BigBendFishing.Net

Yesterday I kayaked to one of my favorite creek bends and started freelining finger mullet into the drop-off. A few minutes later, two gents in a ghenoe putt-putt into the creek from Apalachee Bay. They witness me lose a slot trout, then noisily anchor up about 70 feet away, and begin chunking lures into the same drop-off I'm targeting. I'm pissed, and pondering my options. None of them seem likely to salvage my spirits, and I stew silently.

Then the Fishing Gods intervene...

I hook a beastie seatrout right in front of them. It performs the classic gaping mouth surface wallow, but the hook holds, and I slide the fat 25" gator trout to the bank. Then I kayaked into the drop-off, and made as much surface commotion as I could over the hole, with big splashy paddle strokes.

No words exchanged, but it was their turn to glare. The trip back to my launch site felt almost serene.

Several of our tournament participants have had similar experiences recently - people running into a creek they are already fishing on plane, etc.

Seem there is a severe lack of common courtesy up here any more.

Sorry to hear Gary. Some folks just don’t know or worse know but don’t care. Glad you got out

Karma wins out, Gary. Unfortunately, like society as a whole, common courtesy and respect are becoming rarer traits. I've written about fishing etiquette several times. The ones who get it already practice it and the ones who don't, don't care.

Glad you found some. I worked all weekend long on my console modification and servicing the outboard. And now this weather looks like crap all week. Wonder if we'll ever catch a break?

Another few weeks and they can two stroke through those holes and it won’t matter.

Just put the poles down when you see them coming and start back fishing when the wake settles.

Get ‘em Gary; the trout and the encroachers...

In February I was anchored in the mouth of a creek a few miles south of the Steinhatchee River, as there was already a boat in the creek and I didn't want to disturb them, so I stayed at the mouth. Had been there a little while when 2 men and woman motored up. I'm in the shallow water fishing the deeper trough leading into the creek and they motor WELL within casting distance, about 40-50' from me. I don't say anything, just give them the WTF look while holding my arms out and shrug . Well the passenger (man) starts to get mouthy about it asking if I'd ever fished there before, which I had with good results, and bitching that I was anchored in their way to get the F over it. I then took the gold spoon I was using and cast it directly at them, over the boat and the line caught the driver. They really start raising h e l l, the passenger starts threatening to whip my butt, then threatens to shoot me... This is no joke! The driver is attempting to get the line over his head without getting the hook in himself. I had the bail open so I wouldn't hook the guy. They threatened to call FWC, which by then I'd had enough, and encouraged them to call, as the a-hole who threatened to shoot me was going to jail. I'm guessing Mr. Badboy didn't see me get my .45 out of the console and put it on as he continued the threats. The driver finally told him to STFU, and they proceeded to motor on into the creek and anchor about 50' from the boat that was already fishing there. Some people just have zreo respect for others or sense of right and wrong or simply do not care. These folks struck me as the types who just didn't care. I hung around for about an hour waiting to see if FWC would show up... They never did.... As I get older, I have less and less patience for people without any etiquette while on the water. I know I should have allowed the situation to de-escalate, but the loud mouth was a belligerent peckerwood and I'm a stubborn azz. Anyway, you can't fix stupid and there are more and more stupid ones out there as time goes by.... A little common courtesy and respect for others goes a long way to keeping the peace, too bad the qualities are not very common anymore...

Face it folks, we have too many people fishing these days.

It''s a matter of courtesy. Do unto others kind of thing and until there's a law requiring a certain distance from others when boating / fishing, we just have to ignore the rude ones that invade your space.

Sun Daze wrote:In February I was anchored in the mouth of a creek a few miles south of the Steinhatchee River, as there was already a boat in the creek and I didn't want to disturb them, so I stayed at the mouth. Had been there a little while when 2 men and woman motored up. I'm in the shallow water fishing the deeper trough leading into the creek and they motor WELL within casting distance, about 40-50' from me. I don't say anything, just give them the WTF look while holding my arms out and shrug . Well the passenger (man) starts to get mouthy about it asking if I'd ever fished there before, which I had with good results, and bitching that I was anchored in their way to get the F over it. I then took the gold spoon I was using and cast it directly at them, over the boat and the line caught the driver. They really start raising h e l l, the passenger starts threatening to whip my butt, then threatens to shoot me... This is no joke! The driver is attempting to get the line over his head without getting the hook in himself. I had the bail open so I wouldn't hook the guy. They threatened to call FWC, which by then I'd had enough, and encouraged them to call, as the a-hole who threatened to shoot me was going to jail. I'm guessing Mr. Badboy didn't see me get my .45 out of the console and put it on as he continued the threats. The driver finally told him to STFU, and they proceeded to motor on into the creek and anchor about 50' from the boat that was already fishing there. Some people just have zreo respect for others or sense of right and wrong or simply do not care. These folks struck me as the types who just didn't care. I hung around for about an hour waiting to see if FWC would show up... They never did.... As I get older, I have less and less patience for people without any etiquette while on the water. I know I should have allowed the situation to de-escalate, but the loud mouth was a belligerent peckerwood and I'm a stubborn azz. Anyway, you can't fix stupid and there are more and more stupid ones out there as time goes by.... A little common courtesy and respect for others goes a long way to keeping the peace, too bad the qualities are not very common anymore...

To be clear, if your anchored in a creek mouth is there a good way to get around you back into the creek, or is that creek now off limits until you move?

Salty Gator wrote:

Sun Daze wrote:In February I was anchored in the mouth of a creek a few miles south of the Steinhatchee River, as there was already a boat in the creek and I didn't want to disturb them, so I stayed at the mouth. Had been there a little while when 2 men and woman motored up. I'm in the shallow water fishing the deeper trough leading into the creek and they motor WELL within casting distance, about 40-50' from me. I don't say anything, just give them the WTF look while holding my arms out and shrug . Well the passenger (man) starts to get mouthy about it asking if I'd ever fished there before, which I had with good results, and bitching that I was anchored in their way to get the F over it. I then took the gold spoon I was using and cast it directly at them, over the boat and the line caught the driver. They really start raising h e l l, the passenger starts threatening to whip my butt, then threatens to shoot me... This is no joke! The driver is attempting to get the line over his head without getting the hook in himself. I had the bail open so I wouldn't hook the guy. They threatened to call FWC, which by then I'd had enough, and encouraged them to call, as the a-hole who threatened to shoot me was going to jail. I'm guessing Mr. Badboy didn't see me get my .45 out of the console and put it on as he continued the threats. The driver finally told him to STFU, and they proceeded to motor on into the creek and anchor about 50' from the boat that was already fishing there. Some people just have zreo respect for others or sense of right and wrong or simply do not care. These folks struck me as the types who just didn't care. I hung around for about an hour waiting to see if FWC would show up... They never did.... As I get older, I have less and less patience for people without any etiquette while on the water. I know I should have allowed the situation to de-escalate, but the loud mouth was a belligerent peckerwood and I'm a stubborn azz. Anyway, you can't fix stupid and there are more and more stupid ones out there as time goes by.... A little common courtesy and respect for others goes a long way to keeping the peace, too bad the qualities are not very common anymore...

To be clear, if your anchored in a creek mouth is there a good way to get around you back into the creek, or is that creek now off limits until you move?

If you are anchored in a creek mouth, you legally own that creek until you move.

MIAcanes44 wrote:

Salty Gator wrote:

Sun Daze wrote:In February I was anchored in the mouth of a creek a few miles south of the Steinhatchee River, as there was already a boat in the creek and I didn't want to disturb them, so I stayed at the mouth. Had been there a little while when 2 men and woman motored up. I'm in the shallow water fishing the deeper trough leading into the creek and they motor WELL within casting distance, about 40-50' from me. I don't say anything, just give them the WTF look while holding my arms out and shrug . Well the passenger (man) starts to get mouthy about it asking if I'd ever fished there before, which I had with good results, and bitching that I was anchored in their way to get the F over it. I then took the gold spoon I was using and cast it directly at them, over the boat and the line caught the driver. They really start raising h e l l, the passenger starts threatening to whip my butt, then threatens to shoot me... This is no joke! The driver is attempting to get the line over his head without getting the hook in himself. I had the bail open so I wouldn't hook the guy. They threatened to call FWC, which by then I'd had enough, and encouraged them to call, as the a-hole who threatened to shoot me was going to jail. I'm guessing Mr. Badboy didn't see me get my .45 out of the console and put it on as he continued the threats. The driver finally told him to STFU, and they proceeded to motor on into the creek and anchor about 50' from the boat that was already fishing there. Some people just have zreo respect for others or sense of right and wrong or simply do not care. These folks struck me as the types who just didn't care. I hung around for about an hour waiting to see if FWC would show up... They never did.... As I get older, I have less and less patience for people without any etiquette while on the water. I know I should have allowed the situation to de-escalate, but the loud mouth was a belligerent peckerwood and I'm a stubborn azz. Anyway, you can't fix stupid and there are more and more stupid ones out there as time goes by.... A little common courtesy and respect for others goes a long way to keeping the peace, too bad the qualities are not very common anymore...

To be clear, if your anchored in a creek mouth is there a good way to get around you back into the creek, or is that creek now off limits until you move?

If you are anchored in a creek mouth, you legally own that creek until you move.

Some people believe this

As a matter of common courtesy, I will move on to the next creek if there is already somebody in the one I came to fish.

Completely agree about not encroaching on another boat even though it has been done to me on more than one occasion. That being said I can recall of three instances where a fisherman give me stink eye along with a few choice words as I idled past them at the mouth of Stoney and Deep Creek. In my mind anyone that stakes out in one of those locations needs to expect boat traffic. Especially Stoney. I'm not going to go all the way around the Rock Garden to get to the other side of Palmetto Island.