RiverMan,

Since your experience seems to be kind of like mine, I wanted to see if you have observed what I have, or whether I'm just smoking crack.

I started going to Hoodsport about 8 years ago, also. There always were a lot of people there for chums, but it seems the boat traffic has steadily increased and most notably over the last 3 or 4 years. When I first started going, I thought a boat would be a great way to get out of the crowds. The boats seemed to stay more or less outside and I remember only the occasional conflict, but over the last 2 or 3 years, it's harder to deal with the boats than with the people on shore.

Also, the last two years the fish numbers seem to have been way down. For a couple of years before that there were huge numbers of fish and the boats could spread way out and always be on fish. Lately it has been more typical that there may be only one good concentration of fish, and first one boat, and then another and another and another will move right in on them, regardless of the school's proximity to the bank and the crowds on shore. It's one thing to be shoulder to shoulder with the bank fishermen when everybody's casting (more or less) in the same general direction. It's another thing having to deal with the boats opposite you all casting at you, plus anchor lines and all that. Then there's all the new talk about whether the boats are even supposed to be crossing the supposedly new lines that have been established out there the past two years or so. That's what chased me away from that place. In all the years I have gone, really only two or three what I would characterize as obnoxious bank fishermen stick out in my mind. The great majority of the time it was a circus atmosphere and everybody had a pretty good attitude about the whole thing. If you went there with the right attitude, it was just fun. When circumstance allowed, it was a great place to catch a big chum on a fly and catch fish after fish that way.

Maybe when the fish counts get up again, the bank/boat conflict will subside. I hope so.