Cottage Associations

[Jeremy]

I get so ticked off with Cottage Associations that think they own the water. Renegade was just on Mississippi Lake and this guy said he had two anglers in front of his cottage and they were rude with him.

When the story was all said and done, It was the cottage owner that was throwing rocks at the anglers, and threatened he was going to go and get his sling shot. He even tryed to tell the anglers that he had a right to tell them to leave the bay No fishing allowed!

If this had been me I would have done one of two things. if a rock hit myself or my Partner i would be phoning the police and having the person charged.
The other thing i would do is just leave, is it worth getting into this kind of problem

What would you all do

Jeremy

[fishinchic]

Jeremy,

I guess the first thing in my mind would be to get the biggest hook/bait I had and see how long he could dodge it! ;D

But then again my casting is something to be desired so yes I would agree to just leave.

My problem would be my partner however. We all know how calm Pete can be when he gets into situations like this. All I know it wouldn't be pretty.

Most anglers are extremely careful not to touch anything that belongs to someone else (dock, boat) just simple respect but when people who have water front properties think they own the lake how can you respect them?

Pete and I came across someone like that last year. He stood at the end of his dock watching us making sure we didn't "touch" anything. Pete was polite but the guy was just rude. We left. I don't think the guy left the end of his dock until we left the bay. It was kind of funny in a way but in another pathetic.

I guess some people have nothing better to do with their time.

Kim

[Pete]

Jeremy,

This is a very interesting topic. I'm glad that you brought it up.

As a home owner on a body of water (The Big Rideau) I can appreciate the owner coming out to watch or say something.

Hear is my reasoning behind it. Last summer we had our pontoon boat tied to the dock and this tournament boat comes by our dock. The 1 guys casts towards the dock and gets his bait caught on the gas line in the back of the boat. No respect for other people's property. Luckily for us there was no damage to the line. However, there are others on this body of water that have had gas lines punctured, canvass tarps ripped, hooks caught on the top of the dock.

I believe that if you can not cast accurately to an object, then don't. We as anglers have to respect the water we fish on. That not only includes the environment but also the people and property that live on that particular body of water.

Here is a prime example, last night Grumpy and I were fishing on Mississippi and not 1 person told us to leave. There was 1 guy fishing off his dock and we made sure that we were far enough away from his dock that he could continue to fish and not be in his way. There was another dock where there were 2 couples swimming. We again purposely made sure that we didn't cast anywhere near or around them. It's just respect. Another thing is those inflatable slides, rafts etc. stay away from them. A hook does something like that no good.

I'm not saying that throwing rocks is a good thing. Something like that I would handle a little differently and fishin' chic knows what I mean but I'm almost positive that if the angler respected the body of water and the people, property and nature on it that there would be less complaints from cottage association. You will always have the extremes on both sides of the arguement. The cottage/home owner and/or angler that is a complete Ahole.

As an angler, I have yet had an owner ask me or tell me to leave a dock, bay etc. They have come out to watch but never asked to leave.

It all boils down to respect. To quote scripture, do onto others as you would have others do onto you.

Pete

[Jeremy]

Pete

Agree to a point but I've had a few situations over the years that would shock you.

I have this one dock that I fish on Big Rideau it always holds a big fish. One day when I was approaching the dock I noticed a fire hose on the ground. Cottage owner came out never said a word to me or gave me a warning, just opened up the fire hose and just about knocked me out of my boat I informed the individual that all he needed to do was ask me not too fish or if I would mind leaving.

I agree we need to respect each other and I will leave it at that! These extreme cases are always the ones that come to the front though, to bad

Jeremy