY BAIT LOL! I agree with BPeterson. EVERYONE purchaseing a fishing license should have to go through some kind of fishing training course on how not to be an obnoxious jerk. The other thing is, you have to pay attention to where your stuff is at all times. We had a group of kids (upper teens, lower 20's), well one of them passed by our stuff at 7 times within a 5 minute span. He didn't realize that I was watching him the whole time, but everytime he walked by he kept looking at our takle boxes, coolers and fishing rods. I finally said something to my brother and we decided to leave. It's a sad day in this world when you can't even trust the person fishing 5 - 10 feet from you.

i know this can and most likely will be a this happen to me or that happened to a friend and i did this or that.........i'm not against it and will add my 2cents in also, some of it to make me feel better/vent out and some of it in hopes in helping others to handle or get an idea on how to handle certain situtations.

i do remember 1 summer a few years back, on a big lake with lots of room on it. many skiers and pleasure boaters, along with fisherman, some are trolling, anchored or just drifting. there wasthis one guy that thought he owned the lake out in front of his house. when ever a fisherman would stop and fish out in front of it-- by the way some of the best smallmouth fishing was on the gravel bar in front of his place-- he would jump into his boat and run circles around you until you left.
there was many complaints on this guy to the local sheriffs department and it didn't seem to slow him down. i do know that i got my revenage on him one day when he had crossed my line and cut it with his motor when i was trolling throu the area. i went out a bit and made a wide circle and came back throu, but this time i was ready for him to circle me. i had just enough line out into the water to look like i was trolling and as he past around the back of my 12' row boat with his big ski boat. i reach down into my tackle box picked up a spark plug that i had in it and gave it a toss. it hit the guy in the back and he went across the lake saying a few not so nice words.
when he came back-- and yes i was still sitting there in front of his dock-- he brought the sheriffs boat along with him. the officer came along side of my boat and started talking with me about what happen. i told him and made the comment that this is not the 1st. time he had done this sort of thing to me and that i could name several more times that this man had been a problem. the cop said is that so and opened his ticket book and started to right. i thought i was going to get something out of this-- i did but not what i was expecting-- when the cop was done writing he turned to the other guy and gave him a ticket for operating his boat to close to a fishing/parked boat on the water.

now with that said, it's sad to say we have had poor etiquette for some time. now it seems to be gone and no one cares but a small few.

I've been fortunate not to have ran into as bad experiences as some of those shared here, and I am very thankful. My worst experience was this spring I was at a small public pond. I decided for once not to fish from the dock and hike out to a little more excluded spot off the shore. When I got there it was o'dark thirty and the sun was just coming up. After a couple hours of beautiful morning of peace and tranquil fishing, this "gentleman" (I'll be nice ) shows up at the dock, loud as all get out. I was at the better part, 75 yards away and could here him if he was standing next to me. It was truly asinine how loud he was speaking. Everybody on that pond HAD to know his business. I wanted to yell back to shut up, but that's not me, it doesn't help to be as ignorant as the person that already is, usually just makes them worst. What bothered as much as his volume was how well I could her how he spoke to his son and wife. This "gentleman" was in a wheelchair and I never got close enough to really know what his condition was, but apparently he felt that because of his condition, whatever it was, he felt enabled to treat his family like abused dogs. Demeaning verbal abuse. I bit my tongue and mumbled under my breathe for as long as I could, after two hours of his stupidity I got fed up, combined with the heat and the bugs were starting to bite I couldn't take this guys ignorance anymore.

There's common respectful courtesy (crossing line & talking loud) and then there's trustworthiness, the two tend to be very commonly intertwined when it comes to people that have neither. When my father-in-law and I first started fishing together we were fishing from the bank and off the dock. We were both just starting to build our tackle boxes up. Although we never had any issues with people being rude where we were at, most were really nice and we spent a lot of time talking and getting to know people and sharing tips and tricks I was always very leery and always kept one eye on our stuff and never wandered more then a few feet away from our belongings. I grew up in the inner city when you felt you couldn't trust the person you just walked past at times. He was a farm kid born and raised his entire life, so we had very distinctly different perceptions of trusting the public. He used to give me a hard time and told me to relax "it's not going to walk away", which I replied, "you so sure about that?". It's a difficult situation to be in when there are people you feel you can't trust. You work hard for your stuff. You've spent years amassing it. To see it disappear in a second, to me, would be heartbreaking. I've put my time and my money that I work so hard to save to buy nice things so that I might have the best opportunity to succeed when I'm fishing, somebody steals they might as well have stabbed me in the back. It's not about the material things, it's about the principle that these are mine that I've worked for and somebody else takes them for free and does nothing to deserve them.

I can handle the rude, crossing line, loud obnoxious, a-holes. I can get up and walk away and go someplace else. What I can't do is get my pride back for what I worked so hard for to start with.

My best of wishes to all.

Thank You, slipperybob and all. Good stories, especially about that guy on the lake. A test? Humm Maybe. I wasn't in a position to get up and move because the lake was jampacked with other eager anglers trying to score on the recently stocked lake. I try to fish during the week every chance I get, but -like armstrong.j said, I work hard for my stuff, so it's rare that I get a weekday off and if I do I try to spend it with my family. Also, I know it's not a race issue, you get all kinds of "gentlemen" in all races, some of it has to do -at least I think- with upbringing. Also I try to politely and quietly talk to those around me because I can always learn from others -what to do and what NOT to do- weather it's about equipment or bait or whatever. If not, it's a nice way to meet people who share the same interests as you: fishing. Many bendos to all.

if its a kid its one thing when its an adult it tends to erk me. I usaly say something like i can move if you need to fish here that bad .

I'm all for teaching kids to fish, but it really bothers me when a parent brings their child to a lake and starts with the cell phone leaving the child to his own devices. These kids need help, and I will help them out but one would think that it is the parent's job! Tom

I'm with you Tom. The other things I hate are screaming kids throwing things into the water as you try to fish. The other is when I'm fishing and some A$$#ole let's there dog play in the water while I'm fishing that area.

Another thing that is bothersome, I forgot to mention, is that in some places that are accessible by car, a loud radio!
Colaiza1965

I can deal with a car radio, it's when the boom box shows up on the pier. I have to agree on the dogs and kids, dogs don't belong in a fishing area (I am a dog owner and take my pooch with, but she stays out of the water) and unsupervised kids should stay at home. (I am also a grandfather) Tom

This beats watching TV!  I have enjoyed each one of these stories.  Forgive me if it has been at some expense for you.  When someone shared about throwing a spark plug it reminded me of a trip to the North Jetties off Cumberland Island(one of the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia).  We were catching speckled trout almost on every catch and boats kept getting closer and closer until we could hardly cast.  Finally my friend who owned the boat and a very quick temper rigged a three or four ounce rig up and when the next boat moved even closer he politely tossed it into the back of the other man's boat.  Man, was I embarrassed but it still brings a chuckle from the depth of my memory.  I guess we all need to work on our shore and boat courtesy.  I sure enjoy reading these forums.  I don't get out much anymore but I enjoy reading your exploits.  Keep them coming.  Uncle Tom Good luck and good fishing!

Let common courtesy be the rule. No matter how many fish someone catches in a "spot", there is always tomorrow! Don't get me wrong, I have had my run-ins and they sometimes were not so pleasing. Once, when fishing on a "party boat" off the Jersey shore for blues, my girlfriend 4'10" and I , 5'4" ran into someone who thought he owned the boat! Well, every time he had a "fish on" he would cross lines with my girl and I. Not unheard of on a party boat, so you would slide down the rail going over or under other peoples lines not to get crossed! Oh no, not this guy! He would stay in one spot and start cutting lines! After cutting my beautiful little girls line twice, I just couldn't take no more! And it was not just her, but he cut any line in his way. I had, had enough, I walked up to him, looked him coldly in his eyes and told him if he cuts one more line, I'm gonna throw him overboard! Funny thing is, I ment it; and he knew it too! He did not cut a single line after that! Now I'm not saying that was the right way to go about it, for I was young at the time, but old enough to know about common courtesy and to teach this guy some!

I now live in Montana and don't seem to have problems with having to fish "shoulder to shoulder", there's room for everyone, fisherman, skiers, boaters, sailers etc. However I would like to add something I belive you all may agree on. We all know about inflation, the price of everything goes up year after year. The only thing that doesn't go up --- is ass wholes  are still a dime a dozen!!
 
  PS: I know how to spell +++HOLE

having grown up in florida i am very aware of the rudeness of my fellow fisherman i have pages and pages of stories i could share but life is too short to worry about them if you have let someone ruin your day then maybe your mind wasnt on your fishing but something else and the rudenss of a strangeradded to your frustration i have more than one favorite spot that i fish and if one doesnt workout then i try another there is always an option nothing says you have to fish the same spot all day andtheres a good chance that when i get to my next spot that stupid a hole or any of his kind will be there the lake belongs to everyone as does the shoreline lifer since 2004 fisherman since 1964

having grown up in florida i am very aware of the rudeness of my fellow fisherman i have pages and pages of stories i could share but life is too short to worry about them if you have let someone ruin your day then maybe your mind wasnt on your fishing but something else and the rudenss of a strangeradded to your frustration i have more than one favorite spot that i fish and if one doesnt workout then i try another there is always an option nothing says you have to fish the same spot all day andtheres a good chance that when i get to my next spot that stupid a hole or any of his kind will be there the lake belongs to everyone as does the shoreline lifer since 2004 fisherman since 1964

having grown up in florida i am very aware of the rudeness of my fellow fisherman i have pages and pages of stories i could share but life is too short to worry about them if you have let someone ruin your day then maybe your mind wasnt on your fishing but something else and the rudenss of a strangeradded to your frustration i have more than one favorite spot that i fish and if one doesnt workout then i try another there is always an option nothing says you have to fish the same spot all day andtheres a good chance that when i get to my next spot that stupid a hole or any of his kind will be there the lake belongs to everyone as does the shoreline lifer since 2004 fisherman since 1964

i too have experienced these same occurences and i am ashamed to say it has gotten the best of me a time or too especially when i am catching fish an then i start getting crowded either on shore or in the boat. i can remember one instance when i was fishing from the bank catching them pretty good and a boater of all people trolled right up on me and started pitching in the spot i was fishing then to pour salt in the wound he put his boat on top of my spot ,then that was the last straw. i then took the heaviest sinker i had and started to bomb cast around his boat after exchanging harsh words he moved on but not after he ruined my fishing i would have to say that this guy was worse than a kid riding a jet ski.