# Boating Etiquette



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

With the Lake being somewhat stained and off colored in a large portion of where folks normally fish it seems boating manners are going out the window. For years bass tournaments posted a list of rules which kept anglers from fishing within 50 yards of anyone anchored and fishing. These days it seems being anchored with a marker out only provides a target. On no less than a half dozen occasion this past week I've had folks either circle between me and a school of fish I was casting to or troll between me and the school I was casting to. On each occasion I eased up, picked my marker up and moved on. I fish 5-6 days a week for fun so it's easier for me to move on and find another school than it is to get bent out of shape on the water. Just a friendly reminder though, if you're close enough for someone to pitch a slab in your boat, you're probably to close. If you're between someone and the marker they're pitching to you're definitely to close. I don't mind sharing fish at all, if I'm there first I'll wave anyone in to catch them. A little common courtesy goes a long way.


----------



## fillet (Dec 2, 2010)

Maybe you should get further away from your marker, that way when I pull up on a half plane and fish it you wonâ€™t be so close. (Joking)


----------



## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Yes sir this seems to be the rule. Throw out a buoy and they come a running. I use a buoy also and people seem to think it is for them. Several 2 coolers have done this and continue to do this. I threw out 2 buoys one day. One for the heck of it and the other where I was fishing. The first one drew the potlickers in and I fished my second buoy. When I was ready to go I went to get the first buoy. I did make some kind of policker comment. One boat said there was not any fish here anyways. I just laughed. I like to cast lures more than anything and when they see you catching them casting they come right up to the boat. Had a fish on the line one day and a boat came right up and cast over my line while I was fighting the fish. I gave him his lure back after I explained to him I did not know he owned the lake. In a very colorful explanation. That was back when I was on meds that made me not play well with others. I befriended 2 older folks and helped them learn how to fill the freezer with fish. Out there one day and was hauling in the fish and here they come within 20 feet of the boat trolling. OK I will stop for now. Courtesy and respect has gone down the road for most folks. Its ME ME ME.


----------



## SetDaHook (Oct 21, 2010)

One Sunday morning I was out on the roadbed all by myself and no other boats around. I was hauling them in pretty good and was fishing by my buoy. A large pontoon boat came barreling towards me and shut down within 50 feet and drifted towards me. He yells "look like you're doing pretty good", so obviously they had been watching through binoculars. He set up within casting distance of my boat and didn't have an anchor, so they kept turning on the big motor to stay on my spot. I couldn't believe it but tried to keep my cool. They started catching too. I got to looking at their rig. No trolling motor, no depth finder, nothing. Purely a potlicking rig. I hauled in a few more and pretty much had my limit and was ready to go. When I went to pick up my buoy they actually got a little mad asking how are they going to find that exact spot again?? I just laughed and told them they have to wait for the next *fisherman* to come along.


----------



## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Thatâ€™s funny - SetDahook


----------



## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Y'all watch out for a yellow/white Tahoe small profile wakeboat! He thinks the fish are located, under your boat, and trolls accordingly


----------



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Some of the stuff I've seen this past week has been beyond head shaking. From folks casting over my line while I'm bringing in two fish at a time ( yes I had to cut their lure off and re tie it for them) to following and circling me after I started catching fish and then getting between me and my marker to fish. Some of them I pass off as people not knowing any better but some of them are just folks who have forgotten common courtesy.


----------



## bob watson (Aug 18, 2005)

*People*

Is there that many people there during the week


----------



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

The crowds pick up on Friday. The biggest issue right now is the lake is stained and not fish able in so many places. The fishermen and the fish are bunched up in pretty small areas.


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I noticed the fish this year are very spooky for white bass.
I can be catching fish every drop with the screen blown up and if one boat comes even 400 yards close they slow way down hitting and the school sinks to the bottom and starts to dissipate. Thatâ€™s not normal for white bass.
It seems the fish are scared easy I think because they are new to this lake. All the white bass that used to live in the lake are in Anahuac and have been there since last October. I think these fish cane from Richland Chambers.
They still use most of the standard ambush spots for white bass to feed, because those would be good for any white bass on any lake.
Pine island, the points where folks usually catch them, etc...They seem to not be in huge numbers where they have to take up every good spot at feeding time because there are so many of them.
Now it seems fishing pressure moves them far away quickly. And the spot does not fill right back up quick with new fish.
You have go on a search and capture mission and it might take four stops. Because there are not enough white bass to fill most of them up. Like we like it, lol!

So the folks who usually have filled their freezer with white bass trolling or jigging limits easy are frustrated and roaming outside where they usually fish. Some of them being real unpleasant about it too. Some just donâ€™t get it.
I took damman and his son Blake today. Fishing was tough, we put together 35 and they were hard earned. Will we were triple hooked up on the first school, when a couple in a bass boat trolled twenty feet from us and hooked up. Put the growling beast of a motor in neutral reeled in their catch. The fellow yelled over the 80 decibel motor â€œ they are schooled back there! Saw them chasing Shad!â€ I guess he thought it was helping us, they helped us until we left the best school of the day to escape their help.


----------



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

You are extremely lucky to find them in the same place two days in a row right now. You can bet if you catch a few doubles youâ€™re about to get some company lol


----------



## denimdeerslayer (Feb 23, 2012)

Its like folks didnt get a proper upbringing. They got no respect nor manners. Last trip to Somerville we were casting to hybrids and some fool in a kayak just comes right up to us. Less than 5' away. I kindly ask *** are you doing and explain to him how he shouldnt ever get inside casting distance from a boat unless invited. He got mouthy with its a public lake I'll go where I please. So I simply resume casting my ducktracker jig. He starts crying your going to hit me. I'm calling the police to which I reply call them. I continued fishing and he got the point and left.


----------



## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

Throw out crackers, about 200 yards away. Watch ,the potlickers go for the gulls.


----------



## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Broken record here but social media is adding fuel to the fire. Guides need it for business and some just like to brag. But most of it is meant well to help others but the greed sets in. It takes the enjoyment out of it for me especially with kids aboard.


----------



## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I was at the dam last year in my Kayak with the water low. Catching Stripers and Hybrids at the cable. They were on top schooling. The line was filled with boats. This guy in a Kayak comes up behind me and starts casting clear over the top of me to get to the schooling stripers. I asked are you ##%& kidding me ?? No lie he did just that casting over me with a topwater.


----------



## Ditto2 (Jul 19, 2016)

Every year it seems to get worse on Livingston, especially with the trollers. They will use that floating buoy as a marker and troll right over the top of it.


----------



## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Some troller's know what they are doing!


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

I'm nearly positive my marker buoy has a boat magnet in it....both of them.

Being an offshore guide/fisherman for years I can fish without a marker, but my "little" boat drifts so fast it is easier to use the marker buoy. 

Going back to last summer, they take ownership of my marker making it difficult to retrieve at times.

Harbormaster keeps talking about his his Glock, but I just get the marker buoy and move on!


----------



## bob watson (Aug 18, 2005)

*Hey bill*

I WILL SEND YOU A MESSAGE SAT. LET ME KNOW IF THEY FOLLOW YOU THIS WEEKEND.LLA IS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE AND I CANT FISH RIGHT NOW. SO I GET TICKLED LISTENING TO HIM ABOUT PEOPLE.I LIKED MATTS RESPONCE.LOL.HOPE HE POSTS:brew2:


----------



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Just a suggestion. Although some fishing cover is a very small spot, like submerged island, usually it is a submerged ridge. Rather than get too close to someone that seems to be doing well, idle in a large circle around them to find the ridge they are on with your electronics, then set yourself up on it to fish a reasonable distance from the other boat. 

If you saw a boat catching fish where red "X" is, and you used your depth finder, you could set up where the yellow or green "X" is. Matt mentioned liking to cast, which I agree with. It is maybe called slabbing instead of jigging. Either technique is deadly. 

Guides use jigging for a variety of reasons. They have several people of unknown talent and it could get dangerous with too many trying to cast. New fishermen in particular can feel their slab better when jigging up and down. Jigging tends to get the school to "blow up" right under their boat. If they are directly on top of the school, another boat can't cut them off.

Personally I like to cast, and prefer to cast into shallower water and then work the slab downhill toward me. This will often times eventually move a school to under your boat. In this case, if you set your boat up at 22 or 23 feet deep and cast to the 19 foot deep water and work the slab back to you, it would be a good attempt.

Just a thought, I don't necessarily have enough knowledge to even write this.


----------



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

This is exactly the point Iâ€™ve been trying to get across White BassFishermsn. What has been happening so often over the last few weeks is when a school is marked and I back up to cast to them Iâ€™m getting boat traffic between me and where Im attempting to cast. It doesnâ€™t take many passes by a boat across those submerged humps to disperse a good school of fish. For some reason this summer I have been much more successful casting to the schools and bouncing the slab back or slowly dragging it than I have jigging. Iâ€™ve taken a few days off but will be back after em next week.


----------

