Memorial Day already?

[dtrs5kprs]

11 minutes ago, mixermarkb said:

There is nothing quite and unpredictable as your average pontoon boat. You never know if they are gonna obey the rules of the road or cut right across you and over a point in inches of water! God forbid there be more than one of them headed in your general direction!! I can't tell you how many times I've just had to drop off plane in confusion...

We've had them do all of the above, several times this week.

They're the equivalent of seeing a pristine 1989 Crown Vic in the grocery store parking lot.

[dtrs5kprs]

Just now, vernon said:

One day last year we were heading up lake from Indian Point and when we got to the Kimberling bridge it looked like the entire Spanish Armada was heading right towards us (in addition to all of the "usual" wave runner, bass boat, cruiser and ski boat traffic).

I just peeled straight left and headed for the bank and sat there until the circus moved past us.

Had to have been at least 25 of 'em running almost in some sort of Hell's Angels formation!

All going the exact same water plowing speed with the wave runners zigzagging in and out jumping the wakes as they went.

Reminiscent of the harbor scene in Caddyshack!

You guys are doing some serious damage to my excitement and anticipation levels.......😬

It was much worse than either the Crownline Poker Run, or the wooden boat cruise yesterday. 

[vernon]

5 minutes ago, dtrs5kprs said:

It was much worse than either the Crownline Poker Run, or the wooden boat cruise yesterday. 

Again - 🤦‍♂️

[Quillback]

30 minutes ago, mixermarkb said:

There is nothing quite and unpredictable as your average pontoon boat. You never know if they are gonna obey the rules of the road or cut right across you and over a point in inches of water! God forbid there be more than one of them headed in your general direction!! I can't tell you how many times I've just had to drop off plane in confusion...

Only thing worse than seeing a pontoon on the water is seeing one at the ramp.

Friday I got to the launch at noon, parking lot was full which doesn't leave much room for loading/unloading.  Fortunately no one was launching or pulling out when I got to the ramp, so I got my boat on the trailer and pulled away to get it tied down.

A guy towing a bass boat came in, stopped short of the ramp and started getting ready to launch.  Just then, into the lot comes a guy trailering a pontoon.  The pontooner pulls past the guy getting his boat ready and positions himself in front of the ramp and then starts the process of loading the toon with coolers, kids, and all the other stuff needed for a day of puttering around in a pontoon.  It's a 2 lane ramp, and as I left, the poor guy towing the bass boat was jackknifing around the pontoon trying to back into the water.  If I had come in 10 minutes later I would have been a participant in that mess.  

One of the reasons I like to go at the crack of dawn is that at least you can launch without having to deal with the circus.  Getting out can be a bit dicey, but seems like if I can get out just before noon it usually isn't too bad.

It is going to be a long summer, I am seriously thinking of becoming a night fisherman.

[dtrs5kprs]

2 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Only thing worse than seeing a pontoon on the water is seeing one at the ramp.

Friday I got to the launch at noon, parking lot was full which doesn't leave much room for loading/unloading.  Fortunately no one was launching or pulling out when I got to the ramp, so I got my boat on the trailer and pulled away to get it tied down.

A guy towing a bass boat came in, stopped short of the ramp and started getting ready to launch.  Just then, into the lot comes a guy trailering a pontoon.  The pontooner pulls past the guy getting his boat ready and positions himself in front of the ramp and then starts the process of loading the toon with coolers, kids, and all the other stuff needed for a day of puttering around in a pontoon.  It's a 2 lane ramp, and as I left, the poor guy towing the bass boat was jackknifing around the pontoon trying to back into the water.  If I had come in 10 minutes later I would have been a participant in that mess.  

One of the reasons I like to go at the crack of dawn is that at least you can launch without having to deal with the circus.  Getting out can be a bit dicey, but seems like if I can get out just before noon it usually isn't too bad.

It is going to be a long summer, I am seriously thinking of becoming a night fisherman.

We actually thought about night fishing this weekend, but trying to switch back and forth is a bear. Or it is for me.

[GNSfishing]

When these folks come off the highway and there’s no center painted center line and or no passing/no passing Lines it becomes a free for all. Makes you wonder whether these people ever had any training on the coast guard rules of water way navigation at all. Because it is a free for all on the water anymore. Also where’s the water patrol at when these characters are on the water???

[skeeter]

No way in Hades I was going out into that maelstrom yesterday.  So since the yard had finally dried out I took advantage and mowed the hay-field and all its weeds and the dratted Thistle that has popped up everywhere.   Sitting on the deck watching the chaos and here comes about a 40' cabin-cruiser/battleship just plowing along at the most appropriate speed he could manage in order to throw the biggest possible Wake.   The visible white water from the "breaking" wave-tops of his wake extended back behind the barge at least four times the length of the boat.  Saw at least two of the usual suspects who throw these ginormous wakes take water over their bows and LMAO !  Schadenfreude !  

[Quillback]

5 minutes ago, dtrs5kprs said:

We actually thought about night fishing this weekend, but trying to switch back and forth is a bear. Or it is for me.

That's an issue for me too.  I can either be an early morning fisherman or a night fisherman, but not both at the same time.

[vernon]

2 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Only thing worse than seeing a pontoon on the water is seeing one at the ramp.

Friday I got to the launch at noon, parking lot was full which doesn't leave much room for loading/unloading.  Fortunately no one was launching or pulling out when I got to the ramp, so I got my boat on the trailer and pulled away to get it tied down.

A guy towing a bass boat came in, stopped short of the ramp and started getting ready to launch.  Just then, into the lot comes a guy trailering a pontoon.  The pontooner pulls past the guy getting his boat ready and positions himself in front of the ramp and then starts the process of loading the toon with coolers, kids, and all the other stuff needed for a day of puttering around in a pontoon.  It's a 2 lane ramp, and as I left, the poor guy towing the bass boat was jackknifing around the pontoon trying to back into the water.  If I had come in 10 minutes later I would have been a participant in that mess.  

One of the reasons I like to go at the crack of dawn is that at least you can launch without having to deal with the circus.  Getting out can be a bit dicey, but seems like if I can get out just before noon it usually isn't too bad.

It is going to be a long summer, I am seriously thinking of becoming a night fisherman.

It's also one of the reasons that we always rent a boat slip so we only have to deal with boat ramp experience two times all week as opposed to multiple times per day (the other reason is we're lazy).

The single lane ramps at the resorts we typically stay at can be another level of trailer/boat/driver incompetence than I've seen anywhere else in my tortured life!

The one at Rock Lane also happens to be about six miles long, framed by trees with no protection from wind or wakes with a pretty good drop-off on either side.  The parking lot and turnaround area are relatively unimproved, eroded, washed out rock that looks like you could snap an axel in if you happen to hit one of the holes at a bad angle.

It's one of the ones that keeps Kathy awake at night!

[mixermarkb]

1 minute ago, GNSfishing said:

When these folks come off the highway and there’s no center painted center line and or no passing/no passing Lines it becomes a free for all. Makes you wonder whether these people ever had any training on the coast guard rules of water way navigation at all. Because it is a free for all on the water anymore. Also where’s the water patrol at when these characters are on the water???

Forgive me for my bad attitude, but since the Water Patrol was absorbed into the Highway Patrol, the average trooper on the lake knows not a whole lot more about boat driving than the average pontoon boater...