BigLake411.com

Hey guys,
After a fishing trip with my partner (my wife), a moderatly heated dicussion began about fishing the lights around waterfront camps. She felt as though we (being in a boat) had an unfair advantage compared to those whom she believed to be STUCK on the dock. Further, she felt that we would not be fishing there if there were no lights (probably right on that point). She believes there is plenty of water to fish and that we were invading their space. My thoughts are a bit different and we finally agreed to disagree. I believe that while one owns the lights and dock, they don't own the water or the fish in it. That being said, I believe behaviors becoming of a gentleman should be practiced, and again, this is only my OPINION, as I don't know the laws, if any, or unspoken rules on the subject. First, while the camp owner may not own the water, the lights are not mine, and the owner has every right to turn them off, even if it means shutting them down when I get there and putting them back on when I leave. Its the owner's right. Second, if someone is fishing when I arrive, I will not fish there. I wouldn't do it anyplace else so I won't do it under dock lights, either. I will very quietly troll past while giving a wide berth and will not cast until well out of their fishing zone. Third, if someone does show up on the dock to fish, I'll quietly leave before being asked to do so. If you don't already know it, I'm new to this fishing scene and have no experience on the Lake whatsoever. Let me hear some thoughts on it, please. I would love to hear any knowledge, opinions, complaints, or advice about this subject. Thanks ahead of time.

In my opinion its just a courtesy thing, like you said I wouldn't pull up to a dock full of people and try to get in on the action. They wouldn't appreciate it being that their dock is probably the only place they are fishing that night and they probably called friends and family to come enjoy it with them. But, lots of people turn their lights on every night whether they're planning on fishing or not so you might just cruise around and find a few where nobody is fishing

I find that amusing that your wife feels that they are stuck on the dock. Next time she hits you with that one, tell her that anyone who has a 100K dock and a 600k camp can afford a boat and are not stuck there. They fish there because the lights are bait attractor and that is why they are outlawed in many states. With respect to etiquette, in my opinion, it does not matter if people are on the dock or not, because i am not going to get close enough to them for it to matter. I use the same rules as fishing birds, reefs etc. I do not get any closer than twice the distance that I can cast plus about 20 yards. In my case, I can cast a jighead about 40 yards so i stay about 100 yards away. I am not a nuscene to them, infact I cannot even hear what they are talking about. I have also done a lot of from the dock fishing and find that most of the larger fish are not directly inder the lights, but rather on the periphery, as they are ambush hunters. When I am dock fishing, under the birds or on a reef, I do not mind company one bit as long as they keep a little distance between us. There are a lot of people who enjoy this water and we all have to try and be friendly and use it together.

We fish the lights all the time! Only a hand full of times have we ran into ppl that have a problem with us fishing the lights. But we dont fish them if anyone is even outside and there has been a few times ppl have turned them on or left them on for us to fish ! Treat ppl with respect and it will get you along way. One guy told us that as long as we ask if we see him there he would leave them on when ever we want even went as far as to give me his number to call in advance!