Some Things Just Don't Make Sense

Hobie makes a kayak that is phenomenal for fishing. It has a kick-style drive so you don’t have to use a paddle, but you can if you choose. It is stable, has rod and cup holders and I own six of them. I would like to take them into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) but I can’t. The U.S. Forest Service has already tested the use of mechanical drives and it stood up in court. The reasoning: “From the 2004 Superior National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan: Watercraft or sailboards designed for propulsion by wind are not permissible. Watercraft with types of rowing devices that were in regular use in the BWCAW, prior to the 1978 BWCAW Act, are permitted.” The Hobie Mirage watercraft was NOT in regular use prior to the legislation. This argument has been tested in federal district court by a person who wanted to bring a type of watercraft into the BWCAW that was not in regular use before the 1978 legislation. This person was cited by the Forest Service and this citation was upheld in court. The intent of the wording in the legislation was to prohibit anything new that might come on the market (i.e. hovercraft, personal watercraft, a device such as the one in this discussion, etc.). As a result of this wording, all of these types of things are prohibited even though they are within the horsepower restrictions and may be quiet. Everything motorized or mechanized is prohibited except what was actually provided for in the legislation. This response to a Hobie owner’s question on why he couldn’t take his kayak into the BWCAW was on a chat room web site.

Some things just don’t make sense. This kayak is quiet, disturbs the water no more or less than a canoe or paddle kayak, yet the vague laws that created the wilderness designation for the BWCAW create a situation where a perfectly fine watercraft that would not disturb the wilderness or cause any visual or negative impact on the resource can be banned because it is not old technology. I can put a sonar on my canoe which will make me more efficient in catching fish. I can use a dead tree branch and a tarp to set up a makeshift sail on my canoe or paddle kayak, but if that sail comes out of a box, forget it.

Where do all these fun-haters come from? Some days I love to take an underwater camera out in the boat and look at fish on structure. When underwater cameras first came out, the state I live in tried to ban them.

My nephews who are in their early teens just told me a story about fishing below a dam on the Cedar River in Iowa. They had waded out to a rock wall and were angling for carp and catfish. Someone came down to the riverbank and yelled at them to get back on shore or they would call the cops. Thee boys thought it was funny until the squad car showed up and they were told to get out of the current because they were endangering themselves.

Too many fun haters. The Hobies fit well in the BWCAW and should be allowed. Technology is good for growing the sport of fishing and if some kids want to flirt with disaster while trying to catch fish on the river, let them. When people get so stodgy they don’t see the forest through the trees, well, some things just don’t make sense.

There Ought To Be A Law

I was fishing a muskie tournament on Lake Wabedo in northern Minnesota. My partner and I slipped into the northwest corner of the lake to vertical jig some big plastic bodies. Ten minutes after we got there a big deck boat pulled up and the guy in the front started casting right at our boat dropping his lure right next to us. I didn’t appreciate this so I started casting my big lead jig at his boat, dropping it inches from the hull just like he was doing to us. What’s good for the goose... Right.

He starts yelling at me. I shot back that we were there first and he shouldn’t be so rude as to cast right at us. He yelled that I don’t own the water and he can drop his lure where ever he wants. I responded that I could too. Then I reminded him of the Golden Rule. He got very upset and shouted that the golden rule to him was, He Who Has the Gold, Rules. He fired up his big outboard, circled us at top speed a few times and motored off.

Obviously he was trying to run us off the spot and I wouldn’t let him intimidate me. This has not been the only time I’ve been crowded in a fishing spot. It happens to us all.

On Lake of the Ozarks, Sam Heaton from Humminbird and I motored into the mouth of a creek channel where we saw some shad breaking the surface. Obviously the baitfish were being chased by some bass. We were setting the hooks immediately. Not there ten minutes and we saw a boat driving by that spun around on a dime when they saw us reeling in bass. Seconds later they were on top of this school of fish pounding the surface with topwater lures. In the next half hour there were a half-dozen other boats that joined us. The difference here was that everyone maintained enough distance that we were all able to efficiently work this hungry school of bass. We may have been crowded, but we weren’t being pushed around.

Whenever my dad would get irritated by something petty he would always wail, “There ought to be a law.” Now I hate rules and regulations so I wouldn’t really want to instigate a policy that would curtail getting crowded on a spot. We all just need to be considerate of our friends on the water and even if you see someone catch a fish on a particular spot, think twice before crowding them out. After all, the Golden Rule is actually, Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.

My favorite crowding-out happened on a Minnesota Walleye Opener. My two sons and I were fishing some shallow rocks next to a point and we were hammering 18 to 20 inch walleyes by casting crankbaits to the shoreline and reeling them back to the boat. A couple of boats that were backtrolling deeper water suddenly decided to backtroll between my boat and the shoreline. Both boats crunched their props on the rocks. One was totally put out of commission. I asked the guy if he needed help getting towed back to the resort and he chose to call someone to help him out rather than take advantage of the guy whose spot he was stealing. Oh Ya, there’s one more saying. What Goes Around, Comes Around.

When it Comes to Fishing There's Hardly a Secret Left Anymore

I was wondering if the smallmouth bass had moved out of their spawning areas and into the main basin in Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. So I brought up my favorite search engine and with just a few mouse clicks I knew exactly what the fish were doing and what they were being caught on. Such is the magic of The Web. There is little to guess at when it comes to fishing.

Is this a good thing? Should we be able to have all the information at our fingertips that we need to go out and catch fish on a given body of water?

I used to do a live-radio broadcast with Rob Drieslein on a Twin Cities station and each week we announced a GPS coordinate from one of the local guides or fishing pros. We would tell all listening the name of the lake, what the structure consisted of, what species to target and what to use to catch them. Most listeners loved this information, but there were a few that thought we were giving up too much information. They thought anglers should have to work hard for their fish and figure out the variables on their own.

Me on the other hand. I just want people to be able to go out and have fun and catch fish. I believe that a vast majority of anglers have a hard time finding fish and that’s why you see so many boats in one spot on a lake. Someone sees a boat get out the net and haul in a fish and they move closer hoping to cash in on the potential of fishing there. Soon others join the party and you have the notorious “this must be the spot because there are so many other boats here” situation occurring.

I remember when this map came out with GPS coordinates on one of our big walleye lakes in Minnesota. The guides on the lake went berserk. It was making it too easy on the average angler who should get up to speed and learn things the hard way. This map was going to end the world as we know it according to the guides.

Then there is the map chips. I use Navionics and Lakemaster chips in my GPS units depending on which body of water I’m fishing. I can pull right up to that spot-on-the-spot every time without having to motor around with one eye on my sonar and never knowing for sure if I’m on the spot; which is how we used to find good fishing structure.

The legislature tried to ban underwater cameras in my home state because they thought this gadget was going to give the angler an edge.

As it turns out not much has changed in the world of fishing except anglers have more technology to learn and they are more confused now than ever. All those web sites, maps, sonar chips and cameras might make it a more efficient process to locate fish, but you still have to catch them and that will always be the one variable we have no control over. The mood of the fish we seek.