Hole Hopping ?

[paullo19]

Hey,if you are hole hopping,say 10 holes in a 25 foot area and someone decides to fish out of one of them,what do you do? A complete stranger, just comming out onto the ice... The hole he is at was the next in line...Just curious how everyone handles the situation. Paul

[ship of fools]

if they are right near me i would tell him to drill his own holes  ...  plain and simple

if they were holes 100 feet away and look abandoned then they are fair game

[Perchand Destroy]

As far as fishing etiquette goes, in my opinion if you drilled the holes, they are yours. I personally have never been in the situation but my reaction would have been to ask the person if he drilled those holes, when the typical dumb look is returned, I would have told him to go fish in holes he drilled.

If you didn’t drill the holes, they are up for grabs.

Or you could have killed him and stuffed him in a hole and you would be free and clear until spring.

[smbrickner]

I've had it happen, seems like those type of people dont respond to dirty looks.  So I grabbed my auger and drilled another hole 6 inches from the one I drilled and was fishing out of.  Stood right next to him.  He got the hint and left.
The only time I ever fish out of holes I didn't drill is late ice when holes don't freeze up, and never if someone else is there.  If you don't have an auger just ask, I would pop a few holes for you.

[Coss13]

I understand where you are coming from.   Last year me and my buddy are fishing a point on a lake  we had a bout 25-30 holes hopping here and there catching and having flags fly .  We must have got spotted catching cuz with in a half hour everybody on the lake was in my pocket    even to the point when a guy pulls up on his quad between me and my tip up and parks and sets up camp .  we had some words and I was the bigger person and packed up and moved .  the funny thing is we moved and continued catching quietly so it didn't happen again And the others still not catching anything LOL   Happy fishing and tight lines

[Jeffro]

I let them fish. I also strike up conversation and tell them what I am doing (and in a roundabout way, what they're doing). "I drilled a bunch, this one, the one you're in, a few over there....". Chances are if I am jumping around much it's because I am not catching fish, so if they happen to capture a cold hole for a little bit it's no skin off my back.

I'd venture to say (or would like to hope) that most guys would ask before popping a squat on an open hole. There goes a naivety again....

[Gillfisher]

My old fishing buddy (he passed from cancer) would walk over ask how the guy was doing and drop his line in the same hole and fish with the guy until the guy would leave. I don't have the cahounas to do anything like that, I prefer to go to spots that this would normally never happen.

[Duke M]

Ya know, I don't own the ice. Sure I like to be left alone to fish but when you are on Community Holes because it is the first safe ice, or the spot is small, or access is easy I guess we all just have to get along. If I let other people ruin my day, it's ruined and what does that get me? I usually end up happier if I just go ahead and be helpful and friendly. I especially enjoy helping kids, older folks having a tough time, or obvious newbies.

Duke

[nonamer]

i think to answere your question with a question. what is the difference in some one you know or don't know. all ice fishermen looking for a place to fish. i can go out every day and drill 50 holes or whatever and claim them all  for myself or drill ten holes look at them with the locator and decide if i need ten more. the holes i leave you can have , and the ones i am fishing are mine. if you decide you are lonely or in love i will drill you a hole beside mine and we will swap stories. the big problem is i cant catch fish and talk at the same time so it might be a little quiet except for a little passing of gas once in a while.

[paullo19]

Good points...If he would have asked to fish the hole,not a problem or if he wanted me to drill him a hole,again,not a big deal... I was out yesterday,hole hopping then I decided to fish out of my shack. People would come by and drop a line,fish a few holes for a few minutes and move on, I did not care at all...I was stationary,in my shack,the holes I drilled were community holes.I guess what my point was,if you ask to fish out of a hole,it is much better and easier than just taking over another persons spot.Thanks for the replies and Good Luck! Paul

[eriksat1]

Some times if there are a lot of other people on the lake I will take the flags off of my tip ups in the day light. It's funny how others start crowding in if they see your flags popping.

[Kilbourn]

Hey,if you are hole hopping,say 10 holes in a 25 foot area and someone decides to fish out of one of them,what do you do? A complete stranger, just comming out onto the ice... The hole he is at was the next in line...Just curious how everyone handles the situation. Paul

lol This just don't sound right, but good question.

[Tippin-eye]

Hey first post,

We were fishing McCann this last weekend NW of the Shanty town in the bay with a couple buddies. we were there for a couple hours caught a couple bass and some small 'gills we had our tip up set in a half moon around the shack and a guy in a subaru pulled in-between our shack and the tip ups.. started drilling the the middle of where we were sitting and set his shack 10 feet from ours, didnt say a word to us or even take notice we were there. needless to say we moved down the shoreline and low and behold we hit the honey hole 3 crappies at 9+ and a bucket full of northern 23-29" good eaters.. karma strikes again.

[WYIfish]

Start your auger  and buzz in holes all over the place until the looser gets tired of all the racket and picks up and leaves.  That, or move to Wyoming and get away from the crowds!

[littlesturgeonguy]

Some times if there are a lot of other people on the lake I will take the flags off of my tip ups in the day light. It's funny how others start crowding in if they see your flags popping.

I usually don't fish tip ups if anyone is around me for this reason. I know others that take their flags off as well.

[ocburg17]

I'm going to have to remember the trick of taking flags off of tip-ups.  It probably wouldn't work too well with the group of guys that I fish with since we are normally betting on flags so each time one pops, we get to the hole quickly and make some ruckus on the way. 

To the OP, need more information about the lake/spot/person in question.  The guy may have been (awkwardly) looking to strike up a conversation, just wanted to get out of the house for an hour and clear his mind.  I normally give people the benefit of the doubt and will try to talk to them and try to figure them out before running them off.  Most people are decent and the ones that arn't, you will know immediately. 

If it was a group of guys setting up in my set-up with lots of other area on the lake, I wouldn't be too happy.