Fishing Slip Lights Cumberland

I have typed and re-typed my response, and came to the realization that I agree with you in general. The parts that I don't agree with are for the most part trivial, which would make me arguing just to argue. Although popular opinion tends to say that internet forums are solely a place to argue arbitrary points, I am more interested in finding a solution to the problem.

For me, the issue is that someone negligently cast a lure and broke your light, and dinged up your boat. Instead of stopping and leaving contact info like a decent person, they just left. The similar situation I can think of is a hit and run scenario. If I change lanes without looking causing a collision, I have not necessarily committed a criminal act. However, if I blow it off, and drive away, I have. I am not exactly saying we should start charging these people criminally, but my example is more of an idea for a solution. In the event of a hit and run, the only hope the victim has in finding the one responsible, is to get a vehicle description and plate number.

My solution is for you (or the dock) to set up a camera of some sort, and go after the actual person who damages your property. In the grand scheme of things, most people on the water aren't tossing a 3/4 oz spinnerbait next to your boat. Personally I have a little honey hole close to a dock (not Grider Hill), but don't ever really fish the slips of the dock. I also don't pull up and fish a dock with someone fishing off of it. I don't want to have to pay for gel-coat repair, as well as I would much rather see someone limited to there fishing area catch the monster under the dock than me. I can go find my own monster. However, why should someone like me, not be able to fish one of my favorite summer night spots? I know one bad apple ruins the bunch, but there is a fairly easy solution to actually weed out the bad apples instead of just punishing everybody.

We all know that common decency is going by the wayside. I'm not excusing the matter in any way. I would just like to not be punished with the bad apples.

[QUOTE=GITN-JIGY;532600]???? Duayne I believe I said it is not the same... you dont have a leg to stand on in the eye of the law it is all about courtesy. Are people actually touching or entering your slip? I have never fished in someones slip or under their lights from a boat or the dock.[/QUOTE]

im pretty sure the KWDFWR and the Corp of Engineers strongly disagrees with you. look for yourself, its on the kydfwr website on the fishing regulations page, it is in question and answer form in a blue highlighted box on the right hand side of the page when you scroll halfway down. i think it explains it pretty well, if the dock is posted with "no fishing" signs, it means no fishing within 150 ft of the dock....AND, it states that this restriction does NOT apply to SLIP RENTERS. its the law.

Duayne, its funny that most of the people who think it is okay to fish under a slip light......dont actually HAVE their own slip? well funny was probably the wrong word....lol.

And for the feller that stated "you dont make my boat payment and your not going to tell me where to fish", i say to you, you dont make my slip payment, and until you do , you wont be fishing under my light !

Yes if this is a public marina the ownership of the marina should be able to post it if they wanted to. One would assume if their customers, the tenants who rented the slips requested that they do so to better avoid damage to their boats that they would at least consider doing so.

[B]
From the KDFW:

[I]Q:[/I][/B][I] Is fishing allowed around a dock or a marina?[/I]
[I][B]A:[/B] It depends. Public marinas on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lakes have contractual agreements that address lease space on public waters. The Corps presently allows the marina owners or operators to post signs that prohibit fishing within 150 feet of their floating structures. These agreements do not prohibit a person from fishing in their boat rental slip. This policy does not apply to privately owned boat docks on Corps lakes.[/I]

Grider Hill is posted as no fishing. But I see people fishing it all the time so they do not actively enforce it. And that is fine with me! I am not the guy that is running down the dock yelling at guys in a boat fishing. I am the guy wondering if they are doing any good.. LOL

It rarely happens that someone messes with my stuff so this is smaller than a 1 in 10 thing. I don't want people to think that I am some jerk who is always looking to hord or something. I am the average guy that works his butt off like most people, I pay my boat payments and my slip payments. I finally get to drive almost three hours to my lake love and I finally get to enjoy one of my passions. Every now and then someone doesn't respect my space\property and it's a real downer.

I am not the guy that thinks I own all the bait in the lake. I am the guy that if someone walks up, friend or stranger, and asks how I am doing on bait, and they say they are struggling, I'll give them whatever I can spare. I have at times dropped my net again for perfect strangers and given them all that was in it. Sometimes I think we come across as much different people on these forums simply because the topics push us into certain discussions.

While I am on this, I also need to say that I was the worry wort when Captain Jim and some of his guys moved to Grider Hill last year. One of the guys is a few slips down from me. I should have just kept my mouth shut and waited to see how things went. Jim and the guys I have met have been nothing but nice and accommodating to me. Larry is the guy that is a few slips down and we compare notes all the time. I've shared my light\bait with him numerous times. I would like to think that if they posted here they would say that I am as nice and accommodating as it gets with them as well.

I think we all go through the stage of arguing on the internet just to argue. I've been past that for a long time now and I, too, am much more interested in solutions and providing\gaining information these days.
The camera idea is a good one, but why not just get people in the mindset that if they accidentally cause damage, they take responsibility for it.
You know, the light is less than $30 so it isn't about the money. It's about working your tail off to finally be able to get to the water, you've put in a lot of time and effort to be successful at what you are about to do on the water, you come down to put the plan in play and someone has messed with your stuff. Luckily, in my case, Larry, the guide that is a few slips down from me, saw the light was out. I had told him to watch it. He saw the light was out and put another one in it's place. I didn't even know the glass was busted out until I went to leave. I always put two out but the second one isn't as powerful as the first. I plan to fix that soon. That way one can go out and there is still light.

Anyway, I hope this can best explain my point of view on all this..

i wonder how most people would react if they were sitting in the middle of the lake in their new shiny $60,000 bass crusher baas boat, and you drove all the way across the lake to where they were sitting, put the trolling motor in the water and started deliberately casting within mere inches , sometimes even closer, or actually hit their boat with a 3oz colo-bama blade rig ? problem? you da right! and rightfully so, i wouldnt blam the guy for getting the red a.

but a slip owner is a different story....hes supposed to quietly sit by and watch chunk after chunk tossed in the direction of his property...and be ok with it.

sorry it toook mi soo lomg to fingure it oot.....dangy typos, i got a lure hung in somm guyss lifht at griber hill last nift and burnet my fingers trying to get it out, and them i cut my fimger on my other hand trying to cutt my next cast out of his boat cover. its his fault, it would be much easier to cast if he didnt put his boat sideways in the slip !:cool:

Duayne I thought maybe these were some high dollar lights or something. I don't blame you for not really putting out cameras. Why spend $200 to save a $30 light. Granted it still doesn't mean someone can just break your stuff. I also agree that 9 out of 10 guys on the water have the common respect not to take unnecessary chances with your property, or as stripernut said pull up right next to you on a jump and start casting. Its that 1 guy that does that gets everybody's undies in a wad, myself included. I also didn't know the law about fishing around docks only extended for 150ft. I just assumed it was more than that. The only time I really come close to fishing around a dock is one particular point right behind a dock. The corner of the dock has a street light type light on the corner that lights up the walkway…..and the point I like to fish. On a no moon night I catch some good bass of that point, but I would also say its probably 50 yards from the corner of the dock. Thats really the only vested interest I have in fishing around any dock on this lake.

I wonder if there is any way to drape something in front of the slip to discourage people from casting up into it? I have seen and heard of slip owners putting a rope with some of those water noodles on it in front of their slips to prevent debris from drifting in. I grew up fishing a lake with a lot of personal docks on it. You learned really quickly that you didn't want to cast across a dock line, as it normally ended up getting snagged.

While I do not use a high dollar light, I have several friends that do (now that I think of it). And this isn't just about me.. LOL

I wonder if your noodle idea would discourage ducks from entering the slip. Those are the suns a guns we have to deal with all the time! LOL

[QUOTE=Duayne;532680]

I wonder if your noodle idea would discourage ducks from entering the slip. Those are the suns a guns we have to deal with all the time! LOL[/QUOTE]

With the sounds of some of the luck you have been having it will probably attract them :D

Probably! LOL Actually I was pretty lucky in that I had someone put out another light for me. Also, I purposely didn't spend a lot of money on the motor cover. I guess that's a looking ahead thing and not a luck thing. Ha!

I don't own a slip and don't catch bait so I don't really have a dog in the fight but I will say that if see an area that looks good to fish I'll fish it... UNLESS I am asked not to for a good reason or there is a sign that states no fishing. I would never enter some ones dock unless I was given permission. And certainly if I ever broke something or snagged someone's cover I would at the very least leave contact info.

I am new to the fishing from a boat scene and I have found that the law really doesn't cover a lot of what common courtesy does. If someone is obviously trying to better their chances of catching fish then who am I to hurt those chances. I would much rather strike up a conversation with someone and learn from them than catch one maybe two fish and piss someone off. It's the same thing in duck hunting up here. If someone has hunted a spot every weekend for a season and you happen to get there a little earlier than them, that doesn't mean you should move in on their spot. There are plenty of places to hunt and your not learning how to kill more ducks by hunting someone's spot that has already figured it out.

[QUOTE=Aquaman;532772]I don't own a slip and don't catch bait so I don't really have a dog in the fight but I will say that if see an area that looks good to fish I'll fish it... UNLESS I am asked not to for a good reason or there is a sign that states no fishing. I would never enter some ones dock unless I was given permission. And certainly if I ever broke something or snagged someone's cover I would at the very least leave contact info.

I am new to the fishing from a boat scene and I have found that the law really doesn't cover a lot of what common courtesy does. If someone is obviously trying to better their chances of catching fish then who am I to hurt those chances. I would much rather strike up a conversation with someone and learn from them than catch one maybe two fish and piss someone off. It's the same thing in duck hunting up here. If someone has hunted a spot every weekend for a season and you happen to get there a little earlier than them, that doesn't mean you should move in on their spot. There are plenty of places to hunt and your not learning how to kill more ducks by hunting someone's spot that has already figured it out.[/QUOTE]

a very wise approach...fact is most slip owners will be glad to help you, with bait, info, help with your boat or anything else....if you dont bulldoze them:p