By Steve Graf
Each and every day we wake up and make a decision in the first five minutes to either be happy, angry or sad. It’s a choice! Now, there are exceptions for those who have a mental illness or might be going through some tough times, but in general, everyone else makes a choice.
As anglers, we also have choices to make when we’re on the water whether it’s in a tournament or just out fun fishing. So much of the time, the choices we make say a lot about who we are as a person.
Today, having so many boats on the water means there are a lot of eyes out there — people who are watching every move you make as an angler.
That’s why it’s important to set a good example and use discretion when fishing around other anglers. Over the last few years, I’ve had a few encounters that had me shaking my head in disbelief. Anglers do dumb things that make everyone scratch their heads and ask, “What are you doing?”
To quote the famous line from the 1994 Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump as he was told by his momma, “Stupid is as stupid does.” This quote pretty much sums up how too many boaters and anglers alike handle themselves on the water today.
Here are a couple of examples: Last year while on Toledo Bend, I had two incidents on the same day! While fishing a point in the back of a cove, I was casting my Carolina rig directly up on the point in five feet of water. On this day I was scouting for an event I had coming up in three days.
As I’m fishing this point, another boat with two anglers (who looked like tournament anglers) came around the backside of the point (opposite from me) and gradually started to turn and fish their way in my direction about 100 yards away. Now at this stage, I’m really OK and feel like there’s not really a problem since I’m thinking this boat will go behind me.
Then he did the unthinkable as he turned his boat 90 degrees and ran right over the spot I was fishing! He literally trolled right over my line between me and the point! Outranged at his stupidity, I threw my hands in the air and asked him, “What are you doing? How dumb are you?”
He turned and looked at me like I had three heads and seemed bewildered at my question. So, I repeated my question where the entire north end of Toledo Bend could hear me.
As I lectured him on right and wrong and the dumb decision he just made, he turned his trolling motor on high and got away from me as quick as he could without even a response to my lecture. It was as if he never saw or heard me! I mean I was the ONLY BOAT fishing this point after all; how could he not hear me?
Later that same day, I had another incident with an angler who was fishing with his grandfather and his son. Basically, the same situation; I’m fishing a spot just off a bluff close to the boat road when this boat came running down the boat road and shut down behind me about 30 yards away.
As I’m fishing this spot just off the bluff, this boat starts to idle behind me and is going away from me. So, at this point I’m thinking he’s doing the right thing and fishing away from me … or so I thought!
But no, that’s not what he did! He actually turned his boat 180 degrees and cut between me and the spot I was fishing about 20 yards in front of me, right where I was throwing my lure!
Once again, I’m dumbfounded and about to lose my mind by his action. I told him it was a good thing he had his young son in the boat because otherwise he too would have gotten a verbal tongue lashing like the other angler I chatted with earlier that day! Again, I asked him the same question, “How dumb are you?”
But during these times we live in, it’s just another day on the water and incidents like these are now commonplace. Anglers and pleasure boaters continue to do the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.
At the end of the day, I’m exhausted pretty much every time I go on the lake as I’m always on high alert for anglers cutting me off or someone doing something else dumb.
The problem isn’t just on the lake, it’s also at the boat ramp, as people have totally forgotten what the word courtesy even means. So many boat owners have no understanding of boat ramp etiquette and the process of launching a boat! IT’S NOT HARD, PEOPLE!
If you want to be entertained one day, take the time to go to a boat ramp and watch the comedy show of people who can’t back a boat down a boat ramp or load a boat on to a trailer. It’s hilarious and makes for great entertainment!
So, my advice today to all boaters/anglers who understand how to act on any body of water is to have patience and be prepared to help people launch their boat while teaching them how to do this the right way.
On the fishing side of things, you’ll also need patience as other anglers continue to cut you off as you’re going down a stretch of boat docks or a tree line.
So many boat owners and anglers have no idea about the unwritten rules of the water, or as I call it, common sense! I guess it’s up to us old anglers to teach and share our knowledge because they aren’t going to learn it from anyone else. Good luck, good fishing and stay safe!
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com