# How far apart ?, Fishing holes !



## The Whale (Jan 12, 2001)

How far apart do you find acceptable to drill a hole or set up a flag ? (talking strangers here, not one of your immediate group.)


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## mkroulik (Jan 14, 2003)

I think there should be two different categories, tip-up fishing is so much different than sitting and jigging. If I am fishing with Tip-ups, I won't even set my own tip-ups within 35 yards of each other, and I don't want anyone else's, my party or strangers any closer than that. If I am sitting and jigging, 5 ft is fine with me, I don't own the lake. Tip-ups need space since the fish does nothing but run on a free spool for the first minute or two.

Mike


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## salmonslammer (Jan 28, 2001)

For tipups..at least 50'. We usully have them 30 to 40 yards apart. 

If your smelt fishing at higgins, as long as I can get in or out of my shanty I'm happy.


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## DaveW731 (Jan 12, 2001)

I agree about the difference between tipups and jigging. Jigging 30', but I will ask folks if they mind if I drill a hole that close. Never had anyone say that they did. I'm OK with someone putting a tipup 50' from mine, but again I would ask, before setting mine that close to someone else.


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## Skeeter (Dec 8, 2000)

I am with the 50foot at least. A bit more is great.


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## hoffie1 (Dec 31, 2001)

Good points on the tip ups fellas.Voted 30-50 ft.


hoffie


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## bohunt1 (Feb 10, 2004)

I feel at least fifty foot. If not someone else will move in and then someone else and so on. Soon you will have a little town around you. 50 feet might postpone the town for awhile. New to the site but spend countless hours reading the posts. I find some very interestin stuff on here.


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## smith kzoo (Feb 6, 2004)

Well i would go no closer than 30' Butif i had talked to them and aked i would still be polite and stay a good 15'-20' away from the other fisherman but i like my tip ups a good 50' feet from someone and the same from other flags to


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## Can't Touch This (Dec 31, 2002)

50' is usual, but, if their is a small like hump or something, maybe only 20 or 30'. When it comes to jigging, well, if one person is jigging with 2 holes, no limit, i usually have mine about 2' apart when perchin, maybe even less when gill fishing....just makes it easier when you can see two poles at once.


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## gamalot (Dec 29, 2003)

I have to side with the two different methods approach. Tip Ups are a bunch different then jigging.
We get to partying and it never fails, someone gets to hollering from accross the lake " Flag up"! Being nosy we always send someone out to see what they are catching. After a few minutes of scanning the lake the light goes on and our scout informs us, 
"Hey, It's ours".
Seems the fish catch us off guard regularly because we were in a heated discussion about the difference between Bud and Coors.
We have never finished the conversation but we have been SPOOLED a few times so I vote 50 yards. For those who are mathematically challenged, thats 150 feet or about half the line on a standard tip up reel.
When fishing deep water for big Lakers or Pike then I would increase this distance by a bunch and get bigger tip ups.
Ofcourse, More Beer solves most of the problems we encounter and my vote goes to Coors because it thaws quicker.


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## SEABASS4213 (Jul 13, 2003)

i move every 10 to 15 min if im not catching fish and i usly never get skunked in a day i usly move 10 fett or so from a hole


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## Captain Gadget (Feb 11, 2004)

While this survey actually asks and attempts to answer two vastly different questions, there are a number of other key factors which also need to be factored into such an equation in order to obtain practical and usable data. Else wise, it makes it nearly impossible to accurately interpret any statistical results obtained relative to interlopers (interloper; one that intrudes in a place or sphere of activity of another) moving into the comfort zone of others. 

My view(s): hey, its a big lake, I dont own it, and there are lots of fish available for everyone  share the wealth, share the fun! We are after all social beings. Imagine what it would be like if we were alone on the planet unto ones self. We would find no happiness in life since happiness only comes though the sharing with others, but be courteous. Courtesy always wins in my book! With this in mind, below are my candid thoughts on this subject. 

When tip-up fishing adjacent tip-up holes (no matter who they belong to), from a practical standpoint, should probably be at least plus 50 apart just so as to not cause entanglement when the big ones hit and run. But, then again, this will very quite a bit based upon the waters depth and the species are being fished. I.e. Pike require a greater spread than do walleyes since they respond (run) & fight differently from each other. 

When jigging I dont mind if others fish near me -- my comfort zone is about 30 for strangers. If people are courteous enough to ask if I would mind if they move in closer to pop holes and fish, its generally not a problem with me. However, this too is subjective based on at least two key elements: water depth and whether the interloper is using a hand auger or one of those loud noisy gas powered augers. I dont mind as long as they are not using a gas powered auger. In the shallow waters of LSC I dont want a power auger, etc. anywhere within 50 yards of me  I have watched the fish spook and leave the moment that kind of noise starts. Then you dont usually see them come back  even sleds and 4 wheelers can send them scurrying elsewhere. In deep water however, its a whole different story, and I dont mind if strangers move into my comfort zone as long as they use good judgment and are courteous enough to ask how I feel about it.

As far as ATVs, Snowmobiles and Power Augers goes, its rude, inconsiderate, and just plain ignorant to get or drive too close to people fishing  stay clear, theres plenty of room to go around! Users of these tools should stay at least 50 yards away from other fishermen on LSC. Last w/e I had a snowmobiling fisherman constantly driving too close to our traps. In fact, he drove his old loud piece of junk sled right between my and my partners traps which were separated by less than 15. Its amazing how inconsiderate and ignorant some people can be! 

P.S. I am new to this website and this is my first post (response). I am glad to see this topic (ice fishing etiquette) is being surveyed and talked about on this great website.


Dan K.


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## Fishfoote (Jan 2, 2001)

Under current snow conditions - 11 feet from shore no matter who's already there - my tip ups will be 2 feet out side my shanty


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## tommy-n (Jan 9, 2004)

Any one that comes to close or fishes in holes that I made before at least making some small talk, is taking achance on getting their [email protected]@ kicked. I don't claim to own the water or anything but people should always treat others as they want to be treated.


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## tommy-n (Jan 9, 2004)

welcome to the site, you sure put a long line of stuff


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## Ken Browning (Sep 11, 2003)

....When I hit the ice first thing in the morning I drill no less than 30 holes. Many of them I drill in sets of 2 only a couple of feet apart. That way if one of the holes is hot, ill invite someone over to share the wealth. Plus that gives me plenty of opportunities to hole hop if they are not biting. That is for pan fish.

I usually know exactly where I want to set my tip ups (from previous years experience) so when I drill those holes I drill them and set my tip ups by them. I set 3 tip ups (for three people) in a triangle pattern no more that about 50 feet apart from each other. One year as I was going to get my shiner to put on one of my tip ups that I had placed next to a hole, some guy drilled a hole about 3 feet from where I had my tip up. Didnt bother me. I proceded to bait my hook and set my tip up. I no sooner set my flag, turned around and took one step and POW! the flag went off. I thought it was just the shiner but the spool started moving pretty good. Long story short, a few seconds later a nice pike was laying on the ice. I just looked at the guy, smiled and said "he must have watched me drop the shiner down the hole!"


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## sfw1960 (Apr 7, 2002)

> share the wealth, share the fun!


I agree !!
For those of you , who are the "unfriendly" type - and simply cannot afford to share information , conversation , fish , or even fellowship - maybe YOU guys should take up crochet !!
( I wonder if the term "crochety" comes from this , in sort of a latin variant!!! LOL) 
IF 'you ' were to come up to ' my' holes and stirke up some chat -- I'd more than likely invite you to fish out of some of our holes.
I also agree on the vehicles being too close -- power augers I have NO preference on , since I have seen no difference using them myself .
*Welcome aboard , Captain Gadget !* 
Robert


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## johnny white (Feb 20, 2002)

How far apart ?, Fishing holes ! 

well i drill my first hole and then either to the right or left of it i drill another hole about 18" away from the first hole


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

Anyone wanna come in the shanty? It's cold out there!


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## TrekJeff (Sep 7, 2007)

bump


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## steelhead-hunter (Apr 15, 2007)

if im jigging im lucky if i stick my headout to know how close anyone else is to its cold out there


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## melnik (Feb 28, 2003)

How close you can fish to others depends generally on how well you play with others. If you're friendly, you can get within ten feet. I agree with keeping tip ups further appart, say thirty or forty feet. A lot of this depends on the lake and structure. If everyone's trying to use the same little bit of structure, you have to be friendlier. 

I will say it's a little frustrating to set up a plan to fish multiple holes, only to have someone show up start fishing some of your holes you drilled even before you get a chance at them. These situations are always different, and sometimes you can just let them know your plan and they'll leave you alone, but sometimes you can just tell they ain't going anywhere. But if you start with the idea that as much fun as it would be to claim a large chunck of ice to work out your personal plan of attack, you still got to be willing to happily walk away from it if others want in. It's the worst thing about the lakes, it's the best thing about the lakes, the lakes are public.

I've fished in groups of blue gill fishermen, maybe a dozen fisherman or so, all strangers, with about hundred, maybe two hundred, holes drilled in less than an acre's space. Everyone moved around fishing each others holes all afternoon, everyone caught fish, we all eventually warmed up to each other and had a great time and made some freinds. 

It's mostly about attitude. If you go out on the ice with the idea in your head that you'll be pi$$ed-off by someone fishing close to you, then you surely will be pi$$ed-off. 

As far as kicking someones ***** on the ice... I sure hope someone calls the cops if you do. I'm nearly 50-yrs old and I have no desire to go to jail or the hospital. People that enjoy beating the pi$$ out of others need to spend some time in jail considering their choices.


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## RJSwirlz (Jan 30, 2006)

About 5 years ago when I was in college, I remember drilling some holes with Stinky Reinke about 10 feet away from from an unoccupied permanent shantie. The wind was about 30 mph and we set up behind this shantie to keep the wind off of us (we were in college so we hardly had money for bait so shanties were out of the question). After about 30 minutes, a man in his 60's with his grandson, no older than 6, came up to us. This grumpy grandpa had seen us from his house and started cussing us out when he got about 100 feet from us. He claimed we were going to flood him out and that we needed to read our laws about how close you are allowed to fish to another shantie. After he taught his grandson how to drop a f-bomb and how to call us every derogatory term under the sun, we moved away almost thinking that maybe we were wrong and ignorant of the law. After I emailed the dnr and realized that we didn't do anything wrong, I made sure to slip an envelope with the response from the dnr in his shantie. I addressed the envelope, "Dear Dirty Mouth Ignorant Grandpa!":lol:


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