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My wife and I did out usual Sunday run out of the lighthouse. On at least 3 occassions boats headed straight for us and veered off at the last minutes literally within casting distance. Twice we had boats come off a full plane and pull up so close that I could have tossed a sinker into their boat. As we were trying to enter a cove, a skiff hurried to get there first and as we were pulling away, a flats boat cut in between wide out. But the best one today was when we tried to pass a guy in the river heading back out to the flats. We did a wide pass on the left going out. He looks back, decided he does not like to be passed and veers into our path cutting us off. He was busy talking and we were passing in a safe an courteous manner. We fish at St. Marks every weekend and occassionally have less experienced or rude boaters do strange things....usually they are not fishermen...you can tell from the boat. Instead of one or twice a month as usual, today was insane.....has anyone else noticed an increase in poor boating manners lately? Maybe it is just volume of boats out there.

There's plenty of dingdongs out there, particularly on the weekends. Its much better during the week.

I have noticed that where people have a lot of room to do stupid things, they will. That's why I like to fish out of places that have narrow channels. It seems it keeps idiots in check until there is enough room for them to cut up.

This weekend seemed to have an extraordinary amount of rude "or just plain ignorant" boaters, maybe they had a bad time and will stay at home from now on

My buddy and I were out front of Spring Creek yesterday when a boat flys past coming from our rear quarter. Not a good feeling.

Its every where. Last 2 times at Keatons had people come off plane right in the path of my drift, within a hundred yds . Thats too close. The wife gets on to me, because I'll get mad and move and swamp em' as I leave. I realize that just encourages more bad behavior, but "damn it don't start nothin' , there won't be nothin!"
my .02 cents.

but "damn it don't start nothin' , there won't be nothin!"

Good attitude!

...and the bad thing is you try to forget about an occasional arsewipe doing something stupid, but it seems these days the idiots outnumber the educated boaters 3 to 1. And it doesn't matter which state you fish in....they're everywhere...

Thanks for confirming that I am not just oversensitive. To me boating and fishing is such a joy I try not to do anything to disturb anyone else. We started to drift toward a canoist flyfishing and we used a paddle to move away....then the guys in the flats boat blew past. I am not holier than though, and I am sure someone may have thought I came too close when I was trying to go around....probably trying to miss a *&#@ crab trap....sorry but putting them in the channel is a bit much....but gosh...isn't there enough Gulf for everyone.

Gee...use your spellcheck Nemo...holier than "thou" not "though"...and to think...they let me drive a boat!

I believe a good rule of thumb is tolerance. Remember the guy who cut you off , or came off plane right in your drift, may be the same person who is first to come to your assistance when you need help, or visa versa.... courtesy and tolerence are always the best reactions.

.02

mjsigns wrote:I believe a good rule of thumb is tolerance. Remember the guy who cut you off , or came off plane right in your drift, may be the same person who is first to come to your assistance when you need help, or visa versa.... courtesy and tolerence are always the best reactions.

.02

Agreed. But some of us are more easily provoked.

I do believe we should all look out for one another on the water and give help when needed. Just the other day at Cherry Lake me and my family gave a tow to a family who had ran out of gas

I hear ya mj on keeping the cool, but it sure is hard sometimes....it's hard enough to find fishermen w/ etiquette these days, much less guys behind the wheel who knows the laws of the water. About 3 weeks ago, my dad, lil' sister, and I were fishing an offshore tourny out of Dauphin Island, al., so we were in his boat which is an outrage 26'....I was driving the boat, he was beside me, and lil' sis was laid out on the back bench asleep like usual We were heading due south around 22-25 mph due to the 3 ft seas. Well I see this boat coming from the East about a mile away....didn't think anything of it. Well the boat keeps getting closer....and closer.....on the same line.....and closer.....by now I can tell it's about a 25 pursuit w/ about 7-8 people on it and now it's just a couple of hundred yards away and hasn't backed down or veered to the right....it just keeps on it's same path at the same speed Now I can be a cocky arse when I know that I'm in the right of way, so I kept my same speed....well finally we got within I dunno 60 or 70 yards and this guy still has the throttle down....Me and the ol' man are throwing our hands up, I'm cussin'....sis' is still asleep , so I pull back to be the better man before an accident occurs 20 miles offshore. I've got my hand up tellin' this guy 'he's #1' in so many jestures.....when the boat flies by I notice it's a man driving that's in his forties, a teenage girl about 17 or 18 yo, a couple of small boys and a couple of other guys in their thirties or forties, instead of the boatload of drunk yahoo's that I was expecting and ofcourse they're all staring at me like I'm some kind of idiot. It just burns me up knowing that those younger kids are gonna grow up boating and not even really know the do' and the dont's, much less which boat is the give-way vessel and which is the stand-on...

sorry for the rant but now I feel better

I saw some of what you have described this past weekend and wonder if a lot of it is a combination of ignorance and/or drinking. Then add in the aggressiveness of "some" (not talking 'bout you Tin Can) , folks who might be fishing tournaments in the area. It's best for us to be courteous and respectful and maybe it'll catch on out there.

What really got me this past weekend was driving up to the parking lot of one of my favorite ramps and finding no spots left. There would have been but some yahoo had parked his nicely detailed truck right straddle two parking places. It's a wonder someone else didn't send that guy some kind of message. You really leave yourself open for mischief when you pull a stunt like that.
od

Also , One of the big issues we have to deal with here in Florida is the large number of people moving here every day. Many people move to Florida for the first time and buy a boat for the first time. They neither know how to use a boat, fish or operate the boat according to the rules of the road. , . Some might oppose this but I think some sort or state boating course is in order. For anybody registering a boat over say 20'. They make you take driving and hunting courses so why not boating. Nothing scares me more than some yahoo with more money than brains buying a big boat and going out with little know how. I believe that's a big reason it seems we have had alot of boating deaths here recently. People just need more knowledge and if they won't seek it on their own make it mandatory. Obviously just like hunter education some would be exempt, we don't want to be boating Nazis or anything but even the coast guard safety check is voluntary and maybe it should be prerequisite to getting registered. Just my 2 cents

also just be glad were not in south florida it's even worse down there. of course in a few years it will be the same here.