Where's the on the water etiquette ?

[Capt. Debbie]

Agreed. And the bigger fish are the edges of the wreck.

Additionally as pointed there are few if any wrecks that are secret. Logically, how can they stay secret with an 80-100 foot boat double anchored on top of it? Many used to throw decoys buoys exactly 500 feet of so east of it. SO your fish finder finds nothing and use that 500 foot to run back west off of. Ever hear the story of how the Baccardi got its name? That was not the name of the ship on the bottom. I'm sure the discoverer thought he secret too? lol

Courtesy is nonexistent. I was on the tow boat fishing the north face of SH on the edge od the channel drifting and a SPONSOR six pack here comes around the Hook up about 15 feet from me to throw his bait net while waving me to move. I yelled over to have a physical relationship with himself. His fares had no idea what's going on. I'm sure his fares thought me jumping his "spot" too.

Yes people will fish on top of you. Or wait until you leave and then move in on top of it. Then they will be back after logging the numbers. Unless you're 20 miles offshore your spot is NOT YOUR SPOT. It's stored in several plotters.

Ironically, maybe the party boat captain took this spot from some else too. As was pointed out, I'm not going to run an hour offshore to spot, see someone on it, and then move on. Especially if its a larger structure. A 100 feet away seems close but not necessarily competing with you.

And lastly the USCG don't care about anchoring close to anyone. Realistically. Why should they?

Originally Posted by Reel Class

A lot of those "offshore" or mid-range wrecks are close to nowhere near others. The guy probably had a plan to fish that wreck, and since most them are spread out over a large area (much larger than inshore pieces) he probably figured he could get on the piece safely - which it sounds like he did!

If the guy ran 50 miles to the spot, he doesn't want to run another 10-15-20 miles to another spot. Yeah you were on it, but he was able to squeeze in!

Look I'm not defending the guy, but it sounds like he got on the piece and kept everyone safe (based on your post). If I'm out there and I want to fish a particular wreck that's in the middle of nowhere, I A) leave early, and B) look on the radar to see if a boat's on it or near it before I get too close to it.

Glad you caught fish. Nice job!