Trip Of 11/19

[straw hat]

Started out near twin bridges. fished 1 1/2 hours and only managed one little walleye. Water temp was 45. Made a couple other stops, both places too windy for me to handle. Finally Stopped at the CC boat launch. I think half of the free world was there. I finally found a spot to fish a fair distance from the rest. Nailed 3 crappie in short order. All were keepers and about 6 to 7 ft deep. Water temp was 43. A guy came over and asked if he could fish next to me. I put on my smiley face and said sure. He then asked if I could move my lines so he could have more room to cast. Now he sat down just 5 feet from me and he thinks I am crowding him? I just said sure I will move my lines. Time to move, so I picked up my gear and started to move down the bank and the guy accuses me of being unfreindly. I planted myself down about 100 feet away. I nailed 3 more crappie in about 45 minutes. You got it. Here comes another guy and says he saw me catch those crappie and was going to fish beside me. He didn't ask, he told me! Well, time to move again. Down another 100 feet. By this time I am well past the rest of the bank fisherman. At last peace. I caught a couple small crappie and several bass and here comes a bass boat. Three guys in it crappie fishing. Now I am fishing about 7' deep right off the bank. The boat comes trolling right down past me and missed my bobbers by about 2 feet. Now to give you some idea how close he came I probably could have reached out and touched his boat with my 12 foot rod!! When he gets past me he turns around and says he is looking for a big rock in the water. He slowly trolls toward me right nest to the bank. When he gets to my first line I had to real it in before he ran it over. He kept coming. when he got to my second line (which is right in front of me) I reeled it in and dropped hint. I asked him if I was in his way. To my suprise he said no it was OK for me to keep fishing there as he was sure that they had a lot more fish than me. At that time everyone in the boat started laughing. What an arrogant jerk. I would never make a comment to anyone like that to anyone. I looked around and there wasn't anyone within 200 ft in any direction at that time but he just had to fish right were I was. As I was gathering my tackle to move he took off. Someone tell me I did the right thing by being polite to these people and not throwing large rocks and vulgar obsenities at them!! I am still mad. I did wind up the day with 10 crappie and a 4 lb channel. A note to the bass guys. I must have caught at least 25 bass today. Most 12 to 14 inces. They were really nailing hte minnows. One of them was a 14" smallmouth.

[dennis boatman]

you did good...

[straw hat]

Thanks dennis. I am a little calmer this morning. lol That is why I try not to fish at CC. Just too many people and boats, bound to run intp a bad apple or two from time to time.

[nxs]

What a way to ruin a good trip. You did better than I would have.

A good trip fish'n and mostly what you'll remember is the bad.

[redbird]

You definately did the right thing, even though it might have felt better to do the wrong thing. Unfortunately with the numbers of people who have gravitated to our sport of fishing, it has become a reflection of our society. We are all so busy looking out for us and ours, so screw the other guy! Your only recourse was to act the way you did. An escalation, in this day and age,could have consequences that could be tragic.

The best we can do is hold ourselves to the standards that have always applied for us and other fishermen and hope that it rubs off.

[straw hat]

Well said Redbird. You are probably right on. My wife is always afraid that if I open my mouth then someone else may stick their fist in it. lol These days there are even a few crazies out there that might pull a gun. Thanks for your input, I will try to remember what you said the next time I reaaallly want to strangle someone.

[MOsmallies]

You probably did the right thing, but you ran into a school of a$$holes it sounds like. I would have been furious to say the least. Way to take the high road though, and I'm glad you were rewarded with some decent fish!!!

[Walcrabass]

We have Hunter Harrassment Laws. I guess we will need Fishing Harrassment Laws as well. I fished about a hundred yards behind a guy at Stockton several years ago that was not catching any Bass. We started catching 2 to 4 Pounders. He got mad and fired up his boat and came by me about 3 feet from my boat and waked my boat onto the bank. It was all we could do to get the prop out of the mud and rock and get it back in the water. I guess more people than I ever knew did not learn the proper things in Kindergarten like Respect, Fairness, Sharing, and learning to accept the fact that someone else beat you to a spot or might know something that you don't know. Next time get a boat number or a vehicle license number and call a Game warden. I think they might go see them or give them a call.

[powerdive]

Well done, Straw.

As the sign says, "When they finally discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed that they are not it."

[fishinSWMO]

I bet that was tough dealing with all the inconsiderate jerks.

Great job on catching some fish.