[Troutman Clay]

Hello all,

I just thought I would let you all hear about my experience today while practicing my fly casting on my dock.

I was on my dock, practicing my fly casts and dry fly presentation to some of the small cutthroats that are residing around the docks by my place. I was practicing my timing on the dry fly take, and out the corner of my eye, I could see a blue malibu ski boat flying in from of my dock. I sighed, and planned to pack up as I know how frustrated with the skiers I get. About 50 feet out from my dock is a large rock reef that loves to maim boats, and there was the malibu, headed right at it. I waved my arms in the air and tried to warm them of the reef. ( as much as I hate them, their boat peices would have washed right up onto my shore and I would have had to clean them up.) Then, he made a sharp turn, headed right at me, all the while waving his arms the one finger salute, getting about 25 feet from my dock, turning off the boat, and getting into a shouting match with me.

After about five minutes arguing with this idiot he offered his services to come onto my dock with his friends and help me fix my loud mouth. There was about three of them so I wasnt about to deal with them, so I picked up my grandfathers 5 1/2 inch hunting knife from my belt and said they should just try it. To this they muttered a few last unspeakable words they did a big donut about 20 feet out from my dock, and then flew off towards the reef, clipping it with a bag as the did a nice bit of damage to their boat. I laughed a little as they called their buddy to give them a tow back to the launch.

I just thought I`d tell you all a little about my day today, gotta love the water skiers dont cha`, gotta love em`.

 

[TieFlier]

Similar story of idiocy happened to some family friends last summer while boating in front of cates park in north Vancouver. They were heading back to their dock in deep cove ( 10 or 15 minutes away from cates park if you don't know the area) and on the way they ran over an unmarked crab trap and got the line tangled around the leg and prop of the engine. Their boat was in the 25-30' foot range with a swim grid on the back which makes untangling the line quite difficult. As they were trying to untangle the crab trap rope a bunch of guys cruised in on a 20' power boat. They guys started yelling at my family friends, shouting obscenities and accusing them of stealing their trap. These guys did not get the picture that the rope was wrapped around to prop and began to circle the boat creating a huge wake and rocking the boat. My family friends are both in their sixities and were getting tossed around especially the husband who was on the back transom untangling the rope. After a good 15 minutes of this the husband got the rope untangled, pulled the trap up and threw it towards the circling boat. The rope had been cut by the propeller so it was shorter than it had been before and as a result it sank and the ya-hoos never got their trap back. Just goes to show that cooler heads will always prevail.

 

[Troutman Clay]

that is umbelievable, was the trap not marked properly, or did you just miss it, so many A-holes in this world its unbelievable.

 

[TieFlier]

The trap was completely unmarked, just a floating rope. It could have done some serious damage to the prop too! Some people just don't seem to get it. I just hope they learn after these events!

 

[James Lake Junkie]

Yeah the world would be a far better place without all these gear heads. There's no escaping them here in the Okanagan. The area attracts people with money, and people with money buy useless loud crap (I'm not pointing any fingers but... I blame the Albertans). ATV's, quads, dirtbikes, mudboggers, speedboats, jetskis, you name it. They bring this crap into the bush and destroy it.

Earlier this spring in my area the best fishing to be done was on Wood Lake between Kelowna and Vernon. Anyone who knows the area can tell you that the best place to waterski is on Kalamalka Lake (easily one of the most beautiful lakes in Canada). However for some reason the speed boaters insisted on waterskiing on Wood Lake, where ALL the fishermen were. It was ridiculous, Steve Zissou and I had these guys buzzing us within 30 meters, creating an unmanagable wake (and in a belly boat a potentially dangerous situation.)

Honestly, is there not an island where we can send these people to destroy the habitat and make as much noise as they want? Keep them all in one spot.

 

[professori]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[macrib46]

This topic reminds me of a long weekend about 10 years ago (about a year or two before all the fencing went up) at Leighton. When we got up sat. morning ther was people set up as far around the lake as open space would permit. Well my wife and I headed out for the morning bite (along with what seem like over 100 other floating craft for fishing). Well rite around lunch some IDIOT decides he's going to throw his jet ski in the water and play (on a body of water thats rated 10 hp max). Well the uproar from all the people who were fishing was like the buzz from a swarm of angry hornets, being as he was using all the other craft in the lake like they were markers in a slalom course. Luckily this idiots actions only lasted about 15 min., which was about 20 min. to long, and he was off the lake. I'm thinking he was most likely in his best interests if he was wanting to be able to drive home rather than ride in an ambulance.

dave

 

[Guest]

Wanna see a monkey in a boat with a big mouth high-tail it el-pronto? Two words: Bear banger. You'll never see a couple of jack-ass city slickers tuck tail and run as quickly as when they think your firing artillery from your pontoon boat. A great conversation ender.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Yeah, it seems that it's always a certain type of person that you'll find ruining serenity.

I genuinely think it's a lapse in the empathy that we're imparting to our children. Kids seem to be ever more interested in the things that they can get right now, and less concerned with what they can work towards, and I think that this is taking its toll on relationships between strangers.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll help anyone I can, but once they ignore my own safety and security, they're on their own. It was incredibly irksome to be on Wood Lake and have wakeboarders and waterskiers cruising our bellyboats on a lake that is large enough for the powerboaters to have one half to themselves.

 

[Troutman Clay]

My thought exactly Steve Zissou, well said.