A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
Tidedancer wrote:Next time take a photo of said boat passing between you and the marker. Be sure to get the reg. numbers in the photo and then file a complaint with the FWC. Or you can post that photo here to share with everyone here. He will be easier to find then. And when he is found we could form a posse and capture the outlaw and blow up his boat.
Just Saying.
Keep our fish stock strong... Release more fish...
I realize you were not in the channel but I sometimes run across person's anchored in or very near the channel in the Carrabelle. It doesn't give someone the right or reason to blast past them and scare or swamp them. Sometimes they are out past the "no wake" marker on the "ledge", as I personally have been, in a smaller boat at times. You would not believe the big boats that won't slow down 50-100 yards before the "no wake" marker to give a family in a small boat a break. Some actually seem to enjoy it.
Like I said boater courtesy is a thing that needs to be more strictly enforced. A "small boat" anchored on that ledge and an FWC boat handing out tickets a little farther up river may be the answer to educating some folks.
As far as someone that is improperly anchored in the channel, there are some people that don't know better or are just new boaters. Does that give anyone the right to swamp them? If an elderly person were to run a stop sign would you brake or step on the gas? Same thing, they were wrong but you don't have the right to hit them on purpose.
I had a similiar situation with my wife and kids fishing out of the Econfina on Saturday. This boat blew by us on his way back to the tripod. We were fishing about a mile East of the mouth, near a row of crab traps. This guy (with a lady and younger male) came within 30 yards of us gettin it at about 25 mph. We were fishing in 2-3' so I was waiting (hoping) for him to hit a nice rock or bar. No such luck though. My son also asked, "Dad, why would that guy ride so close to us"? I just remember growing up and fishing Lake Talquin with my dad. Everytime we would run near someone else fishing, he would back off the throttle and ease by and wave. Miss them good old days. Treat people how you want to be treated
Last edited by jwnoles on March 23rd, 2012, 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There is group of Metal Airboats with Power Poles that have moved in the area of Spring Warrior that is very disrespectful also.During the NFGFC Tournament one of the three just done circles around boat after boat maybe they will run into the person who straightens them out soon.
The only time I have done anything like that is when going out of Econfina at low water and boats are in the narrow channel just before the marker fishing. When the water is low, you either stay on plane, or hit bottom. The channel is NOT a place to fish. However in the case you are stating, seems there is a very rude boater out there somewhere.
One thing I also agree on is there should be a noise level limit on airboats. Nothing sucks like going out for a peaceful day fishing, and then listening to air boats with straight pipes blasting all day long!
Dubble
The more I know about something, the more I know that I did not know as much as I thought I knew that I knew.
I was running out the river at Ecofina in my skiff(at 20 mph on plane), and this idiot blows around me at 10' distance and gave all in my boat an unwelcome shower.
Hit-n-Miss wrote:I was running out the river at Ecofina in my skiff(at 20 mph on plane), and this idiot blows around me at 10' distance and gave all in my boat an unwelcome shower.
Given the option of slowing down & hitting bottom or getting somebody a little wet, what would you do?
In the words of the great Doc Holliday, "I'll be your huckleberry"
Warrior wrote:There is group of Metal Airboats with Power Poles that have moved in the area of Spring Warrior that is very disrespectful also.During the NFGFC Tournament one of the three just done circles around boat after boat maybe they will run into the person who straightens them out soon.
Dont know if it was one of them that blew by me on Saturday but it was metal with a power pole. Really helps me catch reds when an airboat rides within 50 yards while working the trolling motor. If I knew there would not be legal ramifications I would really like to lob a nice sized plug at one of said airboats to get the word out.
Just saying....if'n I should pass you in my mudboat with open muffler in shallow water throwing a rooster tail and hanging on....hopefully the word
CODGER will register! My seventh aging crisis....or maybe 8th or 14th?
Hit-n-Miss wrote:I was running out the river at Ecofina in my skiff(at 20 mph on plane), and this idiot blows around me at 10' distance and gave all in my boat an unwelcome shower.
Could have very well been me if it was a few hundred yards before the tripod. I have several times passed smaller boats there. But, I ain't gonna slow and bust a skeg!
You guys think this stuff is hairy, try being on a Jetski over at Lake Seminole and having bass boats blast by you in a 15 foot wide root filled channel running 70 mph! You don't know what wet is. And they give Jet Skis a bad name, Ha! The Bass Boat crowd really needs some etiquette lessons! But then again, it is the channel.....I take it in stride as I know I am on the water and gonna get a little wet anyway.
I never let something like that control me the rest of the day. Slides right off....
Dubble
The more I know about something, the more I know that I did not know as much as I thought I knew that I knew.
RalphKramden2011 wrote:RULE #! Mouth of Ankyfaeena River: boats on plane have the right of way!
Good rule, but I would expand to all of Jefferson and Taylor County; Aucilla, Ecky, Fenholloway and SW all fit the bill. You bought a boat for a reason, get out of the freaking channel and maybe you'll find a hawg trout that doesn't like being run over every couple minutes.
In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. And we will understand only what we are taught.
Or just wade fish & avoid the hassle. 20 knot winds today and low early tide kept all the boaters out of the St. Marks Refuge creeks. After a 20 minute sunrise hike, 2 hours of outgoing tide tide yielded 5 upper slot reds, a 22" trout, and a 17" flounder. Not a boat in sight all morning.
It's not illegal to fish near the channels, but you gotta assume your day will be ruined.