My 2 and 4 yr old daughters wanted to go fishing this morning, so we hit their favorite spot at Willard north marina. We fished for about half an hour(from the shore) until we had a boat on top of us. The boat was swerving back and forth as it came toward us, I thought the driver may have been having a medical issue? Turns out it was a mental issue. As she pulled the boat over our lines and up onto the shore, she began telling us to go try fishing by the dam because people were catching fish there. I (obviously

) managed a chuckle and said " Because people aren't parking boats on top of them?". We decided to pack up and go. Had some words at the parking spaces with them before leaving. Here some general rules ignorant boaters can consider before approaching shore anglers
1.) If I can throw a rock and hit your boat, your too close.
2) If I can cast my pole into your boat(and I just might), your too close.
3) If you drive your boat right through my line(s), your too close.
considering these general rules might save you the trouble of have 3/0 treble hooks removed from your face( or the faces of innocent passengers on your vessel).[pirate]
***message to the people from this morning...
you're lucky I was with my kids and not my peers today, Had I been fishing w/friend or family your kids would have witnessed more than foul language, maybe an ol' fashioned beat down. If you're worried about them witnessing either of the former, maybe you'll watch where you decide to park your boat. I'm not crazy nor am I the only person who would be upset by your arrogance and Ignorance, there are people who would kick your a$$ for a lot less!!!!!!!!
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You're cooler headed than I would have been. I had an a--hole pull up & anchor right where I was casting. I let him know my displeasure and he replied that maybe some day I'd have the whole lake to myself. Since I was fishing with a fly and bubble setup, I just removed the fly & leader, filled the bubble clear full and let fly. Hit the s.o.b. right between the shoulders hard enough to bust the bubble wide open. I then invited him to shore to talk it over. He muttered something about sportsman conduct and moved away.
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While I can see all of your frustations with boaters, you all certainly talk tough, so are you seriously gonna fist fight someone over their boating etiquette, come on now [crazy]...
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First off let me say those are fine looking stogies! That being said..... I'm not sure who you are in the pic but it looks like you two would be working them over with lead pipes and jumper cables pulp fiction style, if this happened to you ( even without little kids). So I guess if you were having a picnic with your kids at a park that you paid to get into, I could pull my car up on to you and your family while your eating because I WANT this spot, get out of my car, step in your potato salad as I walk across your picnic, then tell you you should picnic across the park because there's more shade and people say their food tastes better over there????? They must be good friends of yours, and your obviously intelligent.
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P.s. I said ignorant boaters, not ALL boaters!
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Some people have to learn the hard way because they are too stupid to know any better.
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Stogies are good[

] I just don't want to see anyone get hurt or
in trouble when there is no need, be careful out there.
P.S I am the bald guy.
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[quote GEEZER]You're cooler headed than I would have been. I had an a--hole pull up & anchor right where I was casting. I let him know my displeasure and he replied that maybe some day I'd have the whole lake to myself. Since I was fishing with a fly and bubble setup, I just removed the fly & leader, filled the bubble clear full and let fly. Hit the s.o.b. right between the shoulders hard enough to bust the bubble wide open. I then invited him to shore to talk it over. He muttered something about sportsman conduct and moved away.[/quote]Dang, the bubble busted? Should have used a 4oz. egg sinker.[:p]
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I'll never understand ignorance like this. With that being said, I did troll down a dike there about six years ago with outrigger boats way too close to some shore fisherman. I tried to maneuver away from the dike, power squadron parked in a way (to dump a skier out of the boat and pull him up) that I chose to go around them on the wrong side, perfect storm of other water skiers had me unable to get far enough away from them (without being ran over). I did apologize profusely as I knew I was in the wrong. I did tell them where I was marking fish in hopes of making it a better day for them. Dufus move on my part.
When I was a kid in WI, a buddy was fishing on a known walleye river for walleye, had a guy pull up in his ranger and park it literally on top of his lines. My buddy asked him to move, guy told him rudely to pound sand. My buddy put on the biggest group of sinkers he could tie on, castes repeatedly banging them off the side of his boat. The crack of those sinkers hitting the fiberglass of a boat that cost more than my buddies net worth had to be priceless.
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[quote Holding_a_Trout]They must be good friends of yours, and your obviously intelligent.[/quote]
It should be "you're obviously intelligent". (ironic isn't it)
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[left]Same thing happend to me @ willard I will contest this happens way more than it should read the replies Im wondering if the rock throwing thing shouldn't be a rule of thumb.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=506875;search_string=willard;#506875"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...ring=willard;#506875[/url]
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I know how frustrating that is! I have had that happen a few times. I used to carry 1 and 2 ounce pyramid weights. They cast a long way and are nice and pointy. Now I just move when that happens. I'm hoping one day boaters can learn to share the lakes with us poor folk that don't want to drop coin on a $100,000 boat.
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Had 10 scouts on the bank in whiskey slough in Friday and some fool trolled right in front of us within an easy cast distance. Thought it would be bad example to start bombarding the douche bag with sinkers, so I had the boys start asking questions and he quickly left and never returned. If you crowd me when I'm in my bass boat I'll catch your line everytime, I've got a big ugly crankbait that's sole purpose is to catch other lures. Annoyance is a great offense. Always defend with attack, that's Marine Corps policy. Rah!
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Sorry for any bad experience when out fishing with the kids. My comments are not directed at this regretable experience.
The lack of consideration however goes both ways when it comes to bank tanglers and boat folk. Both Willard marinas are the worst examples of people fishing from the Docks, fishing from the ramp itself, fishing within inches of the ramp, fishing in the channel leading in and out of the marina and acting like because anyone can cast well past center of the channel or the south marina itself, boats should zig-zag their way in and out. The purpose of every marina is not to provide structure and seating for shore fisherman, it is to safely launch and retrieve water craft.
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I agree, a lot of us have been in similar situations on both sides of the fence. When fishing from shore in an area where boat traffic is normal, like a marina, boat dock or the channel going in and out of the marina, there is limited space and I think most shore anglers should realize this and understand when boats are coming through. Now when fishing from shore in an open area and some guy in a boat comes right up on your spot without any reason, unless he is having boat troubles, there is no excuse for that, imo. It is too bad but some people think they own the whole lake or river and have little consideration for others.
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Amazing thread. Its a PUBLIC lake and when somebody gets too close its ok to throw rocks or bubbles filled with water or lead sinkers or even punches? I'd agree if somebody turned a pitbull loose on your kids. Or started shooting towards you. But some of you would really react with the things ya'll posted over a boat getting to close? You'd risk, at best, a property damage claim after scuffing up some ones boat with a rock and an assault charge and jail time over a boat in "your spot" on a public lake? Mind boggling! How would you feel if one of those #3 treble hooks caught someone in the eye? How many fish would that be worth? The boat-crowder wasn't a very good sportsman. But from some of the replies, neither are the folks being crowded! Just my 2 cents and probably not worth that!
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+1. I think everyone should take a couple deep breaths and count to 10.
P.S. Holding a Trout,
The individual you made the comments to about looking like the type of person who would take a pipe blah blah blah is a cop, hence the last part of his user name "5 O". If anyone on this forum knows a thing or two about staying out of trouble or the consequences of taking matters into their own hands, I'd say it's him. [

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Annoying and unsportsmanlike? Yes. But not worth all this.
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I agree with the post at hand except...I really disagree with the pitbull statement. I have yet to see a pitbull the way they are profiled. Granted the rare bad seeds you hear or see on the news etc. Ive had 3 in my life, and all 3 have been the biggest puppies there whole life. I would trust a pit bull with any of my kids or anyones kids. Sorry.I have a big heart for dogs that have an even bigger one than myself.
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[quote MTIBBZ]I have yet to see a pitbull the way they are profiled.[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]That doesn't mean the threat doesn't exist. Here are some facts that would refute YOUR experience as being real world.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[url "http://www.dogsbite.org/pdf/9-year-dog-bite-fatality-chart-dogsbiteorg.pdf"]9 Year Dog Bite Fatality Chart[/url]
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