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Wreckless Endangerment by Fisherman?


DefectiveDave
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I've always heard any vessel towing someone/something has right of way over anything other than a sailboat or when overtaking. However, most of that is implied and not directly stated. If you want to get real technical, both boats are required to yield to the starboard side since they are approaching each other at an unsafe distance of less than 100 feet as is the law in GA. Granted in some states, I've heard as low as 50 feet to land and boats but it's usually still at least 100 feet with a skier. In this case, the ski boat can't yield since it would be yielding into shore and therefore would put the skier at an unsafe distance to the shore.

 

In this case, it is totally the fisherman's fault but let's not get high and mighty because that's not always the case.

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There are inherent fisherman/skier conflicts...but the guy in the video crossed the line from irritant to personal safety.

 

I try to keep 2X minimum legal margin from fisherman period. If in the course it's frustrating but they do have a right to the water as well so if they are there first...ok.

 

Frustrating is when we are there first, clearly running back and forth in prescribed pattern, and they troll in and screw with us despite a big lake full of water.

 

I also had a conflict last year pulling 2 kids on knee boards with a barefoot boat that struggles to make much wake. We were 300 ft plus from a fishing boat and I got the finger. The lake was quiet, and the kids were on the trick release so I pulled it and went to discuss the situation. They tried to pull anchor and run but I said my piece and offered to board their boat to further the discussion but was denied. Very frustrating and had zero to do with course skiing.

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There are inherent fisherman/skier conflicts...but the guy in the video crossed the line from irritant to personal safety.

 

I try to keep 2X minimum legal margin from fisherman period. If in the course it's frustrating but they do have a right to the water as well so if they are there first...ok.

 

Frustrating is when we are there first, clearly running back and forth in prescribed pattern, and they troll in and screw with us despite a big lake full of water.

 

I also had a conflict last year pulling 2 kids on knee boards with a barefoot boat that struggles to make much wake. We were 300 ft plus from a fishing boat and I got the finger. The lake was quiet, and the kids were on the trick release so I pulled it and went to discuss the situation. They tried to pull anchor and run but I said my piece and offered to board their boat to further the discussion but was denied. Very frustrating and had zero to do with course skiing.

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I have often felt the need for Shoulder Launched Missiles....In Florida we have the Stand Your Ground Law...I really see the need for a "Stand Your Course Law."

 

Sorry, just comes from my years of Fighter Pilot Mentality, plus years of experience of dealing with Walley's.

 

PS: On one of my Combat Tours, we had a patch on our Flight Suits that said "Patience My Ass,,,I Wanta Kill Something."

 

 

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I have often felt the need for Shoulder Launched Missiles....In Florida we have the Stand Your Ground Law...I really see the need for a "Stand Your Course Law."

 

Sorry, just comes from my years of Fighter Pilot Mentality, plus years of experience of dealing with Walley's.

 

PS: On one of my Combat Tours, we had a patch on our Flight Suits that said "Patience My Ass,,,I Wanta Kill Something."

 

 

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Funny thing that I have found is that when we put Slalom courses and jumps out on the water we create cover and habitat for fish and fishermen think that these courses and jumps were put out their for them to fish on. Shoot one year I went out to the back course and found three Christmas trees thrown in on top of the entry gate booms......
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Funny thing that I have found is that when we put Slalom courses and jumps out on the water we create cover and habitat for fish and fishermen think that these courses and jumps were put out their for them to fish on. Shoot one year I went out to the back course and found three Christmas trees thrown in on top of the entry gate booms......
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For probably 20+ years now we've been regularly putting a portable course in on a couple of public lakes locally and seem to have reached a status quo with most of the regular fishermen on these lakes, mostly because they've seen us there so much and so regularly and over time have gained an idea of what we're doing, plus they've come to realize we're not going to be there all that long anyway. We've had (mostly friendly) discussions with some of them and occasionally you get a newbie to the lake who bitches a bit, but generally they either go to a different part of the lake or we don't see them on that lake again. We generally try to be friendly and patient when they get a bit close to the course as they're trolling around the edges to get past us, for the most part we've been able to make it work quite well.

 

First lake is a small city park lake that allows a wake only on Wednesday, first and third Saturday of the month, Sundays and holidays, otherwise its no wake/fishing only. We actually have fishermen (and women) who come to the lake on Wednesday nights knowing we'll be there skiing. Having the course in the water (structure) and because we're stirring the water up with our skiing, this makes the bait more active and thus the fishing better, they've told us as much and any fisherman worth his gear knows that to be true. Most people fishing are doing so from the bank (it's a fairly small lake) but we get a few who troll around the edges of the lake and even getting rocked by our wakes don't seem to mind too much.

 

Had one guy a few years ago decide he wanted to sit in the middle of the course on and fish just to screw with us. We just continued to free ski down the side of the course to let him know he wasn't going to stop us from skiing. He got the message and left. No confrontation, no angry words, but we let him know he wasn't stopping us. But that is a rare occasion.

 

Second lake is a much larger lake with a long cove off the main channel on one end perfect when the wind is strong from the South (which screws us on the park lake). This is generally our crack-of-daylight Saturday morning lake so generally just fishermen at this time of day, no general boaters. They see us setting up in the cove they either avoid the cove till we're gone or at worst troll the edges knowing they'll get rocked a bit (but that the fishing may be better). They know what we're doing, we know what they're doing, we try to work with them to make it work for everyone involved and for the most part it's very seldom an issue. Not unusual to have one hold up a nice catch to show to us.

 

Bottom line - you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. We try to be friendly as much as they're willing to accept, when there is an issue we try to communicate with them in a friendly manner. Many have no clue, some could care less, a rare few want to screw with you. Because we've done our best over time to be good citizens on the water and not come off as selfish water hogs we've been able to establish a working status quo. Set a positive example, be friendly, be patiently consistent, you'll generally avoid confrontation.

 

 

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For probably 20+ years now we've been regularly putting a portable course in on a couple of public lakes locally and seem to have reached a status quo with most of the regular fishermen on these lakes, mostly because they've seen us there so much and so regularly and over time have gained an idea of what we're doing, plus they've come to realize we're not going to be there all that long anyway. We've had (mostly friendly) discussions with some of them and occasionally you get a newbie to the lake who bitches a bit, but generally they either go to a different part of the lake or we don't see them on that lake again. We generally try to be friendly and patient when they get a bit close to the course as they're trolling around the edges to get past us, for the most part we've been able to make it work quite well.

 

First lake is a small city park lake that allows a wake only on Wednesday, first and third Saturday of the month, Sundays and holidays, otherwise its no wake/fishing only. We actually have fishermen (and women) who come to the lake on Wednesday nights knowing we'll be there skiing. Having the course in the water (structure) and because we're stirring the water up with our skiing, this makes the bait more active and thus the fishing better, they've told us as much and any fisherman worth his gear knows that to be true. Most people fishing are doing so from the bank (it's a fairly small lake) but we get a few who troll around the edges of the lake and even getting rocked by our wakes don't seem to mind too much.

 

Had one guy a few years ago decide he wanted to sit in the middle of the course on and fish just to screw with us. We just continued to free ski down the side of the course to let him know he wasn't going to stop us from skiing. He got the message and left. No confrontation, no angry words, but we let him know he wasn't stopping us. But that is a rare occasion.

 

Second lake is a much larger lake with a long cove off the main channel on one end perfect when the wind is strong from the South (which screws us on the park lake). This is generally our crack-of-daylight Saturday morning lake so generally just fishermen at this time of day, no general boaters. They see us setting up in the cove they either avoid the cove till we're gone or at worst troll the edges knowing they'll get rocked a bit (but that the fishing may be better). They know what we're doing, we know what they're doing, we try to work with them to make it work for everyone involved and for the most part it's very seldom an issue. Not unusual to have one hold up a nice catch to show to us.

 

Bottom line - you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. We try to be friendly as much as they're willing to accept, when there is an issue we try to communicate with them in a friendly manner. Many have no clue, some could care less, a rare few want to screw with you. Because we've done our best over time to be good citizens on the water and not come off as selfish water hogs we've been able to establish a working status quo. Set a positive example, be friendly, be patiently consistent, you'll generally avoid confrontation.

 

 

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I'm gonna guess the fisherman that flew the bird at @6balls never met him or noticed his size from a seated position. I've met the Ross brothers. Nicest guys you could ever meet. But i wound not want to be on the receiving end of an altercation .... Both of em could bench press a bass boat....with the trailer.
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I'm gonna guess the fisherman that flew the bird at @6balls never met him or noticed his size from a seated position. I've met the Ross brothers. Nicest guys you could ever meet. But i wound not want to be on the receiving end of an altercation .... Both of em could bench press a bass boat....with the trailer.
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Any state would have laws of maintaining a path that would not put others in danger. Some have rules that treat waterskiers like sailboats, from what I found on the web. I would have went to the local law and showed them the video and pressed charges. In my younger days, maybe a different course of action, but take the high road and get this jerk off the water, or at least let him realize his actions have consequences.

 

When I was a river rat, there was a skier that was shot at and hit by a few pellets from a shotgun that was fired by a local Fortune 500 Executive. All charges were dropped, and the skier was seen driving around in a new Corvette. Use your imagination. This was back when open header jet boats blasted back behind his estate. I guess he just lost his marbles. Now there is a speed limit, and that is the reason I have a private lake. We lost our skiing area.

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@AB,

 

Based on the conversation I had with the skier in the video, law enforcement was involved in some way. However, I don't know exactly what went down. I like to think there were at least some consequences for the fisherman, but experience tells me the punishment probably didn't fit the crime. I'd be surprised if he got more than a stern warning.

 

If I see the skier on the course next season it would be nice to know what happened.

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Years ago some friends had a course on a public lake here in Austin area. A fisherman started casting out at them as they skied by. There was a confrontation and they reported it to authorities. Result was my friends were forced to pull their course and nothing happened to fisherman. My ski partner and I were using a portable course on another lake a few years ago when the private lakes dried up. We had a fisherman that show up a few times in the area after we set it up, well one day he was there before us, so we went and talked to him and explained what we were doing and why we were using the specific area. He was fine with it. Maybe a little communication is best the policy? Don't know but I felt better about the situation.
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I hate to play the devil's advocate, but in that video I think the fault would be mixed. He passed the oncoming boat on his port side, like you normally would. The violation would be getting within so many feet of a skier - if such a law exists in that state. At the same time, the ski boat driver would have seen the fishing boat coming head on and there's nothing that says the ski boat HAS to continue in a straight line and HAS to hold the throttle on. Also, there are laws against "manipulating skis, aquaplanes, or similar devices" in such way to put yourself or others at risk. So, at the end of the day the skier didn't HAVE TO make that last cut and it was also their responsibility to look ahead and see the hazard coming the other way.

 

Not saying the fisherman is in the right, practically speaking. That was way closer than it should have been. But I think in the eyes of the law you would find that this is a mixed bag of goods.

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@gregy That is true...we are only seeing it from one angle. And things happen fast in the heat of the moment. I'm just saying that if you lay it out the way the cops would look at it IF someone had gotten hurt, they'd probably ticket both parties. Just like in a car, you're usually at some fault just for being on the road.
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