Perch Fishing Etiquette, Am I missing something?

[fishnFanatic]

I've done hardwater fishing for perch on Simcoe for years and in the summer I primarily target walleye (not on Simcoe). In both cases, for the most part (there are always exceptions), everyone respects others personal space and maintains a reasonable distance. I just think of that of basic fishing etiquette as well as common sense.

I have recently taken up fishing for perch on Simcoe during open water season, and while I understand that perch often congregate in the spring and fall and that can often lead to a large number of boats in a general area, why do people feel its perfectly acceptable to fish literally 10 feet away from your boat especially if they see you catching fish? I routinely have encountered others who come within spitting distance of where I am fishing and when I ask them if they wouldn't mind backing off a bit, I get they "do you own the lake?" response or the blank stare like "you expect me to understand what you are saying?" response. Very rarely have people respected the request to back off and allow a bit of space. Seemingly catching perch prevails over common decency. What gives? Is it too much to expect basic common fishing etiquette to be followed when it comes to perch fishing on open water? Am I missing something? Are my expectations too high, and I should just adjust them accordingly? Just trying to understand if there are different rules when it comes to perching open water on Simcoe. Thx

[Fisherman]

There's all sorts out there, some understand, some don't and some don't give a hoot, the mentality of society we have to deal with. Don't know if you ever did the Orillia perch derby 25-30 years ago, weekends were more of a gong show than anything else.
It's like the Owen Sound Spectacle, you would think people could grasp the idea of somehow alll going in a big circle of sorts but there's always some Richard that has to cut across lines, or some Gibony trolling 700 feet of leadcore through the middle of the flotilla and then getting mad.

[Coda]

Well its common knowledge that all the fish are in one spot, so you must have found "THE" spot.

[Disco]

I have dealt with my fair share of morons when perch fishing.

Had folks even run their big motor between three boats casting to the same area peacefully even though there were no boat around either side of all three of them.

This is why for the most part I don’t pack fish perch at all. So many other good spot WAY away from the pack.

If you do pack fish I have nothing against it. You just have to be ready for a lot of stupidity IMO.