How Stupid Can People Be....

[bc23champ]

Went down to Aunts Creek sunday....thought i would get out when most of the folks would be heading home. Launched with no problem to my suprise..i figured the ramp would be packed and a total mess..but wasnt too bad...heading out to the main lake with a boat off to my left comming at me with a tube..as im running up the right side...for those who know Aunts Creek there are 3-4 docks on the right side...so he gets about 40 yards from me and proceeds to turn my direction and pull a U-ie..completley oblivious to me or anyone else..so i have to basically shut down to not ramp off his wake now...so i get by him finally still maybe 30 yards from the docks as i approach another craft pulling a tube...a lil kid...and again without any consideration the joker begins to almost merge to the right...and i have no where to go except into the docks or shut down...by the time he looks over all stunned...he throws his hands up like "what the hell"...so i throw mine back...and motion for him to get over...i mean...come on...like what did he want me to do......so my day is already off to a rough start cuz now im pissed at every boat out there..so on my way back 5-6 hours later another tube pulling boat is comming from my left...and pulls ahead of me to the right a lil... no big deal..im in no hurry...so he begins to slow..and i move over to my left to allow more room...and this idiot pulls a sharp left RIGHT in front of me..maybe 15 yards...with a freakin lil kid on a tube behind him...so i shut it down..and this clown has no clue that he just about put his kid under my boat..i mean if i had looked away for a sec..it would have been too late...so i stand up..and put my hands up...and they just wave !!!!!....i mean what a day filled with idiots..all this and not to mention the 5-6 boats that came with in 15-20 yards of me while i was fishing..with no consideration at all for their wake ....i have never really had a problem with skiers and all that..but man did this one day make up for all the days that had been good....

The big question i have is...it not a law that you must have a life jacket on while on plane...my unlce is Kelly Power and for those of you who know about the accident he and Mike McClelland had where if Kelly had not had a jacket on..would prob not be with us...i wear that thing no matter how far im going..but you see EVERY ski boat out there..and not a single person has one on...i thought it was a law..could someone clarify this with me...

thanks for the avenue to vent a lil felllas...as far as a report goes..only fished a few hours there in the heat of the day..had one KY...on a Yamamoto Flappin Hog...which is a KILLER bait right now...so be good and stay safe out there ...

[Trav]

There is no law saying you have to be wearing a jacket while on plane. Only for children under 13.

I feel your pain! I dont fish out of a big rig like yours and some days I just have to give it up and surrender to the madness. It can be very frustrating.

[Whack'emGood]

bc23champ,

I feel your pain as well. You said that you have never had a problem with the skiers and players before... You must not fish much (or none) at all on TR. It is really awful how people (and keep in mind these are adult age people) act on the lake. We run into at least a couple (sometimes dozens and dozens) of these morons every time we go during the warmer months. We even run into them at night sometimes. We have had boats run between us and the bank at full throttle several times during night fishing outings-- and we had flashed and turned on our lights and even blasted them with my 2 million candle power spotlight and they just kept on coming (alot of times with their music blasting so loud you can't hear yourself yell at the guy). As far as the lifejacket thing-- there ought to be a law, but there isn't. As far as I'm concerned, if an adult is too stupid to figure out that he needs to wear a life jacket while running, then its his own life he is taking chances with. I DO worry about these drunken morons towing their kids in front of (or under) my boat. I would be sick, to say the least, if I ran over a kid-- and its not the kid's fault that his dad is a moron and isn't being safe.

Every time we get into this topic, people say there isn't enough water patrol to enforce safety against these idiots... This is true, and it is the shame of the whole deal.

Whack'em

[SLIPPERY SI]

champ

i understand exactly what you mean....i must say i wakeboard and pull my father on a slalom ski more than i fish and yet it seems the "tubers" and waverunners are the ones that cause majority of the frustrations out there...when i pull a skier i take alot of consideration into the other boaters, you never know what they are going to do!!! i never try and cut between people or get close to anyone by any means, when i make my turns i make sure i have a very open spot to make that turn and if i feel unsafe about any of it i will just shut it down and apologize to my skier. i have a question about aunts creek though, is the end of aunts creek a no wake zone??? we went all the way to the end of it to get some R & R,passing no wake bouys and a big sign attached to a dock that says "NO WAKE ZONE" and yet waverunners were going full bore back there, two of them coming well within 25 yards of our boat while we were out there swimming, just acting like complete fools!!! as for life jackets, well i am guilty of this infraction, i have operated many different styles of boats (as many of us have) and i must say the only type of boat i wear a life jacket while running is a bass boat, i know i am going to take hits on this one but that is the honest truth....i feel a bass boat will get away from an operater alot easier than a ski boat, but i could be wrong!!

[bigredbirdfan]

Sorry to hear about your day of fishing. I know you head out with a relaxing peaceful day planned out.

Then, bam your day changes.

I left at 6:30 a.m. Saturday for Taneycomo to fish with a friend from St. Louis who came in to visit relatives and fish with me.

2 miles south of Saddlebrook kaboom flat tire and nobody will let me over to the right lane to get on the shoulder.

Change the tire, back in business. Rain storm 2 Xs when we get on the water 1-2 inches of rain.

Then the jet boat with 500 HP made his way upstream with no regard for parked boats throwing a 50 foot rooster tail out the back.

Water turned brown from rain fishing turned to sucks.

The moral of the story is listen to everyone and stay the heck away from the lakes on any holiday weekends.

[denjac]

I too had a rough time this week but just take it all in stride it was a holiday week. Had to shut down 3 times from point 1 to the Indians, just too many boats in that area. I did see a good preseance by the water patrol though, those Donzi's they are running are pretty cool.

[Whack'emGood]

Slippery,

I very much appreciate the way you operate your ski rig. Please take note that when I speak of the skiing/tubing/ski doo moron or idiot, that you are not the kind of guy I am referencing. I do realize that most of the skiers/players out there are courteous-- I guess you just notice the bad apples more than the good guys. It just goes to show that even the good guy skiers and such have to deal with the bad apples as much as we fisherman do. The bottom line is-- I like to fish, but I understand that alot of folks like to ski and swim and such and thats okay too. My dream of a perfect lake is to have the two camps do their thing simultaneously with courtesy and regard all around. Wouldn't it be great if everyone could enjoy their respective fun times without all of these bad apples to ruin it for all of us?

Whack'em

[SLIPPERY SI]

my idea of a perfect lake is 59,000 miles of shoreline (or whatever tablerock lake is) all to myself except for hot blondes on every point with paddle boats and coolers full of corona!!! that way i can fish till 10:00 am and ski till i cant go no more then jump back to fishing when the heat is done for the day!!! but what fun would that be!!! j/k guys...you know i couldnt be out there without my fellow OAF boys!!!!

[mosouthpaw]

i wont go near a lake on a holiday weekend.... Unless it has a horsepower restriction. Summer is hard enough to find a peaceful place on the lake. A Holiday weekend if you find a peaceful spot w/o idiots dont tell anyone, because they wont believe you

[Don House]

Guy's welcome to my nightmare everyday, but I love my job and just deal with the pain! It is now the time of year that I have to fish defensively and not even talking about driving the boat. I have fished everyday from since the last week of June, it has been a challenge, I play a alittle game with myself to see what they will do today and I rate it 1 - 10.

Today was a solid 9 for sure. Had a great day of fishing and we called it a day around 1:30pm, took my group back to Big Cedar and took off to get the boat back on my trailer.. Get over to State Park Ramp and there is a group of people at the boat ramp taking up all lanes, had all of the boats pretty much backed into the water at state park putting items in there boat and one even taking the cover off of a big pontoon boat, then loading the boat all of this time I'm waiting, I just want to go home, 15 mins later they finally dump one of the boats and I sneak in ties up and walk up get my trailer, pull down into the water, get out to get in the boat to trailer it and this guy begins to tell me that I taking up his dock spot and that I have to move my boat so he can finish loading, I looked at him with a smile shaking my head and said OK loaded my boat and went home. But still a great day of fishing, fish are still eating that Football Jig really good!!

Good Fishing Everyone..

Capt. Don