fishing etiquette

[KYCatfish]

I have two little children myself. Funny how often they often will make us think more before we react in situations.

What is pretty funny is if my son or daughter innocently asks why a person did something they recognized as bad manners and the person overhears it. Funny watching their reaction.

That's when I answer a bit loudly. "You see son, it's inconsiderate jerks like this that ruin fishing for everyone".

[SLP]

That's when I answer a bit loudly. "You see son, it's inconsiderate jerks like this that ruin fishing for everyone".

LOL, yeah.

[SLP]

Somehow you would like to think that outdoorsman would be more polite. Sadly too often it seems like some fisherman can be just as inconsiderate as any other group of people you might run across. Thankfully there are also some genuinely nice people out there as well.

[CATCHEMALL]

On a recent trip to Ky Lake I want to tell of a nice event with etiquette. There was a hump that Woody had found where we were catching alot of fish for 3 days straight. Well we got ready to leave and we decided to go fish there one more time. When we get to the hump there is a guy fishing the hump but he was crappie fishing. We trolled up with in talking distance to him and asked him if it was ok to fish this hump with him. Now this hump is probably 50yards long and 20 yards wide. We told him we were bass fishing and he said that was no problem. We proceded to catch a few fish and exchange a few notes with him, thanked him for letting us fish and left. This is how it should be done.

It doesn't always happen this way and I am sure Woody will chime in with a not so nice event that happened to us about a month ago with a local crappie guide. Lets just say if I can cast to the bank, and I am catching fish, do not troll between me and the bank. Go around the back of me or you might get an ear full and have your guide service bad mouthed to who ever I can tell it to.

[MetalFish513]

I wish people would just realize that the simple act of acknowledging somebody can make all the difference... excluding the castnet situation... If that were me I would have been in a fight! But for instance, yesterday, an older gentleman comes down to the creek and I notice him walking towards me. As he gets closer he asks how the bite is. I tell him what all I've caught and what I'm using. He never actually asked if he could fish along side of me but started to anyways. The difference was he talked to me the whole time. We shared fish stories, funny stories, and all kinds of BS. When we hadn't caught anything for a little while I even suggested he come with me to another hole I figured had some fish. We fished for about 2 hours together and at the end of the day I was glad to have met him. It would have been a completely different story had he not said anything and just started fishing my hole as I'm not very shy about letting someone know they've overstepped their boundaries with me.