I'll start this with I understand that everyone wants to enjoy being on the water and we have been cooped up for the past few months but can someone explain why skiers and personal watercraft have to come close to a person fishing? Or when they slow down and make the biggest wave they can. Came close to being swamped in the past few days. Maybe it's just me but I don't think so. And yes I realize that they want to enjoy the water also but how about a little common sense.
Wisconsin Fishing Discussion
Fishing vs pleasure boaters
It goes both ways , at least that's my experience. Just this past Sunday morning proved the point . So its 6 30ish am and I am on Pine lake fishing the southern most point , what do I see , already got a ski boat out setting up a salom course to run in the bay , which is only 2 feet deep I might add , so they run a few turns out from the bay to the main lake , along comes another fishing boat , where do they set up shop , right damn smack in the middle of the bay opening so now the ski boat which was there first has to go around them and there is not much room on either side of the fishing boat . So you tell me who's at fault here ? How about the ramp ? One public ramp on that lake and no one has courtesy, the ski boats all wanna drop and the fishing boats all wanna leave . So what I am saying here is this, you gotta compromise on both sides so we all can enjoy the waterways we have . Plus this virus crap also has a lot to do with more boats, PwCs out and about now that the water temps are up, because people cant go anywhere else to have fun without worrying about the virus. Be safe , report unsafe , tight lines to all .
I saw that happen 2 weeks ago on the St. Louis river. My trolling batteries had died, so we packed up - headed over to where my sister and her husband were trolling to let them know we were leaving.
5 feet of water, we pulled up to them from the side - about 25 feet away when her rod doubled over, boated a 19"er.
"THANK YOU!!! CIRCLE US SOME MORE!"
I watched one of the recent Larry Smith shows and he mentioned fishing Winnebago or Green Bay and sure the fish tend to be larger, but he said there was something to be said about the northwoods and being alone on the water. I grew up fishing Green Bay and caught a lot of big fish, but I now spend more time in the northwoods. Lakes with skiing hours or flowages where you'd be crazy to pleasure boat, etc. Gets me away from the hassle of it and I enjoy it more.
The more popular bodies of water get a little crazy because there are just too many people trying to use them. The odds of finding some people who don't know what they are doing increases drastically.
A few thing come to mind in regard to this topic concerning pleasure boaters. I fish Winnebago mid June to October and usually fish west shore structure around the Winnebago Cty or asylum bay landings during the week with fair weather. Too often while anchored up you have those 20-30’ boats that feel the need to pass by quite close throwing the 2-4’ rollers at you when there is ample room to be away from the groups anchored up. Another case is a northern Wisconsin lake I fish often that is 1600 acres. One shoreline is long and straight. It has a well defined weed line in 5-8’ of water. Fishermen spread out along it and fish. The pontoon cruisers still must travel the narrow space between the fishermen and shore rather than travel outside the fishing groups in the main lake basin. My last gripe is the boat drivers I encounter while anchored up fishing that like to slow to half throttle as they pass by thinking that reduced speed is best yet don’t realize the wake they then throw is so much larger than when up on plane. I have encountered this many times on lakes as well as on the Wolf River I fish in the spring. The area of river I fish is remote and well away from the usual spring crowds but there are still those that don’t get it.
Best thing you can do if safety is not being followed , get a pic or video of the perp and report them. Mostly everyone has a phone nowadays with a cam, get a pic or video as evidence . I know some lakes are worse than others , Big Cedar comes to mind , just keep a look out and report unsafe operations regardless of who it is. All craft have numbers on them for a reason, and everyone who lives on a lake knows who owns what most of the time . Just try to be safe out there .