Boat Ramp Courtesy

[crappiefisherman]

GUYS LOOK AT YOURSELVES AND HOPE YOUR NOT ONE OF THEM.I have used a ramp on bull shoals for fishing fo many years and have had very few instances of trouble.But a couple years ago I launched a large ski boat at the same ramp, took no more time then normally do, but I had to listen to several big feeling bass fisherman complaining about my kind of boat and the lake I was on.My family was presant and I felt like saying something to these fellows but felt it would not help out the day.Im sure if It was the ole crappie fisherman 2000 boat it wouldnt have bothered the more then likely very nice gentlemen.I think I was profiled.I have sold the battleship now and dont have this problem anymore but please remember more then fishermen and guides use those ramps.

[Crippled Caddis]

Signs of the times!

Dunno who the author of the following q

*&^%$#@!! Betrayed by an 'old phart' finger-stutter. Lemme try that again.

As I tried to say these are signs of the time. I don't know the author of the following quote that was just sent to me but I have been trying to say the same thing for years----just neither so elegantly nor so eloquently.

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The society of late 20th century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense --- club or spear, broadsword or long bow, rifle or Bowie knife. It also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, fairness, deference to authority and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts or revolvers on their hips it is a fair bet you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy the dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit. Today discourtesy is commonplace precisely because there is no price to pay for it. Samuel Francis

[LostMyWife]

Signs of the times!

Dunno who the author of the following q

*&^%$#@!! Betrayed by an 'old phart' finger-stutter. Lemme try that again.

As I tried to say these are signs of the time. I don't know the author of the following quote that was just sent to me but I have been trying to say the same thing for years----just neither so elegantly nor so eloquently.

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The society of late 20th century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense --- club or spear, broadsword or long bow, rifle or Bowie knife. It also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, fairness, deference to authority and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts or revolvers on their hips it is a fair bet you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy the dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit. Today discourtesy is commonplace precisely because there is no price to pay for it. Samuel Francis

I thought that was why Missouri passed the conceal and carry law.

[John Berry]

I have run into exactly the same situation before and it really fried my bacon. I spend as little time on the ramp as possible so that others may use it. These guys that clean fish while others are waiting to use the ramp should lose their ramp priviledges.

[J.E.]

I fish tournaments and have seen many a struggle on the ramps. I will walk over to anyone and ask in a polite manner that they move a little so that I can get in or out. I have only once had a person give me anything but the response "I'm sorry, give me just a second and I'll be out of your way". I also have backed trailers and boats down for people having problems in order to speed things up. It's part of the "experience" of a public ramp.

The only issue I have are headlights on vehicles at night were you cannot see anything even when you've got a clear lane. After grumbling a lot I discovered that some vehicles will not let you turn the headlights off and just run on parking lights. One guy told me that if you put your parking brake in the first notch you can kill some of the headlights but I've yet to find a vehicle that it works on.

Be kind, we used to be one of them........

[MTM]

Having been a guide for over 36 years I to have run into idiots on ramps. If you fish enough it is going to happn. Just make the best you can out of it and go on your way. If you don't you will go nuts with these people LOL. Ron

[RiverRunner]

I wish that I could say that this kind of thing was an isolated incident, but things like this happen all the time around boat ramps that I launch at. I would say that at least 1/2 of the people that launch boats on the Bull Shoals Tailwater park in the middle of the ramp to get their boat ready instead of using the parking lot that is provided for that purpose. I have lived in other parts of the country, and it pains me to say that this kind of activity is much more prevalent in this area. When I lived in Alabama, there would be 200 boats launching at one time at one ramp, but you rarely had problems because everyone knew what the protocol is.

This also reminds me of an incident about 10 years ago at the Norfork Access at the confluence. I was trying to take out during a rainstorm with 8 units of water from Bull Shoals and 2 units from Norfork rolling down the river, a fun task to say the least. There was a family from out of state (Texas I think) that was fishing in the middle of the ramp for trout that had been stocked about 20 mins prior. I asked them to move out of the ramp and they refused, claiming that this was "their" fishing spot. Tired, wet and not wanting to argue, I slowly backed down the ramp and they finally moved out of the way, cussing me the whole time. I got the boat on the trailer, and ran my motor wide open to get the gas out of the carb, which did not please them to say the least. They quickly returned to their "spot" and resumed catching stocker rainbows that were still dizzy from the truck ride from the hatchery. I try to avoid the heavily used accesses on the White to save my patience.

I think that I could write a book about this stuff