Quote:
Originally Posted by BroadHopper
that pontoon guy on the lake with at least 12 rods dangling from his boat will be illegal. By definition of the law it is perfectly legal as long as there is one bait/hook per rod.
My biggest gripe are the fishermen that fish too close to swimmers and those who do fish in swimming areas, lose a hook or two which ends up on the kids later.
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Hi Broadhopper,
The pontoon guy with "12 rods dangling" is most likely trolling and thus probably isn't close to shore. Being close to shore mean he will be losing some expensive equipment. The 12 rods is legal as long as he has 6 or more persons onboard who are licensed or under 16.
Fishermen fishing close to swimming areas which i would broadly define as "along any shoreline" are most likely bass fishermen and they are fishing where bass congregate: under docks, around rock piles, under trees and around weed lines. All these areas are legal to fish in as long as they are not designated swim areas defined with floating buoys etc and is part of "sharing the resource. I would expect common courtesy from any such fisherman not to target an area where a swimmer is in the water or a dock where someone is on the dock AND that if a hook is lost - he should make every effort to retreive it. I think most do these actions but there are always bad apples. However in unmarked swim areas and on unoccupied docks...you just have to share the lake with these guys. Its the way it is as the laws are defined. In fact interfering with their right to fish public water is illegal.