Your co-angler sets the hook and sends the lure bouncing off the boat...

[Highcentered]

Are you the up tight type or the it's just part of fishing type?

Sunday I set the hook with a spinnerbait and sent it flying into my friend's Optipop. Noticed a fresh scratch and felt bad but luckily he doesn't get mad about stuff that's all part of what we're doing. His Champion 196 does still look good for being 25 years old even though it needs new carpet. Just honest wear and some really cool history to go with the boat over the past 25 years. My boat is only a couple years old and bought aluminum so I wouldn't have to worry about that stuff because they will happen. I don't worry about it because my boat is a tool and not a show piece.

[mean_dean]

Shizz happens, the boat is a tool, and you shouldn't expect it to be immaculate. Better the hull or engine than a graph.

[BigFishSteve]

It happens. No big deal.

[PatriotAW4]

It happens, one reason why I don't buy new boats. I will take mine anywhere it can fit even if I have to scrape through some trees or get it dirty.

[avidbasser]

It happens, it's how they react that's important. Apologies go a long way. If they continue to do it, I will say something.

[jimsch]

I put the first scratch in my boat on it's first wetting and I don't imagine I will be the last.
When I launch or retrieve people comment on the looks and I say "Thank you, it catches fish."
It's a tool first.
If a person is careless I will mention it to them no more than twice.
Been known to return people to the ramp.

[C0MRAD]

Unfortunately, that is normal wear and tear. Damage caused by carelessness or negligence is what bothers me.

[besnyde]

I definitely wouldn't care about the scratch but I'd be pissed if you called my motor an optipop unless it's already blown!

[Kramos26]

Its a bass boat its what happens.

Me and my brother used to have an old aluminum boat. Every time some one banged something into it I would yell "watch the gel coat" as a joke. We still make the same joke even though both our boats actually have nice gel coats now.

[ECobb91]

Unfortunately, that is normal wear and tear. Damage caused by carelessness or negligence is what bothers me.

this.. and the “I don’t care it’s not my boat” attitude is a good way to not be invited again

Accidents happen. Just being a decent human goes a long way.

[Roy123]

Yeah part of fishing. Some guys seem to have more of a habit of doing that lol. I've never had a very expensive bass boat. Fish out of a 20 year old champion that is in great shape for it's age, and a 1752 Southfork flat bottom that has absolutely been beat to crap. Part of me really enjoys the low maintenance aspect of that old Southfork and having zero worry about beating it up or taking care of a gel coat. I suppose if I was paying a mortgage on a new 20' glass boat I'd get pretty worked up about a lure ding.

[jbassman87]

The first time, not much. If it keeps happening, I might say something.

[muddywaters]

I kinda cringe, and let it roll off like water off a ducks back, It is kinda part of it, dings are going to happen. I do draw the line at someone stepping on my top cap while fishing or getting in or out of the boat, the boat has a floor, step into and out of the boat, the top cap is not a step or standing platform.

[kry29]

Better than yanking a rattle trap and sending it into your partners hand. Atleast he played it cool with me while i did the braid trick to get it out

[dwtaylor]

Wait till you see what a 1/2 oz jig does to a graph screen

I was fishing in my buddy's boat on Chick a couple years ago and I ripped a trap out of grass close to the boat on braid and the thing came out of the water at "Mach Jesus" and hit him in the face. I felt so bad, but I was equally as impressed that a treble hook didn't bury itself. I was a lot more careful after that, but they didn't want a trap that day anyway.

[pabasshawk]

Things like that are part of owning a boat and I don't give it a 2nd thought. What does bother me is when someone is careless and burns a hole in my carpet with a cigarette or doesn't listen and keeps stepping on the seats when I have a step to get up on the back deck. I had a co get upset because I used dikes to cut a hook off his crankbait rather than let him rip it out of the upholstery.

[Jeff Hahn]

It's part of using your boat. As a buddy used to say, "You either use it or have a museum piece."

I have a friend I met tournament fishing in the 1980's. In the late 80's he bought a new Ranger 354. He was completely OCD about his new boat. He carried a small throw rug that he put on the deck to step on when he got into the boat from shore so he wouldn't track dirt on the carpet. And, he made his tournament partner also wipe his feet on it. One day during a tournament it was pouring down rain. His tournament parnter spilled some coke on his carpet. He stopped the boat, got out a cup and scooped water out of the lake on to the spot where the coke spilled. Then, he got a rag to soaked up the coke, after repeatedly poruing more water on it. Then, he told his parnter that he had to be more careful with his drink. That was the last straw for his partner and they stopped fishing together at the end of that season. I happen to run into my friend at a sports show last spring and asked him if he still had his Ranger 354. He told me that he did and it still looks like new.

[FrancoCialone]

Not a big deal unless the lure hits me.

[n2theblue]

I kinda cringe, and let it roll off like water off a ducks back, It is kinda part of it, dings are going to happen. I do draw the line at someone stepping on my top cap while fishing or getting in or out of the boat, the boat has a floor, step into and out of the boat, the top cap is not a step or standing platform.

You know cap and floor are all one piece, right? Bass boats are built in two pieces. Hull bottom and cap/liner.

[Pagregss]

It happens. The moment you say something, you're just asking for it when you do the same in their boat.