Surfcasting and boats near shore

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

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.

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.

[Rockport24]

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

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

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.

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.

[Circlehook]

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.