Tablerock. Big Indian Little Indian And Camp Area. Boat Breakins

[denjac]

I have had the chance several times to buy a slip. It would be a big convenience for me but opted out as I know what would happen. We all have to protect our stuff as well as we can. If your going to slip your boat have some good insurance and expect thefts, its a given. Bill has preached these thoughts for years on here.

[Quillback]

Yep as Denjac says, Bill has been warning of boat related thievery for years now. He hates it (thievery) just as much, if not more, than any of us. The bastages will steal anything, including props and batteries. I even saw a thread on another board where a guy had his gas tank cut out of his boat. I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, but I never leave my boat outside overnight.

[Tfsh4bass]

Security Cameras might be just the thing to catch these vermin. I have been thinking of installing a few on our dock with a 30 day memory drive

Just let me know if I can help...there are many options and everything depends on what exactly you want to see. Some of the camera set ups these days can send you a text/email when they detect motion so you can either go down and check things out or remote view them.

[tapout]

Opportunity plus desire leads to crime.

Some criminals are very driven, some are more oppurtunitstic. (A small percent of theives cannot be stopped, but most can.)

A dark, unoccupied dock, with thousands and thousands of dollars on it.

Please light it up. (I see way, way more dark docks than bright docks). Post signs that you use video surveillance. Use your imagination. Little electric timers from the hardware store are so cheap and you can have a radio come on periodically, etc. etc. And don't leave items of value.

If I leave my brand new zero turn mower out by the highway overnight, it's not my fault that it's gone in the morning, but it was a pretty bad idea to leave it there and I should not act suprised. I do sympathize with folks that get hit, but please put some effort into prevention and you will eliminate a majority of the thieves. If you can't risk the last few theives that might still work past your prevention efforts, then don't leave a boat in a boat slip overnight.

[Crawbug]

Everyone here knows how expensive fishing can be if you insist on using the high dollar gear "all the time". I always want to keep tackle in the boat in our slip even though I know it could be stolen. If a huge school starts busting the top when I'm on the dock messin with the boat, I don't want to have to run up the hill for a rod...I know there's always 1 or 2 to ready and rigged in the boat. Champ's right, eventually they'll get you. Keep a couple of cheap BP reels on the boat...Take your nice stuff to the cabin. The pro theives will leave the cheap stuff alone...The opportunistic thieves or ornery kids may may steal it but it's a gamble I'm willing to take. Funny thing is, I bet I've caught twice as many fish on the BP cheapies as I have on the high dollar Shimanos and AGs.

I'd love to catch someone in the act of peeling our cover back, but confronting a theif with a gun wouldn't do anything but make bigger trouble for everyone. We come to the lake to have fun...Think about how long it would take for a law officer to reach you on a dock while you're holding a thief at gunpoint. Then the time it would take for filing your report... (That's if you're lucky enough NOT to have to shoot...If you or he actually discharges a firearm in that confrontation, both of your lives will be forever changed and not for the better.) The bottom line is...My time at the lake is way to valuable to me to waste it dealing with idiots who will never understand to appreciate what we do. Be safe out there and learn to blow it off.

[ten_scoach]

A close friend of mine had the same problem at LOZ last summer. He mounted 2 trail cameras you would use for deer hunting up high in the dock looking down on his boat. He got a good deal of pictures of the thieves including vessel id numbers of their boat. He then turned it in to water patrol and the criminals were arrested that week. As many conservationists like to say "kill em with a camera". Happy Hunting!

[wdberkley]

I don't live on the lake (or in the state for that matter) but do some traveling and fishing in the greater Midwest - including Table Rock - and as someone in that situation, I've been fortunate enough to never have this issue. But in the same breath, me and mine go well out of our way to avoid it.

I've heard stories of guys coming out in the morning and not having a lower unit. If criminal scumbags are willing to go THAT far, a combo strapped to the deck, or a graph left in the RAM Mount, or a battery, or tackle boxes left laying around are all easy pickings and can very very quickly cost you a lot of money.

A wise old fella once told me if there's something you don't want stolen, don't leave it in your boat, plain and simple. Yes, it's a tremendous hassle to pull the boat out of the water or unload all that gear every night - but considering how hard most people have to work to make the money to have a boat full of gear, it's well worth it. Its unfortunate that this problem exists, but like Champ said, thiefin' has been around since the beginning of time.

[kyled]

It seems few topics garner as much heated debate as thieves and boat docks. I have nothing of any substance to add but would like to point out a couple of things that have stood out to me in this thread. When words are written and not spoken they can easily be misinterpreted but it seems like this is what I have gotten from it. There are some of the opinion that step one is grab a gun and go protect your property. Then you have those who say if you got robbed its your fault and you should have put your boat in the garage and locked all rods in a gun safe. I feel the answer is not one or the other.

To those who take it upon themselves to protect their property: I do carry a firearm with me most of the time, however its not to prevent theft. I despise thieves and just all around worthless people as much as the next guy. But if it came down to loosing one of my nice rods,graphs, tackle or have to deal with repercussions of killing a man over it. They can have it. A few hundred or even thousand dollars worth of property would be a drop in the bucket to my legal fees even if I am within my rights. Not to mention the emotional effects that cant be undone. I have insurance that will replace (for the most part) my property.

To those who feel everyone should just assume your going to be stolen from. Sometimes people just want to vent a little, we all know there are thieves and at some point will be victimized by them. When that happens you are already mad enough and frustrated. Adding "I told you so" might not be the best course of action. A few of the comments seemed very calloused to say the least. If you cant show compassion or let someone vent, then no comment I guess is the next best option. Telling someone its their fault just piles it on and makes the experience a lot worse.

Now back to fishing!!!

[Jason Essary]

Terry (Tfish). Do you have a link to your website on here? Thats some good ideas, being monitored and contacted by movement would be nice. Actually have a few clients that might be interested in that. Give us some ideas. Maybe start a new topic.

And for the ones carrying the guns. It would be hard for me not to take care of the situation myself, but think about the concequinces. Even if you set a leg trap in the boat, a guy steps in it as he rips out your ignition, and you would get sued for everything and sit in jail longer than the thief.

Sometimes I wonder what we are fighting for in this country.

[wdberkley]

The topic was started as a heads up, a general warning and reminder to be conscious that a smash and grab was going on. It's not like the initial post was a specific comment regarding a specific case of personal loss via theft.

The few comments that could be misconstrued as cold hearted (mine included) appear to simply take the initial warming a step further and offer insight as to how to avoid being a victim of what's going on. Nothing more, nothing less.

As far as lacking compassion, a wise man once told me, if you want sympathy, look it up in the dictionary - it's somewhere between sh!t and syphalis.