Thanks Guns! I always make a point in asking before using someone's property. It is their's, not mine. So I respect it like it is their's.

99% of the time, there isn't an issue. You get that one bad apple in every barrel though. This includes fishermen too.

Ben has a good point, I own a dock , and I fish other
peoples docks, but if they are on thier dock( doesn't matter if they are fishing or not ) , I will not even approach it. Give them the same respect you would another boater.


good luck
MO

My mom & dad were out on c.c. probly 10 years ago & got caught in a storm, dad says he could have made it back to the house but my mom was freaking out, so he turned into a cove somewere & up to a boat dock to ride out the storm when dad looks up & notices a man running out to the dock (in the rain) he thought oh no here we go, but the man helped him tie the boat off made them come inside, gave them dry towels and fired up their gas fire place (it was march) to help dry them off. The man went as far as driving my dad back to the house so he could get his truck & trailer & helped him load the boat on the trailer at thier boat ramp.(it was still raining & lightning) Dont you wish all dock owners were like that!

That's the way to live CCBIRDOGMAN.

I'll never understand the hostility of some of the dock owners I've been reading about in this thread.

I feel blessed to live on Toledo Bend. It's wonderful. I guess some people become snobs and azzholes living on the water.. and others like myself are so happy to be in paradise, they become even more friendly to their fellow human beings.

Exactly Guns, as long as you're being respectful I don't
understand the hostility either.

I can really see both sides of this, I have a dock on Lake Austin. I've had to put padding on my boat's windshield along with repairing chips in the gelcoat due to flying jigs. I've also come across the biggest [censored] on the planet in bassboats. All the free lures in the world don't make up for that treble in the upholstery. (They are crappy lures besides. How do these guys ever catch any fish?)

On the other hand, NICE fishermen are really appreciated. I had one tie off to the slip and walk up to the house just to tell me that I'd left my nav lights on.

Refusing someone refuge from a storm, well that's just asshat behaviour.

I always try to be courteous when fishing docks. I actually think if I owned this dock woulld I get mad about what I am doing? 99% of the time I am throwing a weightless senko, so even if I accidentally hit a boat, I'm not going to hurt it. If I get hung up on something on the dock, I do everything I can to make sure I get it back so that there are not hooks laying around for them to step on etc.. What kills me are the dock owners that throw these lines out several yards from there dock, where it looks like Spider-Man has been doing target practice and just leave them there for days even. I prefished a tournament on Palestine on Sunday, there were like 8 lines out on this dock, one of them had a catfish on it. When I came back 6 days later the same catfish was floating on the end of that line. That seemed irresponsible to me.

If you are on a public lake in Texas you have the right to access to all the water. That includes fishing under some dock owner's lights. Their property rights end at their dock and do not extend into the water at all.

If they give you too much trouble call 911.

My uncle has waterfront property at lake palestine, and when we go down to visit, we usually fish his dock. There have been times when the water gets rough, so you offer refuge to fellow fisherman. I think thats called common courtesy. But a lot of people dont know anything of that concept anymore. Its very sad to think about if you ask me. Ill think about fishing now.

I am fishing it all night next Saturday night. Let me know which one and I will be sure to pay it a visit.

Well....For one thing all the grumpy old men in yalls stories just need to go sit down somewhere before they fall and hurt themselves. Two...If a big storm rolls in on me and I see an empty dock to hide out in I'm gonna dock then ask questions second. You dont have to tie up to anything just use it for cover. The guy who said you should dock your boat and seek shelter in that situation was a hall monitor in school. Get real, I got a hundred dollars on this tourney dummy. And anyone who is grumpy towards bass fishermen(who are being polite and respectful of the dock's owners) need to call Dr. Phil. Your not mad at me, your mad at your father!

Ya know everyone here has made a point about two types of dock owners, Kind and not so kind.While reading this post you get the same exact stereo typing of fishermen. I t is plain to see everyones actions on both sides of the "DOCK" are just humanzie nature.You talk about this dock owner or that dock owner and then you get agressive about someone posting toward your statments. It's all in how you read someone I guess as to how you react to someone.If you read this in third person you could actually pic out the fishermen who would be the "CRAZIE" dock owners as well.

or OGT/ local warden

I have my own place with a dock on good fishing water, and I love to fish it and other docks. I have run acrosss all the people described in this thread, and if any dock owner ever asked me to leave and not fish his dock, I would gladly leave.

I see both sides, I know my rights to fish anywhere, but there are enough docks that a few missed won't matter.

Why, you ask???? I understand where the grouches are coming from. Life is too short for any of us. Most of them, all they want is to be left alone in thier little corner of the world, or lake, that they have worked and saved for. We never know what that person has gone through in life, the hard time, the prices paid. I would never want to intrude in thier little spot of happiness. No fish is worth that. If my leaving thier dock at least lets them have a little happiness, it's worth it.

But anyone I catch fishing my dock has to at least let me know what they are biting on!! ...Ts

There seems to be alot of people asking for courtesy here, but not wanting to return it. They'll evoke the law though.