Dock owners irritated that you are fishing around their docks?

I was on Cedar Creek last Sunday and it was almost dark. My two sons(ages 12 and 14) and I were out fishing. We were flipping around the boat docks when we came up to a dock with an older man fishing off the walkway. I was between two docks and circling to head back around his dock when I see a lure almost hit me and landed 2 feet in front of my boat. I thought he just made a bad cast and I said to him that it was okay. He then told me that I shouldn't be fishing there because I was scaring the fish. I told him I wasn't scaring them anymore than he was. I headed for the end of his dock to go around and he began to walk toward where we were fishing. He opened a cabinet and turned on his stereo full volume and then continued to cast near our boat. He did this the entire perimeter of his dock. I told him if he hits me or one of my kids I would put this shaky head right upside his head. This is not the first dock owner I have encountered that thought they own the water around their docks but this was definitely the most aggressive. Especially with me having two kids in the boat with me. Has anyone else ever had any issues with dock owners before?

Yep!
Athens!
Had an old man try to scare us with a water hose. He jumped off his mower mid cut when we approached his dock and started bringing out the water hose and claimed that he was about to clean his dock and said yall need to get away or you'll get wet, I didn't care and kept fishing and he kept giving us hand motions and said "yall kids don't care about anything these days! Yall just leave hooks around my dock for my grandkids to step on!"
I laughed as I hadn't broke off around his dock, and I never said anything, just kept fishing, and made my way to the next dock.

Also on Conroe had a Hispanic lady come outside and had a mean stare at me the whole time I fished her dock (10 min). She didn't like me throwing a drop shot way underneath it.

Legally, you have every right to fish the docks.

However, there are some "grey areas" here that just involve general respect.

A good way to look at this is to flip the scenario: if you owned a dock, and were fishing out on your dock, would you like it if someone was motoring around? Also, we have all made "bad casts" and pinged a dock, or worse, hit someone's boat. Dock owners have a lot of "stuff" to deal with, too.

If there isn't anyone out there on the dock, cast away. If people are out there, I always stay away from them and go find a dock that isn't occupied.

Again, a lot of grey area here and it just depends on the situation.

For me, I just move on. I'm not really interested in getting into a constitutional debate while I am trying to enjoy a few hours on the water.

Not laying any blame here or anything like that, just playing the devils advocate.

If someone is on the dock with a fishing pole in hand, I wouldn't get closer than a cast away. That would be no different than you moving in on a boat fishing.

I have only had guy get stupid about it on Lake Fork, all others were friendly.

You have two choices:

1.) Ignore the person and keep on fishing

2.) Go knock him upside the head, then go put your boat on the trailer and leave the scene

The choice is yours.........

I have had it happen on EM a few times but it was only two different docks. One of the docks I frequent often just bc its in a row of docks I fish often. Man will come out of the house when he sees you and start casting lines out with bobbers on them. Of course he gives you an ear full and gets all stressed out. Told him last time he was gonna give himself a heart attack.... I simply move on to the next dock when he comes out and starts casting. I could see how things could go south quickly though if someone continued to fish the dock once the old man started throwing out lines with bobbers.

This.

+1 I will even make a really wide circle around someone bank fishing. To me it is all about respect if they are there first and fishing let them have their spot. No way I am fishing a dock if someone is already fishing from any part of that dock.

^this^. I don't fish around any dock that anyone is already fishing on, just not right

Exactly

yep

There's a guy in my neighborhood who i swear sits and stares out his window all day, waiting for a boat to get near(I mean within 50 yds) of his dock, and he will come tearing down there on His ATV..never says anything just throws spinnerbaits over your line until you leave, then he goes back to his house, until another boat comes. At least hes not rude about it but if people fishing bother you THAT bad, move off the water to a secluded stretch of woods where you don't encounter people, and vice versa.

I've had people tell me that I wasn't allowed to fish in "their" marina before. Even had one point to a "no fishing" sign that was on a walkway. I tried to explain that the sign means no fishing from the walkway and that I was on public water. He said he was "reporting me" lol

I don't have a problem with people fishing our docks , I do have a problem with hearing the weekend warriors casting their jigs into our boat. Hard to shrug that one off. If you can't cast accurately then cast into slips that don't have boats in them. Its like a person who can't pitch a baseball skipping a wide open field to throw the ball into the front of people's houses then moving to the neighbor's house

I don't fish boat docks very often, but when I do, if I see some people fishing one or in this case if it was low light and I couldn't see him sooner, I would have trolled out and went to the next one. I respect those fishing docks and shoreline much like boats in front of me fishing one way or the other. Similar to the discussion everyone was having about Ike's comments, I treat these situations the same.

One dock owner on Lake Arlington that has rope tied around his dock's pilings to keep anyone from casting under his dock...he has a few trees suspended on ropes, and tries to block it off from any boater access. He tries to run people off all the time.

Only other dock owner I have been confronted by was on Lake Fork during the middle of a thunderstorm. They has a bass boat and a pontoon boat suspended by lifts up high in their stalls. We simply went up under the pontoon to get out of the lightning as I had my wife and daughter with me. A lady started yelling something at their house and here comes a guy on an ATV hauling tail down to their dock to run us off in the middle of the storm. I simply told him we were just trying to get out of the weather for a bit until it clears. He didn't care. He wanted us to leave, so we did. I could see it if we just went there for no reason, but when a storm pops up on you, I don't like being a lightning rod when you don't have to be.

The dock owners I've ran into on Athens have always been very nice. That being said, I've always kind of gone by the rule that if there is someone on a dock or fishing from their land, i typically will swing it wide and pass on by trying not to interrupt them. I just always thought if i were the one in the boat, i have unlimited options on where to fish while someone on a dock has limited options. Just my take but has worked out so far.

I bank fished a long time before I could afford any kind of boat. I feel very blessed now to have kayaks and a nice older boat. I still remember very well my bank fishing days and wishing I had a boat and I try to be very respectful of anyone who is fishing from the bank or a dock. I figure I can go anywhere I want to on the lake and they can't so I let them have their spot every time!

I paid for this dock. It's mine. Stay the hell away from it!

Have no problems with guys fishing my dock (especially kids, in fact, sometimes I have a bag of lures that I no longer use and take out and give to them) , but not to happy when guys bounce lures off of my boat or hang up and break off hooks where we walk...I fish docks but use lures like a weightless senko around anyone's boat, and go way around if someone is fishing..many guys fishing the dock think they are pro's and try to 'cast" between the dock and the boat and don't have the ability, they could motor around to the other side and fish the same water and not bang off the boat...a little courtesy and care of other peoples property goes a long way..

I can understand some dock owner's frustrations. I have a co-worker with a place on Lake Livingston. Folks kept breaking their fishing lights while casting under the dock. So her hubby put mesh wire all the way around where the lights are. Last weekend some sorry son of a gun hung their lure in the wire. Instead of cutting his line or untangling the lure from the wire, this fisherman cut a 6" diameter hole in the mesh wire to retrieve his lure.

Some dock owners go overboard, but it's things like above that gives them more ammunition. I just can't imagine how someone thinks it's acceptable to damage someone else's property over a lure.

well the problem is there are morons who do snag lures/hooks on peoples docks, boat seats, covers, ladders, ect. ect. and they break them off instead of getting them out so anyone fishing around their dock is a problem to them, doesn't matter if you can place a jig in the tightest spots and never hit a thing - you are a fisherman...not fair...but not all dock owners are bad guy's either, I have had more tell me about brush piles they have placed around their docks than harass me...

This, I usually make a wide circle around anyone who is fishing from the bank or a dock. It's about courtesy and respect, if you give it you will receive it. From the other persons perspective, how would you like someone on a boat who can cover the entire lake come up on you and fish that little stretch of bank you are limited too.

You do have the right to fish every drop of water in the lake because it is public domain, and there is nothing legally wrong with that. But that doesn't always mean you should.

I usually end up having a conversation with them. I have ran into some that don't like you being there, but courtesy goes a long way.

There is a dock owner on Fork that I'll go see almost every time that I am there and we are on a first name basis now

So far nothing but good responses. I agree with y'all. Courtesy goes a long way.

When I had a place on Cypress Springs I didn't mind at all. Over the course of the time I had my place I only had to lecture 4-5 fishermen about how they went about it (bouncing weights off my boat etc). I usually tried to start up conversation and most of them were friendly. But there were plenty who were "know it alls" with an attitude. You know, the ones with fake sponsorship stickers on their boats and jerseys on. They were too serious to have a friendly conversation. For the friendly ones I would share where the brush piles were along our bank and other info I knew about the lake if they asked.

I agree with moving on if someone is legitimately fishing their dock unless they invite you in to fish. That being said, I have fished the back sides while Somone was fishing from the frog of their dock, and they were more than pleasant. Some bad apples, but some really good folks out there. Make friends in the process, it is just fishing (most of the time)!

Many years ago there was an old woman that reminded me of Granny Clampett in the back of Double Creek on Fork. Double is the first creek to the right as you pass under Birch Creek bridge Hwy 154.

Me and two buddies were fishing near her dock during the spring time. It was a long L-shaped dock and there was a lot of water to fish back behind it. Her house was up on the hill from her dock.

All of a sudden we hear a shotgun blast from the house and here she comes on a riding lawnmower! She walks out on the dock with a pump shotgun and sits down in a lawnchair just glaring at us. She has the shotgun laid across her lap.

I look back at my guys and said, Boy, it's lunch time!

We head into Rainswood Marina and order lunch. While we are there I tell one of the other guides about the woman. He says, "Yep, she did the same thing to us a couple weeks ago." I call Gary Dugan, who was the GW for that part of the lake. He comes to Rainswood to meet us. We tell him the story and Gary says, "Yeah, I've talked to her about doing that to people a couple of times before. She is a mean old bitty."

We stopped fishing her dock that day!

Double Branch, Ken. you're getting forgetful in your old age

Had this happen to me couple spring ago in a working mans on Leon found a 4.5 locked on on the side of a dock after fishing her for about 20 min and about ready to eat this old lady came running out saying that was her daddy fish and that I had no right to catch it, I politely told her I was in a tourney had my other two and needed it to win and that it would be released, she still was persistent saying that if I caught it she would call the law, while all this was going on I was still messing with her, I told her that it was public water and that I was gonna catch her, about 5 min later I caught it and she called the law right there after I boxed it, they told her there was nothing they could do!

Branch....

Creek....

Whatever.....

There is an old guy on Bonham that is notorious for doing this. One time his wife yelled at him to stop bothering the fishermen.

Had a guy tell me that he owned a section of water that was easily accessible from the main lake and that I had to leave. I already had 22 pounds in there and told him I wasn't leaving until they quit biting. He simply sat down and watched me and my partner fish then left.

As a dock owner, I do get annoyed finding baits stuck in my boat house sometimes, but I have never asked anyone to leave my dock. I usually tell them where the brush is and what time they should come back to catch the best feed. My parents live on Conroe and have a light and brush, they have company at their dock DAILY! no issues though.

I have no problem guys fishing our dock on cedar creek, I just ask " treat it like it was yours". I have had a few over the years make a cast over the top and hang up....looked out once and a guy was on the roof getting unhung, this would irritate anybody that has a ton of money tied up in a boat dock. Not to mention he was using a little GEorge .......lol this kind of guy has no business fishing around a dock to start with.....this is what we deal with weekly. if you hang up in my boat cover please be easy getting it out

I see my first million $ here, slip protection.

There was a dock on graham that i fished and the home owner that shot out into the water once with a shotgun from about 200 yards away. I left called police and they never did anything to the guy that is the only issue I've ever had. Didn't really scare me much Bc at first I didn't know it was a shotgun shot then seconds later I saw the pellets pepper the water

I have had people on Cedar Creek tell me it was illegal to gush inside the No Wake buoys and that the were calling the GW. I told them I would wait until the goat here. I was fishing a tournament on Bob Sandlin and we had located some bedfish around this one dock. They had tried to tie s rope to block off around it. Early ee just fished. Then when the sun got up a little, we headed over the bedfish we had found. I had watched this elderly gentleman earlier throwing at one of the better fish. We waited until in went to the house and pulled up and began fishing for the fish. Within 10 minutes I have caught this fish. Then the man comes down and starts yelling at me, "they should close fishing during the spawn." I told him when he made the rules, then he could change them. Then my partner catches one beside the dock and his wife starts yelling, "they caught another one." Do, we just got out of there. We talk about entitlement with kids all the time. I see it with dock owners. That they are the only ones entitled to fish. Now, this is as small percentage, but it gives the other owners a black eye.

If someone is on their dock fishing, go to another dock. You may be totally within your legal right to fish it, but you also can choose to share your mutual appreciation for fishing with a fellow fisherman and show a little kindness. There are plenty of fish and plenty of docks.

if they are fishing their dock, or someone is bank fishing I try not to interfere. Go around and be friendly. If I come along the same dock and they always have rods in holders pointing outwards but no one there I will fish the dock anyway.

I had a lady come out of her house, walk 100 yards down a hill and onto her dock, and start yelling at me that she was tired of me fishing her dock all day. I told her she must be mistaken because I had only been there 10 minutes. She then told me she was crippled and that she was sick of fishermen catching all the fish around her dock because that was the only place she could fish. I felt like saying, "You aren't so crippled that you couldn't walk 100 yards down a steep hill and onto a narrow pier so you could come out here and yell at me"...but I didn't. She kept on and I answered respectfully. Finally, I told her, "Ma'am, if you believe I am doing anything wrong or illegal I suggest you call the Sheriff, a game warden, or whoever you want. I'll wait here for them to arrive." She left and went back inside. I left shortly afterward.

I will go around a dock if there is someone sitting on it fishing.

I see it from both sides often.. I have a dock on Lake Cypress Springs with two boat slips that provide great fishing habitat and is popular with fishermen. I also fish many docks around the lake frequently.
It is all a matter of RESPECT. I enjoy going down and talking to fishermen when they come around, most are friendly like you.
I always speak to people on their docks when I go by and avoid flipping close. I always stay clear of docks when there are families enjoying them.
Come see me on Cypress Springs!

The worst experience I ever had was while night fishing out from a dock on Lake Jacksonville several years ago. There was a brush pile about a cast length away from the dock and we were in my boat about a cast length on the main lake side of it. The floodlights on the front of the dock were bright and shining outward so we couldn't even see the dock or if there was anyone on it. Apparently there was.

All of a sudden something really heavy...as is not a fishing lure, but maybe a big weight tied onto a line...landed about two feet from the side of my boat. We were a good 50 yards off the dock, so I couldn't imagine that someone on it had made a cast that long. About the time I said, "What the heck was that?" a voice from behind the lights said, "You wouldn't be doing that if I was out there in my boat." I asked what he meant and he said, "Fishing out there." He threw at us again and kept on mouthing about what he would do if he was out there in his boat, so finally I said, "I don't think you'd do anything more than you're doing right now, which is running your big mouth, but why don't you get in your boat and come out here if you want to so bad?"

About that time a woman apparently on the dock said, "Leave him alone, he's trying to be nice!" I asked, "When has he been nice? First he started throwing at us, then he started cussing us out and threatening us. We're leaving, so the best thing he can do is just shut up and let us leave."

The funny thing is we were prefishing for another tournament on Cedar Creek about a month later and got caught in a terrible storm. We took shelter on a big octagon shaped dock and another boat pulled up to do the same. During the course of our conversation we mentioned the jerk on Jacksonville and they said, "No way." They described the dock and told us they had had a run in with the same guy. In that case they heard a woman calling for help while on the lake at night. They located her in a boat floating in the middle of the lake with her husband passed out drunk on the floor. She said she didn't know how to drive the boat and asked if one of them would get in and take the boat to their dock. About the time they got there the drunk woke up and threatened to attack the guy who was driving it for hitting on his wife. He's a real winner!

Early 90's there was a dock on cedar creek with a fake owl on the rail. The water surrounding the dock was loaded with brush and fish. Never failed, as soon as you pulled up the old lady would make her 80yd stomp down to the dock and raise all kinds of hell. I enjoyed flipping her boat slips and sticking her fish while she spewed hate.

If someone is fishing on their dock and you are close enough that they can hit you with a lure, you are too close.

And bass fishermen like this ^^^^^ are a small percentage, but it gives the rest of us a black eye. Why sit there and antagonize the old lady? Respect works both ways. Personally, I would never do what you did, Brandon.

I sometimes wonder how I would be as a dock owner...
would I be this guy,..
or this guy,..
think about it..

If you are replying to me I already said that we couldn't tell anyone was on the dock because the flood lights were blinding us. We didn't know anyone was there until something landed in the water by us and the guy started threatening what he was going to do to us. And...it wasn't a lure. It was something like a huge weight that he tied on just to throw at us.

If I was a dock owner, fortunate enough, I would likely not know you were fishing my dock, I would be out fishing and not have anything to know about, except for my hi-def security cameras linked to an automated machine gun turret.

No, just making a statement in general.

I think if I was sitting on my deck fishing and a tourney fisherfolk wanted to fish, I'd reel in and sit and maybe learn something.

There's plenty more fish in the lake.

I fish a ton of docks on Livingston and most people are friendly but there are always a few A-holes in every bunch.

The worst experience I have ever had was an old man pulling all of our noodle/jug lines out of the water and throwing them in a tangled pile on the bank. His excuse was he thought they were trash and was just trying to clean up the water before his grandkids came to swim the next day. Granted this was 15+ years ago & noodles weren't as popular but I find it hard to believe he thought the identical square foam blocks with name tags were trash. They had been out less than 30 minutes and still had fresh shad hanging on the hooks!

Personally, I never fish around a dock if the owner is fishing it. I just go around to the next dock.

I was a 17-18 year old DH. I've since evolved

Glad to hear it AH.

Dock threads always have their awkward moments

I like it when people fish my dock. I tell em where the brush/stumps are, if it's the wrong time of day I'll usually tell'em they are wasting time. One year, I told a guy, during the spawn, where to pitch for a very large female. He was fishing a tournament, made one pitch and snagged a 9 something, watching him and that fish was priceless. I really thought the guy was going to have a heart attack. He was breathing 90 to nothing when he finally landed the fish. He laid on the deck for about a minute, got up, said he was going to weigh and would bring the fish back. RIGHT! But to my surprise about an hour and a half later, there he was, fish in tow and he released her right where he caught it. That's greatness right there.

I don't post here much but on here every day, This happened to me last weekend on Sat. Lake Murval. We have a lake house there on Williams point.
I hadn't put my boat ( I have a white triton 21X with a new 250 merc) in due to yard work and such. I got up early grabbed a catfish rod and went down to the pier to catfish. I had a boat come around to the point fishing for bass, just as I would, they kept coming ended up throwing within 10 to 15' of my line between me and the bulkhead (topwater). Was I upset no not really, a simple hi would have been nice. Now if I had unloaded and put my boat and line that close would they have cared I think so. I watch people fish there every time we are down and I enjoy it as I pretty much only bass fish and thats a dang good pier to fish but next time guys say hi respect my line and I might tell you where on that pier I caught those 5 bass on the afternoon before and what I caught them on.

Absolutely zero chance I would fish a dock that the owner was on much less fishing it himself. Why would you be dumb enough to even think about it unless he invited you over? Just seems very disrespectful and douchey IMO.

So did he cheat if you told him the location of a fish?

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a fisherman, but I love seeing other fishing boats trolling by my dock and I enjoy talking with them. I got a place on Eagle Mountain a few months ago with a dock in the smaller cove east of the Fort Worth Boat Club point. I'm usually sitting by my fishing boat organizing things. I always tell them where in the cove I've had luck recently and on what bait. I'm installing a little fridge on the dock soon so I'll probably start offering cold beverages.

It doesn't bother me when people fish our docks. Our deck is less than 20 feet from the water. We sit out there and watch and occasionally chat with them if they're willing. We've only had one impolite fisherman and we just chalked his attitude to the time of day and how long he'd been on the water. If they are pros, we don't bother them; they're working.

I do not like the fact that fish get removed from our area during tournaments and released elsewhere but until tourneys go with technology like MLF, it is what it is.

If someone fishing from a dock I just pass an move on to tha nxt thts just respect it's kinda like fishing a brush pile and a dude pull right up on ya

I've caught a few nice fish under the dock on Lake Arlington you're referring to... he can't stop us all!

Don't feel too bad about the fish relocations. They usually make their way back, or if it is good structure/cover, they are replaced with others.

Most of us have had this happen once in our fishing career.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure this is the crotchety old dock owner syndrome. Guy fishing a dock is no different than guy fishing the bank. You have the whole lake to fish. Why are you fishing casting distance from a man on a dock? Give him his space to fish. Fish his dock another time when he isn't fishing.

People are always talking about the boat that blew in and fished right on top of them. People don't like another boat fishing casting distance from them. What's the difference here? Does a dock owner fishing his own dock deserve less respect than a boater?

I've never run into a mad dock owner. Heard about them plenty of times. I can't imagine leaving one because an owner didn't want me around. Seems like doing that would just empower them to continue the antics.

If someone was fishing when I pulled up, I usually strike up a conversation and stick the rod on the deck while I take the trolling motor around the dock. Just as disrespectful to encroach a bank fisherman as a boat fisherman. I'll strike up a conversation with anybody who's close enough to hear me though!

It's definately a 2 way street. I bank fish alot. For 5 yrs in the 90's I worked in grapevine and would fish grapevine alot. Same place 3-4 evenings a wk. Every tues and thurs the France brothers would come in to fish the drop off I was sitting on and they would just go around me respectfully and say hi and ask if I'd caught any. Then I found out on about wk 2 or 3 they were fishing a tournament. So the next Tuesday they came in and I said hey matt, yall come fish this if yall want, I know it's a good spot and yall are in a tournement. It led to a very respectful appreciation of each other and honestly eventually we would all just fish it after a few wks without ever getting in there way. I reaped rewards from it too. Those guys where good sticks out there aND they would tell me some spots and baits that were working and we all just got along. One time I remember I caught a 7 lber right after they moved on didn't have a scale, Matt let me use his and took a pic for me after making sure I was gonna let her go (I don't keep bass). The next week he told me I would've won big bass with that one. The point of this story is to have respect for boaters when bank fishing and they will respect u and vise versa. Matt France and his brother where good dudes, Man I had some good evenings out there.

I live on Fork and just had a dock built... I don't mind people fishing around it but it can make me nervous due to the potential of thieves... I keep everything locked up but if people want in bad enough, it's hard to stop them. So I will go down to dock just to let them know I'm around

I don't usually fish docks but when I do....I prefer Dos Equis XX. Makes dealing with irate dock owners easier!

That's because the France brothers are cool.

Fork-Legend211 : PM Sent

got a dock fishing story with a happy ending...several years ago was fishing a redman tourney on Sinclair(Ga.)..was flipping docks and came up on one with couple little boys bream fishing off it..one was probably 6 years old and other one couple years older........did the usual "catching anything" greeting and both of them started telling me about a giant catfish had pulled it out of the holder and swam off the night before with the older boys brand new rod and reel....we told them we were sorry and continued fishing down the bank...probably about two docks down,I saw a bobber at edge of a boat house with no rods on nearby docks...just on a hunch,I snagged the bobber with my rod tip and pulled the bobber to the boat and pulled on the line....no giant catfish but there was a brand new rod and push button reel....I turned around and headed back where the boys were on the dock....as I got with within earshot I told them I had found a rod and reel that I might sell cheap...the older boy asked how much and I replied probably a dollar would be enough....older boy tell the younger one to run up to the house and get a "dollar from Daddy"...and younger started to the house and I told him to hold on a minute til they saw the rod because it might not be worth a dollar....I can you,it was worth a hundred dollars to see the look on their faces when they saw the rod lying on my deck and both of them trying to tell me that was the rod the catfish had swam away with...I told them that if that was their rod,I just couldn't charge them anything......and it was worth another hundred dollars to have seen them running up to the cabin hollering out to their Dad they had got their rod back.......

Great story Beartrap. Are you the same Beartrap from the Home Page? (I suspect you are...lol)

same beartrap.....

Nice story beartrap. I bet they have told it more times than you though!

If you fish near boat docks please make sure you can , I don't mind people fishing near my dock but I have seen people make some crazy cast / flipping attempts . Also make sure you can control your boat , I have had bass boats hit my dock , that's right .

Good deal. Quite the story teller as I remember, so looking forward to hearing more!

Ok look just to make all you guys with the injured egos(hell the dock owner didn't know you were a Pro) if you come to Lake Graham on the South end you will see my new dock being built. Pull in there and fish all you want. If I see you I will even come out and show you where the humps are that I built when the Lake was down. Might even show you the concrete wall that was built also. Maybe if I can get the ditch pickles cleared out I can get some more crappie in there.

Johnny

Fishing Cypress Springs, found a good boat house.The only problem where these dogs barking in the nearby house. after I had caught about 6 bass a guy comes out of the house and says they must be biting. I don't mind you fishing here but my dogs sure don't like it. So I caught one more and left.

Man i was back in a cove one day on that lake and had just put a 4lber in the boat, the cut i was in is pretty small so i had my poles down right next to a dock. I turned and saw a doberman staring at me damn near eye to eye. It barked and i jumped, the owner was sitting there laughing. Ended up talking to the guy for a few mins, but man that startled me pretty good

I'm sure there are a lot of dock owners who think they own the water around their docks as well. On the other hand, how many times do you see exposed hooks from plastic worms that were broke off on someone's dock, or lures hung up on the dock or under it, or on the boats in the dock? When you see someone like that, best to just avoid the confrontation.

Fishing a dock on Conroe and home owner came out after I landed a 6.75. Told me that was his fish he had been feeding for months. I said thanks for dinner, threw him in the live well and moved on to the next dock.

A skirted jig ain't gonna hurt your ski boat if it bumps the bottom of the hull! I was fishing an FLW tournament on Texoma about 5 years ago and I had a dock owner come out and he started talking about some bass schooling in another spot on the lake and I politely told him, Sir, I cannot accept any fishing info from anyone outside of the tournament contenders. I said please understand it is the rules and we have to follow them or get disqualified and he turned redder then a crawfish and started screaming at me that he was gonna jump in my boat and beat my arse silly. I said God Bless you Sir,and he said, get that boat a little closer Ima bless you. Lol. I just laughed and kept fishing, but a little faster. He was an old man but looked like a retired linebacker for Greenbay. My co-angler didn't say a word for about 2 hours haha.

I know a lot of folks around our lake and have never heard a complaint from anyone.

maybe there is something about some of you that just [censored] dock owners off.

That sounds like something i would say!! hahaha

good deal, cant say i would be any different

You may be right, but lots of times the jigs and other baits do a lot more than just bump the bottom of the boat(not just ski boats either, lots of bass boats). Some people try to sling baits as far under the docks as they can and when they miss their baits hit boats and other stuff hard enough to do some damage. If we go by your statement then if someone is in the parking lot at the ramp practicing their flipping and bump the side of your truck, it will not hurt anything and will not be a problem is it? Fishing around docks is fine, we just all need to be respectful of other people's property.

This is such a good thread...

****Long post warning****

While fishing on Lake Tyler; being my home lake I haven't had too many issues. 2 years ago while fishing a tournament, I was yelled at by woman 200 yards up from her boat dock while she was tending to her pool. She yelled.. "Do you have to fish that close to our dock?" I ignored and kept fishing as there was no one on the dock and I was a good 12ft from dock side and had pulled 2 bass out already. I moved to the front of dock and fished it and then to the other side. The other side had one of those floating trampolines tied next to it, so I positioned around the back side near bank with bow towards main lake with their ladder in mind. Lady comes running down as soon as I cast. She's clearly having a bad day and continues to tell me that in the past 10 years no one has fished that close to their dock. I said ma'am I'm in the middle of a tournament and have caught a few good ones here. She was still irritated as if things couldn't get any worse her husband shows up and asked if I know my laws. My laws? I asked. He continued on to some made up law that I couldn't fish a certain feet from his dock. I replied with I think you made that up and if you would give me your address id kindly mail you what the laws say. He came unglued. I went to the back of boat as I dropped my rod to get paper and pen. " I guess I was being a little of an [censored]" , but he needed to know I was serious about updating him on the laws. I returned to front deck to pick up my rod and the worst thing happened..... My flipping jig pegs the wooden ladder right where he's standing. I really didn't know what to do. I just reached down with the tip like everyone does to try and release it. Man starts cussing me and threatens to call the GW. I told him to call, id gladly watch you get schooled. He was screaming just leave! Cut it!!!!! I said sir? I know you have kids here and I would rather remove the hook safely. The wife chimes in and says "let him get it, and ill go get you a beer?" This was all her fault anyways. #moodswings

I never said to purposely go bump your jig into everyone's boat. I think it's common sense for everyone to not do that lol. if you have a boat that can be damaged by a jug bumping into it you may want to go buy a better quality boat. I think I have run over every stump on Toledo bend twice and the bottom of mine hasn't broke yet. Not worried about a little jig you know what I mean. But just for the sole purpose of your comment, let me make this clear, everyone reading this, please do not go flipping jigs into the bottoms of boats that are in dry dock slips. It is rude and could cause damage. Glad we got that cleared up. I apologize for any confusion.

I found out why some dock owners hate fisherman last weekend when I saw a guy on EM hook a wake board boat's cover with a lip less crank bait! I was like... Geeezzzz what are ya doin!?!?!