That makes it easy and perfectly legal to take an "IDIOT DRIVER'S" boat and boating privileges away when they ignore buoy markers, no wake zones, right of ways, simple boat operation and the unwritten rules of extending common courtesy to your fellow boater. I have had it! HELMSMAN,,,,,,RAMMING SPEED!!!"
Saturday I was fishing one of the older lakes in the area, Cedar Creek Reservoir, with some friends of mine. We had all brought our own boat so we were fishing partner less. It sort of turned out to be one of those days that start first thing in the morning with someone proposing a challenge for the day. It was a 5 fish limit and lightest weight at the end of the day would pick up the first round of cold ones at Cedar Isle.
I fished soft plastics all day and only caught 2 for a total weight of 4.61 lbs. I missed a really nice 5 pounder that crushed a 7 inch Sour Grape w/white tail worm just as it hit the water. I didn't even get a chance to pick up the slack out of the line so all I could do was try to make a broad sweeping hook set. I guess the bass and I startled each other because I didn't get a hook set and he only managed to bite the tail of the worm off. You tend to notice those bits of information as the half eaten worm, the hook, the sinker and about 40 ft of your line all go flying past within 4 ft of your head!
Which brings me to the point of my rant, what can be done to these six foot small, male sexual prosthetics that walk, talk and think the words “Safe Boating”, have something to do with a condom? It’s against the law to kill them, so that’s out of the question. We could neuter them so they are unable to reproduce, but then again all we would really have to do would be to give them a couple of chain saws and a few power tools. They’ll take care of the rest!
I guess your asking yourself by now, what in the hell happened? This weekend was also the same weekend that a “Poker Run” was scheduled to be run on Cedar Creek. First of all let me say that I enjoy going fast on the water probably more than most people. I have raced boats since I was 15, started in Mini-Hydro’s and advanced all the way to the 2.2L tunnel boats by the age of 20. So racing is not an issue with me.
In my pursuit of Mr. Largemouth this weekend, I fished exclusively up in the shallow water of guarded inlets and coves. Always making sure that the entrances to each were clearly and properly marked with the correct designation buoy’s for that area. The inlet buoy was clearly marked with “NO WAKE AREA”, so began working a spot about 200 yards further up the inlet, just to be on the safe side. The spot I was working had an old limestone seawall that was submerged about 10 inches. You could tell the wall had been underwater for quite a while because the current shoreline was a solid 6 feet further behind the limestone wall. I moved in towards the wall and started flippin’ a worm into the thin grass trying to get a reaction strike. Like I said before, the water was very shallow, 1 – 2 ft., but I was in a nice wind guarded inlet, with clearly legible navigation buoy’s, minimal boat traffic because of it’s remote location, so I shouldn’t be worried about getting close to the submerged wall. It extended down the shoreline for about 150 ft with a couple of small wooden piers jutting out along its length. It was about then that I noticed the throaty sound of water cooled exhaust headers, and they were headed straight for me! As I turned to look, I saw a 21ft, deep-V, drawing at least 7 ft of water due to the 5 – 15 MPH speed that he was traveling. His wake was almost 5 ft, which would slam my boat into and then lift it over the submerged limestone wall. My trolling motor at that time was set to a very slow prop speed so that I would not disturb the bottom silt and alert the fish to my presence. I see the 5ft monster rolling straight at me and I had less than 5 seconds left to react to the situation. With my right foot I quickly spun the speed wheel to MAX, slammed the ball of my foot down on the top of the pedal, rotating my trolling motor to the proper direction and activating the foot switch at the same time. My left foot took a bracing position on the port side gunwale; left hand was holding the rod and reel, while my right hand instinctively reached for the bottom of the seat to hold on for dear life. The whole time all I could think was, Come on baby,,,MOVE! I managed to get about 6 to 8 ft away from the wall before it hit me, but then I felt the force of the water at impact and it was much greater than I had anticipated. I thought I was too late in reacting but when his wake finally passed I was about 2 ft. from the wall and with the trolling motor still screaming at full power my boat finally moved away from the wall within a few seconds.
In the meantime, the idiot driver of the offending boat made a quick U-turn and started to throttle up a bit more. But by now I was pulling out into the middle of the narrow inlet and positioned my boat to block his escape. He acted as if he just noticed me and backed off on his throttle and I gave him the signal to cut his engine. When he finally cut his engine I asked him, “what are you doing, coming back to finish the kill?” Your wake almost drove me into and over a sea wall, but of course you didn’t notice that did you? He had one of those looks on his face that was a cross between a drunken sot and a vegetated state mental patient. I explained to him that the area he was in was called an inlet cove with posted marker buoy’s saying, “NO WAKE ZONE”, clearly labeled! I then asked him if he could read. His response was typical, ”yea I can read.” I said “that’s great, read this” and I gave him the one finger salute and told him “if I ever see you or that boat again, you’ll be floating home instead of driving.” “Do we have an understanding?” His response was again the typical, “yea”.
I propose you this solution, driving a boat should be no different than driving a car. In order to be issued a license, you will need to pass both a written boaters exam and a boater’s practical driving test based on a required minimal score of no less than 95%. To make this process work for everyone, it must also be a requirement to possess this license in order to purchase the required insurance for the boat.
If they are caught operating a boat without a current license or insurance, automatic 1 year at the county correctional institute with no chance for appeal or parole. I’m sorry to be so tough on this issue but we need to become smarter in how we deal with these offenders because if we don’t, you may be their next victim.
Sorry for the long rant!
UberChamp
Modified by UberChamp at 9:32 PM 4/27/2008
Modified by UberChamp at 9:34 PM 4/27/2008
Modified by UberChamp at 9:37 PM 4/27/2008
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