Met Karen on Lake Lanier yesterday

[GTMODawg]

They just passed a law in SC that you can't come within 100' of a dock fishing and 200' on a jet ski. That was today.

This may be possible on a state waterway but it would take an act of congress at the federal level to do so on a COE lake or federal waterway. I would almost bet it won't stand up to the scrutiny of the courts. There is no right to privacy in a public place anywhere in the United States regardless of what local and state laws say otherwise. If you do not want someone within 200 feet of your property you better dang well have a title to at least 200 feet of your property and any public property.

So I just read the new law and it says that a boat underway must be 100 feet from a dock and a wakeboat engaged in wake surfing must be 200 feet away. Underway means not anchored or made fast (tied off) and moving BUT not under power. If you are using a trolling motor you are making way, not under way. Way means there is enough movement of the boat across the surface of the water to make the rudder useable but if you are under any kind of power, outboard, trolling motor, oar or sail, you are not under way you are making way. The state of South Carolina may not be aware of the difference, it is an easy bet to make that most enforcement officials are not, but the coast guard is for certain aware of the difference and it would not take a great lawyer to make that point abundantly clear....if you are drifting without any kind of propulsion you would be in violation if you are 100 feet from a dock. If you are under power of any kind the law, as written, does not apply. It won't stand up to the scrutiny of the courts. Many people will no doubt pay the piddling fine the state imposes but someone will challenge it and they will eventually win.

 

[GTMODawg]

2a

If they were to do that here, I`d be out of the fishing business from December through March!

Can they enforce a law like that on a COE LAKE

They can until someone challenges it. And no doubt will in select cases. They live to do such things and they pass laws all the time that are eventually struck down by the courts without any penalty for having done so. In this case the way the law is written if you are making way...under power of any sort....you are OK. if you are underway...adrift...you are in violation. It will never stand the scrutiny of the courts and the people who voted for it, as written, and signed it into law as well as the people who enforce it should be personally liable for the expenses someone will incur to correct their mistake and the personal anguish and suffering that person went through to do so. Of course that will not happen because they are immune from penalties when the make such mistakes.

 

[treadwell]

Wonder what killed all her grass?

 

[GTMODawg]

Guy down here on the South end will come out wave his gun around and yell at fishermen. I've seen him do it a couple times while hanging out on the neighbors dock.

He'll eventually do so with someone equally insane and someone will get shot. This is exactly why the state should enforce the law as harshly as possible....that person should not have the right to keep a firearm.

 

[littlejon]

Fished Lanier north end yesterday and when we saw people near their docks we moved. To me it's a courtesy thing. Used to fish the docks at Starboard Marina(?) years ago and always had to deal with the employees getting on to me for fishing the docks.
btw, caught 14 spots, largest was 3.4. Muddy and some floating debris

I will also move on if they are on their docks or porch of their home. Unfortunately I know of some dock pirates on Lanier which ruin it for all of us.

 

[Pig Predator]

the ones that we have the most trouble out of are the ones that move from up north to Florida then move up here

We call them "half backs" here.

 

[Liquid nails]

The new SC law states new 100’ distance from previously 50’ when APPROACHING a dock or anchored vessel. It’s for “no wake”. Doesn’t state anywhere you cannot fish a dock. Let’s not get that confused.

 

[GTMODawg]

The new SC law states new 100’ distance from previously 50’ when APPROACHING a dock or anchored vessel. It’s for “no wake”. Doesn’t state anywhere you cannot fish a dock. Let’s not get that confused.

I agree 100% but I wouldn't be surprised that some wardens interpret it as getting near a dock in select cases and write that ticket. Like cops they are inadequately trained in almost everything about their jobs except how dangerous it is and how important making arrests and collecting fines is and even that training, which they are steeped in, is misinformed and ill conceived.

Get checked within a hundred feet of a dock, don't pay them what they deem is the proper amount of respect and I'll bet some will write that ticket. Some of them can't get enough humbling out of a person and some of them deserve no respect but you gotta treat all of them with kid gloves even when they are acting a fool. Most are very cordial and professional and do deserve respect but occasionally you come across one who just ain't fit to deal with people...and you best respect that one as much as possible or your going to have a bad day.

 

[Flash]

how does a SC law affect a border lake such as Hartwell, Russell, Clarke Hill??

 

[GTMODawg]

how does a SC law affect a border lake such as Hartwell, Russell, Clarke Hill??

According to the states release it applies to those lakes when in the state. I assume it makes no difference where your boat is registered or where you put in etc.

 

[Whitefeather]

The new SC law states new 100’ distance from previously 50’ when APPROACHING a dock or anchored vessel. It’s for “no wake”. Doesn’t state anywhere you cannot fish a dock. Let’s not get that confused.

Been that rule in Georgia for at least 20 years. It’s amazing how many people don’t know that

 

[justhuntinSC]

I am certain this is so and I would be angry also....but if you are going to leave your stuff in a public place it is liable to be damaged. You have zero control over that. If you leave your vehicle on the side of the road and come back to it and a rock flew off a tire and dinged the paint that is on you....you intentionally left your possession in an unprotected public place. Any decent human being would make every attempt not to damage someone's dock or boat and if they did substantially do so they would make every effort to make it right. No doubt some would not but that is the price you pay for leaving expensive items in a public place unprotected. You have a permit to have a dock and you have the right to expect the public not to damage that dock...but you have no right to go to extraordinary lengths to prevent the public doing so. If you do not like that do not leave your stuff in a public place.

In no way do I agree with harassing anyone but what you say is not right. Doesn’t matter where something is it’s not right to damage it and people should have an expectation of it not being damaged. If you park your car in a parking spot downtown and someone hits it are you ok with that ? They carry no liability and it’s your fault ? Silly

 

[GTMODawg]

In no way do I agree with harassing anyone but what you say is not right. Doesn’t matter where something is it’s not right to damage it and people should have an expectation of it not being damaged. If you park your car in a parking spot downtown and someone hits it are you ok with that ? They carry no liability and it’s your fault ? Silly

No I would be mad as anyone would be but I wouldn't stand on a public sidewalk and holler at people to watch my car and I for sure wouldn't do so while holding a gun. A dock owner does have the right to expect people to respect their property no matter where it is and most people will but when it is left in a public space and someone does damage it that too is to be expected....you can't find an autombile more than few months from the dealer without some door dings. Yes, it makes you mad and yes every effort should made not to do it but it happens and happens often and getting overly wrought up over to the point that you are spending any time thinking about it is not healthy. If you don't want your car door dinged park it out in the way back of the parking lot or better yet leave it in the garage. The same is true of a boat in a dock....if you are serious about it not being damaged don't leave it in a public place because chances are some moron is going to come along and bounce a 1/2 oz jig head off it at some point. Short of your spending your time at the boat warning them off you just gotta control in life what you can control and accept the things you can't and try to mitigate them as much as possible to a level you are comfortable with. If you find yourself screaming at fisherman and even waving a pistol around while doing so you ain't, in my opinion, in a comfotable place emotionally.

 

[sasmojoe]

I fish docks on Lanier a good bit and only had 1 woman yell at me while fishing her dock. I have seen some people tie up to peoples dock and get out onto dock to fish, which is a real problem. One of striper guides saw me catching some crappie from a dock and when I came back later to fish it again , guess who was tied up to the dock with his clients out on the dock fishing.

 

[jbogg]

I fish docks on Lanier a good bit and only had 1 woman yell at me while fishing her dock. I have seen some people tie up to peoples dock and get out onto dock to fish, which is a real problem. One of striper guides saw me catching some crappie from a dock and when I came back later to fish it again , guess who was tied up to the dock with his clients out on the dock fishing.

^^^^^
This. I expect folks to fish my dock as it is in state waters, but the guys that tie up and even stand on the dock are committing a trespass. A motion sensing flood light has mostly put an end to that.

 

[hawkeye123]

^^^^^
This. I expect folks to fish my dock as it is in state waters, but the guys that tie up and even stand on the dock are committing a trespass. A motion sensing flood light has mostly put an end to that.

This! I sure don't mind folks fishing my dock.
But when they anchor & start bait fishing with minners , I go get my labs & start throwing a bumper..works every time

 

[GTMODawg]

^^^^^
This. I expect folks to fish my dock as it is in state waters, but the guys that tie up and even stand on the dock are committing a trespass. A motion sensing flood light has mostly put an end to that.

In my experience walking on a dock will put the fish on alert for a little while but tossing a bait under a dock from a boat don't scare them a bit. Getting on the dock seems like a bad idea between alerting the fish and getting shot......

 

[BeerThirty]

For an alleged top bass lake in the country, it's a real shame that the residents aren't more welcoming to fishermen and the money it brings to the local economy. Sounds night and day from take a Lake Fork, TX where the entire culture in the surrounding area lives, eats and breathes bass fishing...

 

[GTMODawg]

For an alleged top bass lake in the country, it's a real shame that the residents aren't more welcoming to fishermen and the money it brings to the local economy. Sounds night and day from take a Lake Fork, TX where the entire culture in the surrounding area lives, eats and breathes bass fishing...

Lake Lanier is in the south but a gracious plenty of the folks in the area ain’t. Lake Fork is in the small part of Texas that is in the south….another hundred or so miles west of there is solidly the Midwest and folks are very similar to those around Lake Lanier who ain’t from the south.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

The lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, etc., that live or have vacation homes on Lake Lanier could give a rat's patoodie about the economic impact of fishermen on the local community. After all, they are from everywhere in the country -- except Georgia! They make their living in the global markets of Atlanta and have no connection to the commoners they are forced to deal with every day.

Just ask one of them sometime if their $40,000 runabout is a more expensive than the guy fishing his dock's Skeeter bass boat. Ninety percent of them will say their boat is waaaay more expensive than that peasant's craft.

It's a shame, but it is also a fact of life that hunters and fishermen are looked down upon by the majority of this elite demographic in the country today.