Some Rude Fisherman around KK Island

[Ranger Dave]

I have been doing quite a bit of trolling around KK island.  I have made about 4 trips over the last 2 weeks.  I have had the pleasure of meeting up with some very rude fisherman on each trip.  On the first trip, a guy in his boat was sitting still and appeared to be packing up to leave.  I trolled on past him about 35 feet east of him.  I had about 100 feet of line out and was very obviously trolling,  one rod was sticking out on each side and I was going 2.75 mph.  When I got about 30 feet past him, he hammered down with his outboard crossing both my lines.  One line was cut and the other hung on his boat and emptied my reel in a matter of seconds.  I lost two $8 Shap Raps.  On another trip, another guy in a fairly new, blue colored, Ranger with a 200 hp Mercury trolled up behind me between my lines.  He got within 18 feet of me and then veered to my left and came up beside me about 18 feet away.  How he missed my lines I will never know.  Then while next to me on my left, still about 18 feet from me, he reeled in and hammered his 200 hp Merc. The resulting wake nearly knocked me and my 81 year old fishing partner out of my boat.  He disappeared within seconds and within 30 minutes he was back next to me and started trolling again.  On another trip, a guy came trolling into the area and headed right toward me.  I had been trolling back and forth in the same area for several hours.  When he was about 20 feet in front of me, he finally veered to the right and drug his trolling lines right in front of me.  I had no where to go.  It was too shallow to go right and he was on my left.  Of course he got tangled in my lines.  Then yesterday, I was trolling toward the south side of the island and came up on 2 boats about 70 feet apart. I didn't want to troll my lines around them and get tangled so I figured the best course of action was to go straight through between them.  Both boats were anchored and there was approximately 30 to 35 feet between me and either boat.  Both boats were vertically fishing spoons so I figured there would be no problem.  As I got closer, the guy on my right, a hybrid fishing guide in a black colored boat with large letters (SKEETER) started telling me that I was crossing his lines.  Really?  Am I going to cross his vertical gigging lines while trolling 30 feet away?  I didn't want to make a scene so I said fine and stopped my boat and reeled in.  At least he told me in a nice voice.  I still don't know what I harm I was doing trolling through.  Then as a going away present, I had a guy back down the ramp at Osage Bluff boat ramp between me and the loading dock.  He was so close to my truck that he could not open his driver's door.  Granted, I probably should not have taken the whole ramp but since the ramp was not crowded and there were only about 6 trailers in the parking lot, I pressed the easy button and backed down in the center of the ramp.  I would have been out of his way in less than 5 minutes if he had waited.  I had to get back into my truck and move my truck over so he could open his door.  On a good note, the fishing was excellent and I brought home 30 hybrids and/or whites on each trip.  The trips would have just been a little more enjoyable if it hadn't been for all the rude fisherman.  Why can't we all just get along?

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Ranger Dave said:

  One line was cut and the other hung on his boat and emptied my reel in a matter of seconds.

Oh goody, job security !   What kinda motor was it, so I can get a gearcase ready for when he calls ?

I'll tack on an extra $8 for a replacement shad rap. 😊👍

[Johnsfolly]

9 hours ago, Ranger Dave said:

On a good note, the fishing was excellent and I brought home 30 hybrids and/or whites on each trip.  The trips would have just been a little more enjoyable if it hadn't been for all the rude fisherman.  Why can't we all just get along?

This sounds like at least a decent consolation for dealing with the BS.

[fshndoug]

Trolling between 2 boats 70 feet apart,are you stupid or just don't know any better.

[Ranger Dave]

2 hours ago, fshndoug said:

Trolling between 2 boats 70 feet apart,are you stupid or just don't know any better.

I guess I just don't know any better.  Both boats were stationary and vertically gigging.  My lines never got near them.  I have had countless others troll  a lot closer to me than that.  

[oneshot]

Dang going to have to get my Boat out there.

I put in at Fairfield Ramp usually go to the Bridge or coves on West side.

oneshot

[MrGiggles]

I haven't been to Truman since early June, at that time both Osage Bluff and Fairfield were totally full.

Haven't been back since, Covid has really put a damper on fishing this year. I hate crowds. 

Makes me miss last year, might have been flooded, but at least most people stayed home.

[fshndoug]

Hate to be so hard on you Ranger Dave but you have the whole lake to troll around,one doesn't need to get close to any boat.Just because other idiots think it is okay to get close to you doesn't mean you need to do it too.

[Champ188]

One factor is that we've all been pushed around so much by the jackwagons of the world that it's pretty easy to be hypersensitive about stuff like backing down the middle of the ramp. I seriously doubt that you're a jerk but the guy who backed down beside you didn't know that. He was probably just reacting to having that same thing done to him a dozen times. The real jerks make life harder for all of us. 

[Devan S.]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

One factor is that we've all been pushed around so much by the jackwagons of the world that it's pretty easy to be hypersensitive about stuff like backing down the middle of the ramp. I seriously doubt that you're a jerk but the guy who backed down beside you didn't know that. He was probably just reacting to having that same thing done to him a dozen times. The real jerks make life harder for all of us. 

You know this is probably the best lesson for all of us. 

Earlier this year I took my boat over to Lake Leatherwood and fished. Came back to the ramp and 2 older gentlemen were struggling to put in a smaller bass boat on a unimproved ramp. I set and waited for what seemed like forever to me. It may have been 10 or 15 minutes after all was said and done they didn't even take off just pulled on bank and kept loading stuff in the boat. We took out in a jiffy and one of them stopped us, thanked us for being patient, and proceeded to tell us their minds and bodies didn't work like they use too. They come out to Leatherwood to enjoy themselves without the hustle and bustle of the bigger lakes. 

I honestly felt bad driving out of there. While I had been nice and patient on the outside, my mind wasn't. While I was never downright mean, I'd be a liar if I didn't say I had thoughts that they should have been doing something else or at a minimum let us pull out first.

We all need to slow down a little bit. Life's to short to worry about things that don't matter in the grand scheme and you never know the struggles of someone else.