With dozens of major fishing tournaments scheduled there is bound to be a lot of fishermen on Clear Lake. Especially during the spring and summer months and weekends. The spring and summer always brings the invariable confrontations between lakeside residents and fishermen. A few years ago, a fisherman hooked a cat in Holiday Cove near Lakeport. The result was that the cat ended up with a hook in its mouth and an angry pet owner. In the past fishermen have been confronted by angry dock owners and once a dock owner even threatened a fisherman with a gun.
Clear Lake is unique in that it probably has more docks than any other lake in Northern California and these docks provide ideal habitat for bass, crappie and catfish. Since bass like to hide under the docks this is where the fishermen tend to concentrate their efforts. The result is occasional friction between the dock owners and fishermen.
By state law, the waters in Clear Lake are public domain and open to everyone, and that includes the water under the docks. In other words you can legally fish anywhere you can float a boat. However, the docks themselves are private property.
Every summer I receive calls from both fishermen and dock owners complaining that either the fishermen are fishing under their private docks or that the dock owners are threatening fishermen.
What is needed is a little common sense and courtesy from both parties. If a dock owner is sitting and relaxing or fishing from his/her dock, fishermen should either bypass that dock or ask permission to fish under it. I do this all the time and have never had an argument with a dock owner. In other words I respect their property. By the same token, dock owners shouldn't try and keep all the fishermen away from their docks.
Fishermen should also reduce their speed when within with a 200 yards of a dock so that waves from the boat don't damage the structure. By the way, the law says that boats should go no faster than 5 mph when within 200 yards of shoreline. This is one of the big complaints from lakeside residents. Boats come roaring right up to the dock before cutting their engines or when they are done fishing an area they roar off before idling out to the 200 yard marker.
The speed factor really comes into play in the channels like the Clearlake Oaks Keys and the Lakeport Lagoons. In the channels, most of the docks are floaters and boat wakes can do serious damage. The speed limit in these channels is 5 mph, but they are often ignored by boaters. Boaters need to idle down to no more than a crawl or better yet use their electric trolling motors.
The other gripe of many dock owners is the noise that some fishermen make early in the mornings. As everyone knows during the summer months the best time to fish is just at daylight, which is usually around 5 a.m. Many lakeside residents like to sleep on their decks during the warm summer evenings. Fishermen who are fishing near the docks should keep the loud talking to minimum so as not to disturb the residents.
The other major gripe of dock owners is when fishermen cast their lures up on docks and then leave them stuck to the carpets or wood. This is especially dangerous for youngsters who go barefoot or pets like cats and dogs. No one enjoys having a hooking stuck in their foot.
Of course, not all the confrontations between local residents and fishermen are the fault of the fishermen. Many dock owners put out multiple unattended fishing lines from their docks and then get mad if a bass fisherman fishes in their area. I run into this all the time. I will be fishing near an empty dock and before I know it I have run into a fishing line and the angry owner will come storming out of the house. First off, it's against the law to leave a fishing pole unattended — it's also unsportsmanlike.
Residents also have to realize that when they buy or build a home on the lake their backyard is basically public property and they will lose a certain amount of privacy. Of course, living on the shores of a lake as beautiful as Clear Lake has it's own rewards and all it takes is a little courtesy on both sides to make living here enjoyable.
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