etiquette

[sparkyice]

i ruined a guys day last week.

while fishing on a larger ontario trib, a slow day, not very crowded, i noted a couple guys on a sweet spot at the end of a big hole.

they were using finesse tackle, and when they would hook a salmon would have to walk it 200 yards down stream, where they broke off about half the time.

of course everybody would be commanded to move out of their way " fish on, come on people, have some respect!!" they would have 200 feet of line out, disrupting 8-10 people every itme they hooked up.

i gained the audacity to move into their holding in their absence- it took them all of a half hour after each hook-up to get back in place.

so, when they got back up to their spot, boy did i catch it!!

this dude lit into me with a fury i hadn't seen since my ex-wife got into the whiskey!!

i never did actually wet a line there. i just slowly rigged up, looked his way and smiled once in a while, and let him rip!

should i have begged his forgiveness and offered to drag his fish out for him?

[GAMBLER]

Sparky,

I sent you a pm to see if it a guy that I have delt with many times in the past. I run into a lot of guys that are fishing salmon and steelhead on really light tackle. I don't mind stopping and letting them fish through. If them move out of the spot, they loose it. I also hate when they hook a fish and it is 200 yds. downstream and they do not go with it. It really stops your fishing for a long time. I would have done the same thing you did. The guy does not own the trib he was fishing on so once he left, the spot was anyones for the taking.

[carpedium]

It would be one thing if the guy wasn't a jerk. But acting like that i'd go take his spot just to spite the fool.

[SinDale]

Bravo Sparky. Give people space I understand, but it goes both ways. Every time they come trudging downstream because they're using too light of gear to pull them in, not only scares away any fish that might have been in your hole, but like you said, it impedes on everyones fishing time. If you move into an open pocket cuz numb-nuts took off 20 minutes ago for the 15th time, screw-um!

[mike fronczak]

Last time we launched at Sandy there was a guy fishing on the boat lauch dock, its a launch dock not fishing dock correct ? Any way I left the engine on when I went to get the trailer, with my wife & son in the boat. The guy aparantly got rude with my wife, (about motor running, which she wasn't sure how to shut off) etc. She got all nervous & such. The water is gtting low there by the way, my Striper had a hard time comming off the trailer. I only will back to end of ramp, as last season I watched Kaisers have to winch a trailer out that went in to far. So anyway I drove the boat on the trailer made sure I stirred things up a bit, only to find out that wife had strap under front roller instread of between (because she was so nervous), so had to launch (under power of course) & re load correctly. I bet he didn't catch a thing by the time I was done. BTW he was illegally parked in the circle. This isn't the first time people on the fishing on the dock have been rude. I know at Port Bay (similiar State area) there are a couple "NO FISHING" signs on the launch dock. Maybe it is needed there to.

[sparkyice]

i had a hunch i wasn't the only one who felt that way.

when the run is really on, it can be shoulder to shoulder. my time fishing is no more valuable than the next guys, so i just deal with it and try to work my way in without stepping on anybodys skirt.

when a fish takes me down the river, i do my best to keep abreast of it to minimize others inconvience, and when i get back to the hole i just wait for my chance, and enjoy the day outdoors. i like watching people catch fish, and try to say hi to my neighbor.

i've met a lot of good people over the years.

[slimjim]

How about they guys walking up the stream right in front of where you're fishing looking to snag a salmon and disturbing everyone else in the river!

There are a lot of "AH's" on the streams this time of year.

[Yankee Clipper]

I fish to get away from the stress and crowds ... and while I hear lot of good things about the river fishing .. once the lake shuts down its time to think hunting in the woods .. alone !!

[Guest ReelDiel]

boy i could give you guys some lower niagara stories that would fit just perfect with this post.......

[SinDale]

I agree, the dock issue at Sandy is a mess. I had to ask a woman if she could move her cooler and chair so I could get on the dock to tie up when i came in 2 weeks ago, met with "you don't own this dock" followed by other vulgar sounding things I didn't understand and a few head wobbles. There were 3 cars in the loop, and garbage everywhere...

That place needs to be controlled. I'm not sure signs will help, since there's usually someone parked in front of the "No Parking" sign. I wonder if the park police from Hamlin State Park patrolled down there regularly would set it right.

After all, all we want is for people to enjoy the outdoors, and respect nature and others so we can enjoy it as well.

[UpGrady]

Guys like that are the very reason I quit stream fishing alot of years ago, esp. on the weekends. I have no problem with the light tackle, that's the fun, but in a crowd , it's the wrong place for it. We'd all feel the same way about the guy determined to use noodle rods while combat trolling and him getting pissed off that everyone was cutting off his fish... I would have wanted to move into his spot on the river while he was fiddling around for a half hour, but probably would not have because I would have figured that the end result would have been him being an a-hole and ruining my day!

I've had the same experience with people trying to fish off launch ramp docks as well... you would think that commonsense would prevail and they would understand that engines need to start, but... I think that Darwin's theories eventually come into play here...

[sparkyice]

from what i've seen here, it confirms my suspicion that 98% people are basically good natured and try to get along wit htheir neighbors. the 2

%ers take advantage of this. alot of decent people, when backed into a corner by these jerks, lash out and do things they otherwise wouldn't.

human nature i guess

[salmonidlove]

If anyone is bored after dark, take a ride down to the docks at sandy. There is yelling and fighting, tight-lines every 6 inches, people camped out on the docks as close to one another as possible and surrounded by garbage, etc. What a mess of ignorance that place is.

One of you should attach that floating dock to your boat and haul the platform of idiots out to 500 fow.

[StormFront]

I've never been to the dock at sandy, but everyone seems to think its a problem. i have know a few DEC officers over the years and they take their jobs very seriously and they are always like to feel needed. i'm sure with a call or two they would stop by during the busy time. i promise you that not every one there is legal. maybe they could just write a littering ticket or 2 to send a message. our tax money and liscense fees pay their salary so if there is a problem, tell them to fix it. i've steered them towards a few oneida lake ice fisherman from time to time and they were grateful and actually made one arrest!