Surfcasting and boats near shore
 

I know there are a lot of boat guys in here, but Id like to hear from shore guys also..... Is there a set distance for both boat and shore dudes to keep away from each other? Ive had quite a few times when I thought "Jeez, that boat can clearly see me fishing, but still comes back and drifts right thru where Im fishing" or worse, someone sees me catching and pretty much parks the boat on the spot in front of me. What do you consider the etiquette for these situations?

PS long time lurker, first time poster

What to do..............
 

When the metal lures start wizzing by, they wont stay long.

You should fish the Gut on the Vineyard when some boat googan anchors up 75 feet away and thinks nothing of it. That anchorage never last long, see metal lures above.

The other place is the chappy side of Edgartown Harbor when a kayaker paddles by in front of 60 or 70 people looking to hookup on the albies swimming by. Have to feel bad for the yakker if he is a first timer. But many times I have seen this occur and the yakker knows the harbor and the fishermen and could have paddled to the other side of the channel well out of the way of the shore fishermen. It must be like this in other areas as well.

Surfcasters should look at boats fishing near shore like submariners look at surface ships, they call them "targets".:btu:

I think what bugs me the most is the fact that if you have a boat you have ALL THE ACCESS IN THE WORLD. When a shore guy may end up walking an hour to claim his 50 sq. feet of real estate and up the boat guy comes....you can't tell me their aren't better places to fish in a boat.

But I Digress....most of the time its somebody that just doesn't know better.

ahhh, the age old conflict of boats too close to shore.
totally agree with TDF, I mean, these guys can fish anywhere, how sad do you have to be to use surfcasters as fish finders, isn't that what electronics are for?

Happened to me this past weekend at the Race in the early AM. We drove up on some birds working bait with one boat about 200 yards from shore. Got out and started casting, then another boat screws over and starts jigging about 100 feet from shore in 10' of water through the middle of where we were casting. He made 3 additional passes until he noticed we were casting right at him.

sometimes my fish finder says 70ft from shore and thats where the fish are sorry you sand people dont like.:deadhorse:

boaters fish areas that have structure and hold fish, surfcasters fish the same areas. There is bound to be some overlap and I think common courtesy should prevail.

don't want people to think I jump in front of people on shore I dont.I was commenting about the electronics and going anywhee response.

There is the key phrase, right there.

When it starts raining bank sinkers, its time to move your boat.

And if they get there 1st its all thiers, I always try to find my own piece of real estate to work.....my beef is when they pull up right where I've been working for an hour and take over.....or slam right into blitzing fish and put them down....its maddening.

Youre right, RIJIMMY, common courtesy is best. I have to admit though, it blows my mind when someone stays in front of you while youre casting 2 feet to the right of their bow, they watch it go sailing by, then look at you and yell out "Wow, nice cast!" It happened to me, so I sent the next one straight for the boat. I was pretty proud of my aim, for a second, then realized I might maim them, or worse, make them lose their sight in an eye or 2. So I stopped it short, VERY short, and it dropped about a foot from the boat. He still didnt get it, and actually waved to me. It sucks having a conscience sometimes

The farthest cast you can make in a boat should land about 20 feet from the farthest cast somebody on shore could make. That's my rule on the boat or the beach.

I have seen this more times then I can count I don't know if it's stupidity or or ignorance.Most guys will move away if they see you or if you ask them for some room, which we should not have to ask though.I know if I owned a boat I wouldn't be fishing close to a shore were I knew there was people fishing.There is plenty of rock piles and other structures away from the shore to fish.

I'll say this...there's just so many fish holding spots in the great pond we call the sea...should be first come gets the spot..but people in general don't give a chitt be it by land or sea.....I've been thrown at and have thrown at them....may the best caster of a 30z. bank sinker wins......or pack a paint ball gun in your gear.

I'll tell you what you don't respect my boundries when im on the shore your going to get more then a 3 oz sinker thrown at your boat.We as shore fishing guys work way to hard at getting too our spots.Now if I get to a spot and there is a boat or another guy allready there I will respect them and leave .

4 oz. Hopkins off the hull usually gets their attention. Whoops! Sorry!:uhuh:

In my surfcasting days, i never had this happen, not once. The areas I fsih would be too dangerous for boats and I fsihed mostly at night.
WHat types of areas are you guys fishing? On the opean ocean, the wave breaks would be too dangerous to be in close in a boat?

Boats I can usually work around. It is the fcking lobster pots that piss me off.

Kayakers deserve a spot in this conversation. I've had my share of issues with them the past couple seasons. Just like with surfers, it's whoever gets there first.

a nice rip around a rocky outcropping is where i fish, and I definitely see the appeal to drift it. Most of the time, there is at least 1 or 2 boats on the rip, On the weekends, there can be as many as 15 boats going back and forth, no more that 70 or 80 ft from shore If they are there when I get there, Ill move or deal with going around them if the bite is on. As always though, the bite dies as soon as the boats power in there

there was a jack@#$ going up the canal nice and slow sunday morning at slack with rod in hand ,right where we were casting top water and he new he was screwing us.

last time at one of my fav spots was quite busy...it got burned in the projo not to long ago..anyway...I get there and the place is packed, tourist taking pics, guys fishing the whole west shoreline, Boats out front drifting in casting range...The side that usually holds fish was completely full... so I chose to be different and fish the east side. then some guys show up in wetsuits and start swimming / spearfishing infront of where im casting. I cast right at there heads only coming a few feet away to sort of let them know "hey im fishing over here" but they could care less...There were no fish to be had with all the commotion so I showed the swimmers/spearfishers they were number 1 in my book with a middle finger and went on my way.. no more sunset fishing for me at that spot for a while...night time its nice and empty just the way I like it.

RIJimmy- Boats in tight to the shore happens all the time for the sand set on the Cape. Based on your post and name I suspect you probably fish mostly the rocks on south shore in RI, so you probably don't have as much conflict as no boater in their right mind would come in close to that stuff.

As for me, I cast away directly at the boat. They get the idea. 99.9% of the boat guys know they are in closer than they should be and quickly get the idea to move along.

Yup, that's the way I operate also, it's called respect.. I give it and I expect it.... and for the clowns who think throwing metal at someone's head is the answer..remember, metal flies both ways..:faga::rollem::faga:

Just this past weekend
 

Small boat charter captain parks about a half cast outside of my range and puts his client onto 12-25" bass after bass.

Put on my longest plug but still couldn't reach him. Time to put some bank sinkers in the bag! :smash:

But if he's not within your range I don't see the issue.

I'm talking about the clowns that zip in right where you're casts are hitting....or closer

Been on both sides of the equation. Was passing through C'town breachway one time w/my brother and people were casting right across our bow. One nearly decapitated my 6 year old niece with his braided line. We did share words but moved on.
One the flip side, I’ve had people in boats pile on top of fish we were working from shore on the cape. It sucks, but get over it.
In all honesty, only a complete a$$hole would cast an object at another person. If there’s a bad situation brewing, simply move on. No need to escalate over a lousy fish.

HA! here we go...what's going to happen with all these new wet suiters swimming out to rocks that the beach guys like to throw their plugs to and around....you now become the boat...is it still ok to throw a 4 oz. hopkins at you in hopes you'll move else where? when one swims to a rock 50-100' out you have now killed that area for anyone else to fish thats on the beach.

True. But tin from a 7' boat road doesn't fly nearly as far as one from my 10.5 footer does.

I think it is completely a matter of mobility. That surf guy may have had to deal with a few mile hike with all his gear and getting into those fish is the reward for all his effort. In order to "simply move on" for a shore fisherman, that may involve a 30 minute hike that puts him maybe a mile away and tired from lugging his gear again.
On the other hand, a boater can easily just put the boat in gear and more than likely find more fish some where else. It has been said here many times that boat fishing is easier than shore fishing and I think that's exactly the reason why the tin flies.

However, this all pertains to boaters that feel the need to roll up on a school with blatant disregard. I see no reason why they can't just work from the opposite side of the school. No disruption to the fish, and tight lines for everyone.

yeah kayakers can do that too, which is annoying because it's like, why get a kayak if you can just fish it from shore anyway? I have kayaked around some of my favorite surf spots, but I was very aware to stay clear of anyone casting, that said, it's easy to forgot too and think you're the only one around, most of the time now if I kayak it's in an area inaccesable from shore, because isn't that the point? the north shore has miles and miles of rocky coast line that is private and thus inaccesible, so you can kayak or power boat as tight as you want to shore without any issues, no need to be on top of people

In my experience, boat vs. boat or shore vs. shore conflicts are much more commom than boat vs. shore or vice versa. I rarely, if ever run into boats when surf fishing. When I boat fished alot, I rarely ran into surf men. The best thing about the loss of vehicle access on the cape was the lack of yahoos tracking you down with their headlights deep in the night. This made the fish more difficult to access, but there were fewer conflicts as you were usually alone.

Oh yes, to answer the original post.....use good judgement and if you're going to cast something at someone, use an unweighted sluggo. :)

Are boat conflicts that serious of an issue at 2 or 3 am? I could see at noon on a Jetty on a Saturday in July, but not in the middle of the night.

Grapenuts...if I am out front first then its my spot.....I can always turn around and fire back! Second option is to head towards shore and kick some a$$!

You start throwing 4oz hopkins at my boat and I start throwing 9mm rounds at your head

So before all you surfguys get your panties in a bunch, the last post was meant to show how stupid this argument is. Just give each other the same respect you expect. It's real simple.

I have fished both ways from NJ to P-Town and never had a problem in the surf with boat fishermen or in the boat with surf fishermen. Just common courtsey.:smash:

On the North Shore it tends to happen a lot during the Fall Run when birds and blitzing fish are work the shore. Guys come crashing through the blitzes while you're casting....drives me friggin nuts.

It happens to me at least once a year up here at that time.

clown-no..i wasnt really thowing at their heads.. i dropped a plastic popper in a 15-20ft radious at the guys who got to close. wasnt tryn to hurt em just give em a heads up i was there too. my earlier post came across wrong. i figured they could snorkel/spear anywhere else but they didnt seem to give a s^&*, so i walked home.