This guide was developed specifically for Harris Lake taking in to consideration two important factors. One is the small size of the lake and the tremendous amount of pressure it receives on a daily basis and two, the fact that the Bass school heavily on offshore structure that are known by a large number of anglers. This only applies to fishing from a fixed position, not moving around with the engine or trolling motor. The reason I took time to produce this guide comes mainly from people that don't understand the two factors above due to inexperience/ignorance, fall in to the "this is my spot" crowd or both. I have been asked about it, confronted about it and I am tired of repeating it so now I can just send people here!
I have only one criteria that determines if a boat is fishing too close.
- Every angler on the boat that was at the spot first should be able to cast without interference to the school of fish. It does not matter if those fish are straight under the boat or marked by a buoy or waypoint out from the boat. This includes casting toward the same school of fish from a different direction. Those fish should be considered off limits until the first boat leaves. Fishing close by on different fish is no problem and does not affect the first boat's fish (no matter their opinion) even though both boats may be fairly close together.
There are spots on the lake where several schools hang out a few hundred feet apart. It is the way they live on that lake.
If there are any other reasons you may not want to fish close to another boat or want them to fish near you, such as, they are catching too many fish, using bad language, voted different than you, enjoy rap or classical music at a high volume or whatever, it is probably best to move on to more quiet areas. Harris is full of fish and there are lot's of fish out there to catch, both in and out of a crowd!
Capt. Greg Griffin
