[bluewater bear]

Wahoo Man: We saw you on the water last Saturday afternoon. It seems somewhat ironic to see you standing next to the large CCA sign on the right side of the picture. Next time you are in Port Aransas take a few moments and read what the sign says. The sign suggests you should act like a responsible and couteous sportsman and not crowd other fishermen since the bays and ocean are large places. There is no need to act in a beligerant manner on the ocean and force me to have to choose between either running over your trolled lines or risk having my boat being pushed into the rig. It is uncommon and unfortunate to meet a fellow sportsman that does not act in a safe and considerate manner.


Most sincerely,

JDJM


I agree with what JDJM says. this is a pretty crummy thing to do to someone espically if they are on fish. people need to actually act like sportsman and conservationist instead of saying that they are. i think that wahoo man needs to learn some manners. He'll learn when someone doesn't care and he looses some lures.


FISH ON!!!!!!!

 

[Mont]

say what bluewater bear? You seem to have multiple personalities this evening.

 

[Argo]

If someone does that to me, they loose lures, sorry. In florida you would be dodging iron. I would not go that far but I am not going to run into a rig because of careless ppl trolling too fast and too close trying to take a line that they never had.

 

[bluewater bear]

mont, i just copied and pasted that comment from jdjm and then replied to it. i wanted everyone to see that not everyone on the deep blue are polite and good ethical fisherman. sorry for the confusion. Argo got my idea!


FISH ON!!!!!!

 

[Mont]

well, anyone that has ever lost a seal or lower unit to a seal failure from wrapping mono up will tell you what a bad idea running over lines is. Besides, the big fish don't hang right next to a rig anyways, they are always off of it quite a bit.

 

[Bigwater]

Gotta agree with Mont on this one. Few years back we were slow trolling away from that first rig out of Freeport. We were headed to the next rig out for some Snapper fishin. This guy comes up on my side about 50 feet away takes a line to cross my bow. I was way out in front of this guy when he approached and I thought he would change course. He didn't and he was going to cross right in front of me. He had lines out too. The only thing I could do to keep from shutting down was to make a turn back towards the rig and give him the line. Sharkhook hollared what are you doing? I said I'm gonna make a big 360 and give hime the line then I can come around and get back on track. As I made the turn I'd look behind me some. Well the idiot kept turning with me. I couldn't believe it. When I came on around he had followed me around and now he was heading back in. This really pizzed me off as he could have easily turned to Starboard side and bothered no one. As I came around and watched him head back in the Penn 309 started to groan. I couldn't believe it. This guy just made me turn and now from turning in a 360 to give him the line I was hooked up. Hooked up to what you ask. Well about 20 minutes later I gaffed the largest fish I ever caught. A 46 lb. King. So every now and then you can turn these mistakes into bigtime success. You just got to go about it the right way. Just so you'll know. No bad words or signs were exchanged.


Bigwater

 

[Kauffballs]

Bigwater you are a big man to have done what you did and were rewarded for it.
I hope I could do the same.....

 

[Freshwaterman]

Similar situation

Bluewater Bear, I feel you.. I have never had a boat run across me like that, but I have had a similar situation.. I guess I just want to know if there is a law about this or what I should have done.. We ran out real early to Stetson one time out of SLP and were the first boat out there.. Found fish, used the churn and had them come up to the surface and you guys know the rest.. We were about halfway done catching our AJs and a big scuba boat came up and posted up w/in 50 yds from us and divers started going overboard.. Obviously, we lost the school of fish we had on the surface and the captain waved with at us and told us over the radio that when they have their flag up, we need to stay something like 500 ft away from them or something. We of course told him to go ____ himself.. Basically the bite kind of turned off and I remember trolling and looking down at what appeared to be porpoise in the water were scuba divers right below the boat with 4 lines out so I had to shut down.. I of course was furious.. Has anyone had a similar experience, do scuba divers have the right, I really dont know...?

 

[Cat O' Lies]

Sometimes you would think you were sitting on the last fishing spot on earth!

 

[Boomer]

The only scuba divers that have a right over the recreational fishermen are ones that work for the rig company. They often send out crews to visually inspect the rigs. Typically, when they arrive in their work boat, they will try and contact anyone else on the rig via radio to inform them that they are inspecting the rig. And yes, they do have the right of way, just like any other work boat.


Recreational scuba divers have no other rights than recreational fishermen. First come, first serve.

 

[bluewater bear]

hey mont, i know that the bigger fish are on the outer area of the rig. maybe they were into some other type of fish like cuda that don't hang out on the outer reaches of the rigs all the time. and to comment on your idea on not running over lines, if the only 2 choices that you have are to risk the chance of loosing a lwr. unit or smashing you boat to pieces, i think that everyone you agree with me that you would cut some lines and hope they don't mess you up.

 

[Mont]

newguy, I got a hundred dollars that says that dive boat was the "Fling". He tried to tell us we had to move off "his" tie up buoy. When I reported him, I didn't even have to tell them his name, they told me first.

bb, usually, if somone cuts you off, you can usually shut down, reel in and keep outta their lines. After doing that, I would have a "conversation" with the guy, lol, but getting mono wrapped up in outdrives or props can get expensive fast, been there, done that. I had a Russel Lure about beat one of mine to pieces, and wound up in the water to get it out. That's one line I wished I had missed, and the guy had it out so far, I never even knew it was there to attempt to avoid. I dunno what he was doing with it so far out, except maybe it had picked up some weed and he didn't have the clicker on to know it.

 

[Blue Water Ho]

Im not takin any sides here cause I get ****** easily,but I will say that rude or other wise he (dolphin) might not know enough about somthings like this and you might have actually informed him about somthin he didnt know he was doing wrong.Its just like we all know thoese people that think they are the worlds best driver but cant drive any better than your family dog can. All I was tryin to say is if you do somthin wrong and you dont know it is then it could be right. Oh well just tryin to kinda smoth it over a little,but like say if I had been the one out there and that happened to me, well as Mont put it now is the time for a "conversation" of sorts.......................................later,Dave

 

[speckle-catcher]

Mont, the Fling and the Spree do not own the buoys, but they do set them on Stetson. I've been on the Fling 5 times and had to set the buoy before.

I believe the bouys are actually the property of the sanctuary, but the Fling and Spree do tend them for the sanctuary.

 

[Mont]

the bozo running the Fling the day he rudely interrupted our fishing, along with Harbormaster, was one of the worst captains I have ever dealt with. He actually put a diver in the water by himself that surfaced less that 5 feet from our starboard side and told us we needed to move. Since we had been there all night, my Dad explained life to him and he moved on. That boat has a well deserved reputation of being a jerk.

 

[speckle-catcher]

I'm not defending the captains of those boats (and I used to know all of them), but to put one diver in the water was probably the divemaster assessing conditions and/or to re-attatch the buoy (or mooring, if you prefer) at the U-bolt on the rock. Some of those mooring points are fairly close on Stetson and you could easily swim from one boat to the next.

I don't like that any dive boat would tell you to move especially if you had been moored up all night. I'd have "explained life to him" as well.

BTW, if you've ever passed on the opportunity to dive on Stetson, shame on you.

 

[Sight Cast]

Just for my info, what type boat, name, etc. was this Wahoo Man in out of Port A? IF I see him in the harbor I'll harass him from the condo if he passes by. LOL

 

[Blue Water Ho]

Sorry meant Wahoo Man not Dolphin as I stated incorrectly in my earlyer post.........................later,Dave

 

[Captfry]

This past Sat. heading in decided to try to use up the live bait at a rig and as reached about two miles away the rig was directing me to steer clear of the rig .5 mile radius. They had divers doing an inspection. Another time I was offshore two years ago when I pulled up on a wreck that had two boats (buddy boating) on it. Keeping my distance of about 75 yds. I tried to locate any other structure when one of the boats fired up and started doing donuts around me with his crew hanging on at the stern. He was ****** off and cussing me for being at his spot. I continued to circle the wreck until the other boat pulled anchor and both left at which time I left as well and headed in. I thought the GOM was open to all.

 

[gregd]

I have a question. First, I have always been cautious and yielded right of way when in doubt, I'm just a "steady as she goes" kind of cap'n. Several years back out of Freeport, I was running to a spot and noticed a fairly decent size boat way ahead. When I got about 1/2 mile from it, I noticed they were trolling. I ended up crossing his line behind him about a 1/4 mile, it was very far away. As I passed this guy, he was waving and hollering and I making gestures like I caught one of his lines. I would think that crossing 1/4 mile behind someone would be safe enough if they were trolling. I checked the prop and shaft when I got back and there wasn't any mono wrapped or anything.
So do you think a quarter mile is sufficient for crossing behind someone when they are trolling and you are approaching at an angle?