Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

[mike64]

Had this past week off. Mostly did stuff with the family or got things done around the house, but I reserved one day during the week to do a little fishing by myself. Figured a weekday would mean a nice empty lake.

It was kind of windy and the lake was choppy so I went to a quiet protected cove that was nice and still. It also had a park at the end of it, so I was looking at trees instead of big lake houses. I thought, perfect! But the minute after I put anchor down close to the shore, a boat appears and they start kneeboarding (or wakeboarding, can't tell the difference). They're doing big ovals, going right by my boat. Every time they go by I brace for the wake effect, which was ridiculous, even a little scary. Good thing I don't get seasick. It was such a great spot otherwise I held my ground for a while, thinking they'd back off some, or go somewhere else, but they kept buzzing close by. I stood up and tried to make eye contact but they just ignored me (considered some choice sign language, but thought better of it). finally gave up and found another fishing spot.

I think, since the boat appeared so suddenly that they were from one of the houses nearby on the lake, and they felt like they "owned" that cove. Or maybe they were just stupid jerks

 

[tommays]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

There are about 2000 boats in Northport harbor and Just as many 1 mile away in Centerport


So you not going to get a quite cove and i did just fine with the boarders and tubers when i was sailing in the far east corner of the harbor when it was the only place with a breeze on friday afternoon


I did not bother them and they did not bother me as we all realize we need to share the area , in fact it is pretty amazing how we all live toghter with so many boats in a small area

 

[mike64]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

i did just fine with the boarders and tubers when i was sailing in the far east corner of the harbor...in fact it is pretty amazing how we all live toghter with so many boats in a small area

This is normally a pretty busy lake, and I have no problem with boarders, skiers and tubers in general. I just picked up a tube myself and was pulling the family around on a different day last week. But when I see someone anchored and fishing I give them a wide berth. These guys were buzzing right by me and I was out of the way close to shore. They were at least violating the "no wake less than 100' from shore" rule.

Will be interesting to hear other opinions...I'm willing to accept the fact maybe I'm in the wrong in thinking they were jerks. I have seen on busier days that particular cove is popular with boarders, skiers, etc. Maybe since the water is calm and relatively deep it's considered by locals and regulars to be the place for skiing and boarding ONLY(?). Maybe they were thinking I was an idiot for trying to fish that area

 

[bhammer]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Ahh, and they probably thought the same thing... Darn fisherman, right in our way while we are trying to wakeboard..

I am glad that I have the ability to fish with my two boys and ski/tube with them and my 2 daughters. All in all, we get a full range of use out of the lake.

Now, I try to be considerate of other boaters no matter what activity they are partaking in as I'd like the same. But, I am going to use the best spot for the sport I am activley engaged in and if that means I have to share the area, I do.

The only area I do not try to wake in are the party coves where they get all them boats tied up...

EDIT: I must have not refreshed this because you posted more than I saw the first.... If your lake has a no wake 150' rule, then they were in the wrong and should have moved out. I guess my whole point is, I have seen each side get overly mad about a fishing spot or throwing line out in a ski area. The lakes I frequent get busy and I like to try and share as much as possible.

 

[tommays]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

My currrent favorite is the sea kayaks paddling across the BAY in 14 to 18 MPH wind and 3' swells (Right in the channel) of course


At least the one person has the brains to keep a stern flag on it so you have 1/2 a chance of seeing them

 

[joed]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

I used to cast my fishline at them. Missing on purpose of course but making sure they saw me trying to hit them. Scared the hell out of them thinking they would get hooked and they would not come so close next time.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Spare rod setup with a buzz-bomb (no hook) cast between the boat and the boarder. I can empty my spool with one of those things on.

I'm sorry, but if I'm anchored near shore fishing, you need to respect that and the no wake within 50m of shore law. Too often this happens on a calm day where I'm nestled in near shore at a dropoff and they have the rest of the flipping lake to board.

 

[tommays]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Well

the biggest problem i see here is the rules about wake seem to be different everywhere BUT the 50 meters from shore sounds like a good common idea

 

[joed]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

No 'no wake' rules where I am (Lake Erie). But with an entire lake there is no reason they need to be anywhere near where I am fishing.

 

[Campylobacter]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

I had a wakeboarder come within 20' of my boat several times on Saturday. I think he thought I had anchored too far from the shore, and was going to punish me for taking up to much of HIS cove.

Strange thing is, we were only in 5-6' of water, and it was getting shallower fast. On the last pass he fell (or bailed out) right before he was going to pass us. I wasn't watching, but the wife thinks he was on a collision course. Maybe the driver was mad at the boarder too!

 

[Wingnutt]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

One little trick I use when I am deliberately getting buzzed is a 1 or 2oz sinker rigged up on one of my longer poles. I can really reach out there with this set up and the good thing is that there is no hook on the rig in case my aim is bad and I actually bounce the sinker off the boat (but they don't know that). 99.9% of the time it is a group of teenagers or drunken adults thinking that they will have some "fun" at my expense.

I have discussed this several times with local law enforcement and they consider any vessel moving faster than no wake speed approaching within less than 50' of an anchored vessel (when the moving vessel has room to alter course) assault with a deadly weapon (and yes they DO write AWD tickets for this) allowing you to use whatever force that you deem necessary to protect yourself. This is a direct result of many high speed collisions with anchored vessels that have killed several people over the years.

 

[mike64]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Good to hear from some fishermen.

Yes, I was very close to the shore-- like 5-10' away (it stayed pretty deep where I was right up till land started--no beach) and they were coming within 20-30' of me. Like I said, I have no problem with boarders, skiiers etc., but this was not cool.

 

[xxturbowesxx]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

if you drove up on boarders in the same cove im sure you would have moved on to another place they should have done the same..some people have no sense.

 

[clmiller64]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Mike64.
I have had somewhat the same problem with bass fisherman. I have a 20 foot pontoon with a 60 hp Mariner. Lake fork Texas. I set my trotlines just before dark and tie up under the bridge to fish for the night. At first day light the bass fisherman come wizzing by. At about 20 to 30 feet away (they got to be the first one to the fish) I will try to keep track of them. When one screws up and stops to cast where I can still see him. The fun starts. I will run my trotlines then I will go buzz his boat. My 20 foot pontoon makes a good wake at 40 to 50 feet away.

 

[tysonnathan]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Use your flare gun to alert them to the fact that they are too close

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

We all have to share the water. Common sense, plus the applicable laws, should deal with such incidents. Sadly, they often don't.

If you're fishing, and anchored near shore, out of the main watersports channel, such buzzing is nothing but harassment, and it's against the law, too. I take down the registration number of the boat and call 911 and report the activity. If there's a patrol on the lake, they'll usually motor over and catch the offender in the act.

Only an idiot would fish in a watersports area. If there are a lot of boats pulling tubes or wakeboards or skiers, there's bound to be some other place to fish.

Since I boat in a small aluminum boat, I have to take extra precautions, since wakeboard boats, especially, create wakes large enough to be a real hazard. Most of the time, my precautions work, since I move off and fish in areas far from the recreational boaters.

However, from time to time, some clever boater, usually in his 20s and usually with a bunch of buddies on board, all full of beer and testosterone, decides that I and my little boat would be good sport, and buzzes me with intent to disturb or swamp me. That's a mistake, because I will, absolutely, report the incident, complete with registration numbers, and I will follow up on that report. The lake patrols at the lakes I frequent have no sense of humor at all about dangerous operation.

One time, though, I was at a lake where there is no lake patrol, and this guy in a wakeboard boat with a couple of other guys on board kept buzzing me. I moved to a new location, but he found me and did it some more. So I moved again. Now, since I'm a fisherman, I know the countours of the lake I'm on. It happened that there was a sunken island on that lake, with deeper water on the shoreward side. Just about 50 feet separated the island from the shore. So, I went over and dropped anchor about halfway between the sunken island and the shoreline and started in fishing again. It's a good fishing spot.

Sure enough, the clever young guy who'd been having fun at my expense located me and my tinny again, and headed my way. He was running to produce maximum wake, and I think he had water bags in the back of his boat like so many wakeboard boats do, so he was running deep at the stern.

The problem was that the water about 25-50 feet from me was only about a foot deep, and that's right where he went. He didn't get very far, coming to an abrupt stop as his I/O drive dug a nice deep trench in the muck of the sunken island.

I didn't say a word. They were maybe 30' from my boat, stuck hard. I cranked up my anchor, pulled the rope on my outboard, and just motored away. The sound of cursing slowy faded away as I went.

 

[mike64]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

The sound of cursing slowy faded away as I went.

That is a funny story CAT!

 

[gstanton]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

Originally Posted by CATransplant
The sound of cursing slowy faded away as I went.


Man, that sounds like a dream!

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

It happened. I don't get in the face of people driving big boats. Not from my 12' aluminum boat. The percentages just aren't there. That incident just happened to occur on a lake where I knew the contours intimately. It's not something I recommend to anyone, but those guys almost swamped my boat twice. I wasn't going to let them do it again.

I don't cast lures at boats, or sinkers. There's no good can come from it, since something like a wakeboard boat could simply plow into my little boat and not even notice it, and there are dangerous folks around just about anywhere.

It just happened that I could do something on that lake, where there was no lake patrol. Where there is a patrol boat on the water, I just call 911 with the registration number of the boat. This time, I felt like I had to protect myself from some guys who seemed to me to want to swamp my boat. Too much beer, I guess.

Since there were only a few boats on the lake, I imagine they had plenty of time to sober up before someone showed up who could help them get unstuck. I imagine their lower unit ended up a foot deep in serious muck.

I'm a patient sort of guy, but I won't allow someone to sink my boat as a joke. I don't think there's any lake where I don't know a shallow spot I can go to under similar circumstances. There's a nice rock pile on one lake, about 6" under the water, about 50' from shore. No buoy. Another lake has so many shallow areas that it would be a no brainer to do the same thing, if necessary.

My boat will run, with the outboard running in shallow-water running position, in less than a foot of water. That's my safety net from malicious boaters who think it's funny to try to swamp a small boat. I'd do it again in a minute.

I also have a concealed carry permit in Minnesota. There is always a 1911 Colt in the bottom of my tackle box, in a ziploc bag with a silica gel pack. That's a last resort, in case...just in case. So far, it's never come out of the bag, and I mean to keep it that way. I'm smart enough to find another way to deal with ugly folks.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Boarders repeatedly buzzzing by while I'm trying to fish

We all have to share the water. Common sense, plus the applicable laws, should deal with such incidents. Sadly, they often don't.

If you're fishing, and anchored near shore, out of the main watersports channel, such buzzing is nothing but harassment, and it's against the law, too. I take down the registration number of the boat and call 911 and report the activity. If there's a patrol on the lake, they'll usually motor over and catch the offender in the act.

Only an idiot would fish in a watersports area. If there are a lot of boats pulling tubes or wakeboards or skiers, there's bound to be some other place to fish.

Since I boat in a small aluminum boat, I have to take extra precautions, since wakeboard boats, especially, create wakes large enough to be a real hazard. Most of the time, my precautions work, since I move off and fish in areas far from the recreational boaters.

However, from time to time, some clever boater, usually in his 20s and usually with a bunch of buddies on board, all full of beer and testosterone, decides that I and my little boat would be good sport, and buzzes me with intent to disturb or swamp me. That's a mistake, because I will, absolutely, report the incident, complete with registration numbers, and I will follow up on that report. The lake patrols at the lakes I frequent have no sense of humor at all about dangerous operation.

One time, though, I was at a lake where there is no lake patrol, and this guy in a wakeboard boat with a couple of other guys on board kept buzzing me. I moved to a new location, but he found me and did it some more. So I moved again. Now, since I'm a fisherman, I know the countours of the lake I'm on. It happened that there was a sunken island on that lake, with deeper water on the shoreward side. Just about 50 feet separated the island from the shore. So, I went over and dropped anchor about halfway between the sunken island and the shoreline and started in fishing again. It's a good fishing spot.

Sure enough, the clever young guy who'd been having fun at my expense located me and my tinny again, and headed my way. He was running to produce maximum wake, and I think he had water bags in the back of his boat like so many wakeboard boats do, so he was running deep at the stern.

The problem was that the water about 25-50 feet from me was only about a foot deep, and that's right where he went. He didn't get very far, coming to an abrupt stop as his I/O drive dug a nice deep trench in the muck of the sunken island.

I didn't say a word. They were maybe 30' from my boat, stuck hard. I cranked up my anchor, pulled the rope on my outboard, and just motored away. The sound of cursing slowy faded away as I went.

It's pretty common for wake boarders and jet fleas to harass fishing boats out on the rivers here. They know they can out run the marine police, so when one shows up they scatter. It's also pretty hard to get registration numbers off of a ski moving at high speed. A string of snag hooks or a junk rod with some heavy lead sinkers usually gets the point across.

I have zero tolerance for anyone that endangers me or my boat, or ruins a day of fishing. With the cost of fuel and how often I get out fishing, I lose my patience pretty fast these days in that type of situation.

I had a case once where a pair of jet skis were actually circling the boat, one passed so close that they ran smack into my anchor rope and got close lined right off the ski. That idiot had the nerve to complain to a nearby marine patrol that my anchor rope was a hazard and that boats shouldn't be allowed to anchor and fish. The result was him coming over and verifying what had happened, after hearing it from those of us in the boat, he proceeded to issue the skier a ticket for careless operation, when the fool got loud, he handcuffed him and had Sea Tow come get the ski. All the commotion ruined the fishing there, but it was worth it for the entertainment value.

I've also had jet skis pass across my bow while underway. Many so close that I lose sight of them as they duck in front. I had one nearly run up into my boat while jumping my wake while heading out one day. I backed of the throttle for a now wake zone, he didn't and just barely missed ramming my transom. He passed so close his wake from the turn splashed everyone in the back of my boat. He continued past me with total disregard for the no wake zone.

I get just as upset when anchored up fishing and another boater crosses so close they run over your lines. I've had that happen several times. Twice by much larger party boats. Imagine being out in open water in a 19' boat and having a 65' party boat cross 20' in front of your bow while your anchored. I had one pull up and anchor so close I could spit on his bow. He saw we were catching fish so he had to get in on the action. He had anchored so close that I was able to cast a 100lb test line with a pair of 8 oz snag hooks across at least 20 or so lines running off his boat, and proceeded to pull anchor and leave with their lines in tow. (8 oz bank sinkers make great windshield missiles too).