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.