So You Get to Your Spot and There's Surfers
 

Do you bother to fish or go to another spot?

I would try to fish but if it was unsafe for the surfer I would go and try a back up spot. Surfers don't surf at night

That would mean you're fishing in the daylight and should just go home anyway

you leave them alone. They were there first.

Hopefully, they will do the same when they find you there..

Eben nailed it....they got there first! If I was there first and they showed up and started surfing (and this has happened to me before).....you tell them to move the hell on......no listen......I take out the 3 oz. Orange pencil repleat with 3/0 trebles and I make it known that I intend to continue fishing......what I catch is entirely up to the surfers!:jester:

It happened to me a couple weeks ago. I drove there, bout 20 miles from where i was and it was chock full of surfers. I just watched em for a little bit and moved on. No prob last night, got there at 8 oclock, just as they were packing it up for the day.

I move on while doing my best great white call.

I fish and surf. I see both sides of this. Surfing is impossible at night unless youre near a pier where its lighted. For those of you who are not night owls, theres plenty of great spots where waves break that are unsurfable. In any situation where there are fishers and surfers just remember respect gets respect, and it works both ways.

PS Bigfish- Please cast one my way when I'm surfing, ill snag it. those things are expensive:jump:

I will keep my hooks sharp Hulky!:jester:

If you hook into a surfer, I wounder if they will give a good fight !:laugha:

I can guarantee they will!:jester:

Several people have it right; I never run into to surfers at 1AM:laugha::p

no joke...i have ran seen some surfers out there in those hours on the outer cape. some of them are just as crazy as we are :eek:

Sure - once they paddle in and punch the guy that threw a plug at them :)

Surfers show up and start surfing then give you the big f-u - I've never seen them leave because someone was fishing there first. The little brown signs designate the areas as fishing spots, not surfing spots.

Well, I guess what I was getting at, when I started this thread is I'd like to know if decent size fish still hang around with surfers in the water. No need to fish, if the fish are not there. Has anyone done well with surfers in the water?

.....you sure about that mike? :devil:

Surfers don't usually spook fish - neither does a guy with a spear gun.

Well given the attitude of some of the RI surf fishermen, this doesn't seem very surprising. Birds of a feather I guess. ;)

They were there 1st

I think the difference is when there are surfers in a spot first, fishermen typically go someplace else. When people are fishing, the surfers could care less - that's been my experience.

I have a good relationship with the surfers where I fish, sometimes they know if there are fish in the area, which is priceless. I just fish around them.

Last year in Maine I almost came to blows with a surfer. I moved twice down the beach and each time he eventually surfed right where I was fishing. I yelled out to him to have some courtesy. This caused him to charge up onto the beach. Words were exchanged. I did cast a plug pretty close to him a couple of times after that.

I was just talking about this the other day!! It really pisses me off. I would have the common curtousy if I showed up to a spot and surfers where there ... to MOVE... BUT if Im fishing a spot and THEY show up after me.. I would think they would move... NOT THE CASE... F'ers. no love from them... no love from me... they better be carrying a knife to cut my braid.

You dont OWN THE OCEAN
 

You dont OWN THE OCEAN. That is unless your a commmercial Lobsterman. (Ask them Tey will tell you that they own it)



Whoever is on the spot first has the right of way.

The exception to this is if your fishing a navigatable waterway and a vessel. (Canoe, Tugboat with Barge) or anything else needs to pass by.

Its a vastly differnt story if your say SCUBA Diving and are anchored and are flying a code alpha and a divers flag and some idiot desides to do donuts arour your flag or drag lobster pots around in circles until they hit you.

Then I say lay out the Steel Cable on the fishing line and let them snarl up their props in it.

Or with Surfers: If they were there first, then they have priority, If you were fishing firt then they should move on to a differnt spot.

Cast net for Bait?


http://cs.nga.gov.au/IMAGES/LRG/34041.JPG

I said it many times in my past career as a writer of piscatorial pursuits that it is the wise surfcaster who befriends the surfers and talk with them regularly. Surfers see fish all the time, espeically on the outer cape where they wait beyond the bar for the wave to form as it goes over it.

What they see that you can't and what they will tell you should incorporate into your midnight hunt.

Show the surfer dudes some love and respect and you will benefit greatly from avoiding casting into the dark into lifeless water.

If there there first I leave, unless im fishing for bluefish then I make some cast...sortha like West Dennise beach....they are always there.

I agree; whoever is there first.

I also think the situation can vary too depending on whether you are talking about a beach break like cape beach or reefs in RI. A beach break is easy for a surfer to move down the beach but unless they have a particular bar that is working. But reef breaks have a defined area that you can expect them to be on during a good swell.

this happen to me and they called the police on me the cop told me they have more rights that you go figure.

Throwing a plug at em = assault.

what about a weighted treble for snagging? :tooth:

Seriously...In the world of gov't regulations this is called user conflict and can only end up leading to beaches designated for specific use (ie: Montauk) which in the end means less access. First on the spot got the spot and be polite when that behavior is broken.

And going in to surf where I'm ripping a three ounce popper is stupidity

Alright....dull hooks then.:tooth:

I'd prob. just grab my board and join them....

It's much easier to find a fishing spot that is unsurfable, than a surfing spot that is unfishable (if not impossible). I understand the being there first rule, but if theres a wickid swell hitting the coast chances are surfers will show up. Some surfers dont have the respect that I and many others do, so this whole throwing a plug at us businees needs to stop. I fish as well and would never even think about doing something like that. You guys are better than that. If surfers are giving you a hard time, find another spot, its not worth dealing with a bunch of cocky surfers and possibly getting into a fight.

Theres so much coast that can be fished, but not that much of it can be surfed. Thats the mindset of the surfers, we dont see the consistant waves the west coast sees, so when a swell hits the beach may not be the best place to fish.

Hulky...this has happened to me several times......I will hold my ground! Here is the scenario......I go to bed extra early the night before so I can be up at 3 am to hit my favorite spot......I get up early, drive all the way there, gear up and hoof it out there to make the first pre-sunrise casts......I am the first one there!!! I begin fishing, hook a few.......and suddenly a surfer shows up......now this spot is a small area.....if he surfs and I fish......we are in each others way! I hope he yields and moves along (which has happened before). What has also happened before is they slide down the cliff and right into my zone, my line of fire....and they know it!!!! SORRY!!!!! I am going to keep fishing as I went to alot of time and trouble to get there at a specific time to fish! I have made myself quite clear at these times that I am there and I am fishing the spot regardless if they choose to "zip" around me! Usually after a few....shall we say.....near misses...:rolleyes:.....they will move along! If I yield that spot just because they show up......it will be a sign to them everytime for them to simply enter the water, and the big dumb goof ball with the fishing rod will go away....UH-UH!:cens: Now....on the other hand I have had this happen after I have spent a couple hours fishing a spot and its just dead, the surfers show up and because it has been unproductive, I have yielded the spot to them!:wave: I do my best to be a good guy....but in that vein I expect the same in return and when it does not come.....then the gloves....they are off.....like it or not!:fight:

If you are there first and they want to surf into your casts their fault if they get hooked, and if they have a problem with it thats why i carry a .45 in my bag. well and if i catch something bigger than me with teeth. :hihi:

if they are on the spot first im sure that yall have more spots. :fishslap:

Bingo.

And the organizations that surfers belong to certainly have ALOT more clout than most surfcasting organizations.

Really, you can put Surfrider alongside Audubon, the U.S. Park Service, shoreline towns, and waterfront property owners - they'd like it all for themselves.