Some Bass Boaters suck big time.

[Greg_Cornish]

There was a tournament out of the north end of Clearlake that had the rudest bunch of anglers I've ever seen. Some of them shouldn't be allowed to own a bass boat.

My buddy and I travel to Little Quercus point to fish the other side We were about 30 feet off the shore and I was ready to turn right a Bass Boat came up behind us and pas between my pontoon and the shore at least 60 mph with about 10 feet to spare on each side.

Some bass tourney "Pros" and organizations really suck in my book. If they can't control their people any better than that or give the fishing etiquette guidelines to follow and stop endangering real fisherman's lives, the shouldn't be allowed to own a boat.

20 minutes later I'm fishing the tule edges along with my friend and two guys in a bass boat travel between me and the shore right over my bait. They smile and say, "Hi". I was hoping my braid would get caught in their trolling motor. I was just going to feed it out until I was out of braid, but no such luck.

I haven't been cut off or cast over or run over this much in the entire time I've lived here. If he hadn't been going 60 I'd have gotten CF Numbers and pressed charges and notified the TDs.

[Caudawg]

That really sucks Greg. Please give us some details about boat model, color, outboard type etc. This crap needs to stop and the perp's need to be scorned by our fellow bassers. Let's out 'em and hang 'em!

One of these days somebody will get caught on video and youtube will be the best cure.

Hope you had a good day of fishing despite the bad apple incident.

[Greg_Cornish]

I didn't get bit goddammit! LOL It was Dark colored.looked new, Maybe a Ranger, Threw a rooster tail. Boat looked to be 20-21 feet. By they time I came out of shock he was 1/4 mile away.

[MIKE TREMONT]

Thought you'd be use to this kind of stuff Greg, living up there and all.

I won't say I haven't run into this type of behavior in other places, but I can count on it when I go to CL.

Ranger jockey eh ?

[Greg_Cornish]

Thought you'd be use to this kind of stuff Greg, living up there and all.

I won't say I haven't run into this type of behavior in other places, but I can count on it when I go to CL.

Ranger jockey eh ?

I've never seen it on Clearlake to this degree. Sure encroaching and leapfrogging but not like today.

[GW]

Greg,

You cant blame a tournament org for that. First are you sure they were even fishing in a tournament? Second, if you were and can ID them you needed to contact the tournament director and I am sure he would take care of the issue.
However: there is no reason for that type of action, its not only stupid but dangerous as well. Good News is nobody got hurt.

[Greg_Cornish]

Greg,

You cant blame a tournament org for that.

Yeh I was just pissed off when I wrote it.

[2ndsuks]

Some people in general suck big time, it has nothing to do with bass boats or tournaments.

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Greg, unfortunately it is just like driving on the roadways..There are always some that will cut you off, putting themselves and others in jeopardy..I hate to think that people drive their boats like the do their cars/trucks and vice versa, but we all know there are some that do..

mac

[Dan Stahlman]

That's why I didn't fish here on the weekends unless I'm doing a tournament. I had an experience where a guy just about ran over me a couple of weeks ago. I went after him and his answer was he didn't see me. I questioned him as to why he couldn't see a 20 foot Stratos idling along. He just shook his head and said sorry and took off. I would say he went past me at no more than ten yards. Seems impossible, but true. I guess the old saying that "when you have your head up your A-- you can't see to well and you're not getting the necessary oxygen to your brain to operate right".

[Bill K]

Any way you, living up there, could find the name of the bass club or tournament name ? Would be interesting to learn who they were, if possible. Bill K

[Bob La Londe]

Could say the same thing about any "group" of boaters. Nothing like going out mid week to have some relatively undistirurbed fishing time, and having somebody in a ski boat decide to pass right next to you, then cut throttle and start throwing their ski gear in the river right off your bow while you are trying to fish. It happens. I try to get over it as quickly as I can, but I'm a hot head and as likely to yell at them that it is remotely possible they could have cut a little closer before they bailed right in front of me.

Then there is my personal pet peeve. Wake board boats. This is a whole class of boat specifically designed to cause the most disturbance, the most shoreline erosion, and danger to other craft on the water. This is a boat with a ballast tank specifically designed to sit deeper in the water and throw a larger wake in total disregard to anybody else on the water. This is a boat owned by somebody who consciously decided to buy a boat to do this.

Gah! Still when you go on a Wednesday afternoon, and the only one of those on the river decideds cruise up real close to show off his boat and say, "look at me," you just want to help him drain his ballast tank the hard way.

Bass boat owners blowing by anglers in distress. Wakeboarders using their stupidly large wake to bounce people out of their boats, PWC riders scaring the living daylights out of people by wake jumping other boats, pontoon boats refusing to recognize that they have to obey the same right of way as every other powered boat on the water.

I did an experiment one day in the mouth of Martinez. I whipped out a camera and started taking pictures of boats voilating the no-wake area. Just the ones blatantly ignoring it. Not those who were just hot iddling in order to fight the cross current going in. All of a sudden it was like a church social in a very friendly neighborhood. Not a wake could be seen from the outer bouys all the way back into the channel as far as I could see.

Its pretty hard to not get irritated by it all, but the key is to get over it as quickly as you can. I can offer first hand experience that your fishing suffers when you are angry.

[SKTR 20i]

That sucks Greg. Find the tournament drector and has them DG'ed. There are rules covering that!!!

John.

[Bob La Londe]

That sucks Greg. Find the tournament drector and has them DG'ed. There are rules covering that!!!

John.

Are there? I have read a few fishimg club/tournament rules, and most encroachment rules seem to only cover other competitors. I suppose sportsmanship rules might apply, but that's so vague it will usually only be enforced against a BASS angler if they are not sponsored by one of the big BASS sponsors.

The only club I know of that specifically says its against the rules to encroach on ANY other angler on the water not just club members is Yuma Pro Am. I wrote the rules for that one. I'm not saying others don't say it, but I just don't seem to recall it being spelled out like that in any of them I have read.

[Greg_Cornish]

Any way you, living up there, could find the name of the bass club or tournament name ? Would be interesting to learn who they were, if possible. Bill K

I was already PM'ed by the tournament director who had the only other tournament that day, however I'm not able to get him enough info.

I'm a member of the Bass Club that had a tourney that day, so I know it's not one of them.

Next time I won't let it happen. I'll be prepared.

[branuss04]

This cr@p really irks me. Some people just don't have boat etiquette (SP). This one lake I fish ALWAYS has trout trollers..Lots of them. They can be the most oblivious boaters at times. I will be fishing points with swimbaits, throwing out to deep water from shallow water, and they will watch me throw out and still troll within 10 feet of me. This happened about 5 times on this lake before I created my new method to deal with it.

I'll wait till they pass and throw a hudd right over all their lines. Most boats have 2-4 lines out, but one time a boat had 6, that was fun!! Wait for the bait to sink and snag all their trout lines. They go absolutely CRAZY thinking they have a multiple hookups. I put my rodtip in the water and sit back and enjoy the show. . It's great. A few times i've gotten lucky and their line snapped and I ended up with a nice flasher/rapala setup

[BFerris]

branuss04---You have got to be talking about Amador...that place gets rediculous with trout guys.

[fish_food]

I'll wait till they pass and throw a hudd right over all their lines. Most boats have 2-4 lines out, but one time a boat had 6, that was fun!! Wait for the bait to sink and snag all their trout lines. They go absolutely CRAZY thinking they have a multiple hookups. I put my rodtip in the water and sit back and enjoy the show. . It's great. A few times i've gotten lucky and their line snapped and I ended up with a nice flasher/rapala setup

If you "collect" enough gear, you could probably it all back to them on the koke boards, etc..

Heh heh heh

[Greg_Cornish]

Just talked to my friend (former Coast Guard radio man) who had rented a huge catermaran on the Sea of Abaca. They (6 of them) were cruising along about 15 mph with nothing in sight as far as the eye could see. My friend was at the helm upstairs and the women were on the lower deck. The only disturbance in the waters surface was the wake of his boat.

He heard a sudden scream from all of them and looked back to see a rented Runabout approaching them at 50-55 mph on a collision course. The runabout suddenly saw them an turned in time. In time to cut the 20 ft tow rope to they dingy with his prop. If he hadn't, he would have come up over the back, killing everyone on the lower deck

My buddy cut power and the guys prop stuck. He waited until the guy untangled his dingy rope and decided to let him go even though the guy was drunk and had his wife and 3 kids on board. He then got on the radio and alerted other boaters in the region. When he returned to the harbor he saw the boat tied up and the guy sitting in the drivers seat alone. He got in the dingy, went over and said, "Hi buddy." Then he quickly grabbed his keys.

The guy said, "Hey gimmie my keys back."

My buddy said, "That aint happening." He then called the rental company and told them to come get their boat.

They did.

[SKTR 20i]

Are there? I have read a few fishimg club/tournament rules, and most encroachment rules seem to only cover other competitors. I suppose sportsmanship rules might apply, but that's so vague it will usually only be enforced against a BASS angler if they are not sponsored by one of the big BASS sponsors.

It's not a matter of encroachment; it's unsportsmen like behavior and endangering other competitors and/or the public!!!

John.