Fishing the docks: Angler etiquette needs polishing

It’s clearly taboo in town to pitch sharp objects into a homeowner’s yard, bounce lead-weighted fishing lures off a parked car or hang out on the street and stare into somebody’s front window.

On the water, however, anglers operate by a different set of rules that rub some lake dwellers the wrong way.

“I know fishermen have a right to be anywhere on the water,” said Chris Vogel, who lives on Newman Lake. “But it’s a little disconcerting to have lures splashing next to your kids when they’re lying on the dock. When does it become wrong?

“I’m a fisherman and I understand that fish hang out under docks. I actually enjoy watching people fish, but it’s invasive when they smack their lures into my boat or stick their hooks in my dock and boat ropes.

Vogel handed over a tangle of monofilament line attached to a diving plug with two treble hooks. “This came off the cross-member of my canoe,” he said.

“It’s especially disconcerting when fishermen sit out at our dock at night just 30 feet from our front window, usually with no running lights on their boat.”

As the water and weather warms, more and more bass and crappie will take refuge in the shade of docks — and anglers will follow.

“We get calls on these incidents periodically,” said Deputy Tom Walker of the Spokane County Sheriff’s marine patrol. “If somebody’s actually peeping into your house, you’d call the Sheriff and you’d have to be able to prove it.

“But if they’re fishing under your dock or around your boat, that’s perfectly legal as long as they’re not tied to the dock or on the dock. Nobody owns the water. It’s a matter of fishing etiquette rather than the law.”

Even snagging a boat isn’t likely to be considered a criminal act, Walker said. “It just shows that you’re a lousy fisherman,” he said. “Any decent person would knock on a door and take responsibility for damage. But a few will just beat it.”

Club-oriented fishermen such as Art Acuff of Spokane Valley try to bridge the gap between their rights on the water and being polite around lake-owner properties.

“We all own the water,” said Acuff, a member of the Inland Empire Bass Club who’s been fishing in tournaments for 25 years. “A certain number of lake-home owners consider anything around their docks as their yard, but cabin owners have no right to tell us we can’t fish around their docks.

“On the other hand, we can do it politely. If for some reason we cause any damage, we’re certainly liable.”

Anglers have a better chance of catching fish holding under docks if they cast under the dock or bounce their lures off the dock so they drop straight down from the edge. Some anglers get good results by casting in the small gap between the dock and a moored boat.

Most anglers imbed the hook point in the soft plastic body of an imitation grub or worm to make the lure unlikely to snag wood above the surface—or weeds down below.

“I understand what they’re trying to achieve, but a few fishermen can be very irritating, especially when they hit my expensive ski boat,” said Curt Marquiss who’s lived on Newman Lake for 20 years.

Said Acuff, “What it comes down to is that we’re going to fish the docks because we need to fish the docks. Newman has only two kinds of structure: the (lily) pad lines and the docks. The bass aren’t out swimming in the middle of the lake like the trout.”

Communication helps, he said. “I was fishing on Liberty Lake once when I came to a place where the kids were swimming on one side of the dock. The family was up at the house. I talked to them and made a cast to the other side of the dock and caught a 3-pounder. I let them see the bass and let it go. The family was happy to see that I released the fish and moved on without harming anything.”

Tournament fishing groups have tried to be responsive to the complaints of shoreline property owners by setting rules for their competition.

“We’ve had complaints on the Pend Oreille River about having 250 boats blasting out for a 6 a.m. start,” said Joel Nania, I.E. Bass Club president and home owner on Liberty Lake. “Lately we’ve been getting positive feedback by having our fishermen stay out in the middle of the river and not cutting corners when they’re running and maintaining their speed to reduce wake size and disruption to the shoreline.

“As a club, we try to police littering and be advocates for respecting property. We don’t want complaints, because we know that complaints can lead to restrictions.”

Nania and his son regularly fish close to docks on Liberty Lake, he said. “There’s no law against it, but we have unwritten rules,” he said. “If kids are out swimming and enjoying their dock, we’ll move around and go to the next dock to fish.”

While a poorly cast lure is not likely to mar the tough finish on most boats, a hook that snags a fabric boat cover can cause damage to expensive fabric boat covers and tops. “Boat covers are terribly expensive,” Nania said. “A nick turns into a hole. Fishermen make thousands of flips around docks, but you’ll always hear about that one time a hook went into a boat cover.”

Bill DeMaris, a long-time bass angler and Lake Spokane (Long Lake) property owner, said some lakes are worse than others for dealing with dock owners.

“If you come up to a dock on Long Lake, somebody might ask you, ‘How’s the fishing,’ ” he said. “Loon Lake is particularly bad for people complaining. Unfortunately, it’s their problem if they live on a lake and they think it’s off limits to fishermen.”

DeMaris was quick to point out that it’s still an angler’s responsibility to respect any property owner. “It’s important that fishermen not be rude,” he said.

“I’ll tell you what gets me, though: jet skis. I absolutely hate them and the way people operate them.”

On that subject, at least, many lake property owners and anglers apparently find common ground.

“Overall, the fishermen are very polite and kosher,” said Marquiss from his home at Newman Lake. “I have a lot more problems with kids on jet skis and drunken power boaters.”