I didn’t really know where to post this question, but I figured I would start here. I have a question about how somebody would have handled this situation if it were them. Please excuse any ignorance that I have because I don’t have much experience fishing nearshore, or offshore for that matter. The only thing I know that when I see anybody diving is to keep as much distance away from them as possible.
Saturday I went fishing with a couple of buddies of mine at the Charleston 60. We left the landing just before daylight and caught some Menhaden for bait. After arriving at the 60 we only saw 1 boat out there initially, but after about 2.5 - 3 hours a boat comes within sight and I see people getting ready to anchor. They keep heading towards us and end up anchoring about 45 yards away. I see a bunch of diving equipment and put 2 and 2 together to realize they are about to start diving around the spot where we were fishing. After asking my buddy if they were too close I got and bite, but got hung up on something on the bottom. After handling my snag, and putting another rig on, I see TONS of bubbles coming from underneath and around the boat. Obviously, that means that several divers were right underneath the boat right where we were dropping lines. We gave a shout to the guy still on the boat and told him that his divers were under where we were fishing.
I didn’t want to keep fishing where people were directly under our boat obviously, that doesn’t seem safe at all. So we pulled up anchor and tried to find something else to fish on. As we drove away my buddy shouted, asking why the guy basically drove right on top of us and let divers just go where ever they wanted. I didn’t hear exactly what he shouted back, but it sounded something like “we are far enough away”.
So my questions are, should we have moved when we first noticed that divers were anchoring right next to us? Should we have asked them to find another spot before they anchored? Were we in the wrong for not moving? How would you have handled this?
The dive boat should have made sure they were far enough away so that the divers would have a safe distance from you. He should have also anchored up current from you because divers should do their dives up current so if they have an issue, they could drift back to the dive boat.
Seems to me that the divers were disoriented and managed to drift under your boat. I’m sure they didn’t intentionally swim under your boat - the prospect of getting snagged by a hook and then getting quickly reeled up to the surface is scary as hell - hooked with the bends(decompression sickness) is not a fun day on the water.
I probably would have just pulled in my lines and watched the bubble show…it would have only lasted a few minutes before they had to head back to the anchor line.
“I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the general public.”
~my dad
Equipment:
190cc Sea Pro w/130 Johnson
1- 19 year old (boy of leisure)
1 - 1 year old (fishing maniac)
1 - wife (The Warden)
I had one of the companies in town drop divers under my boat while i was fishing the 526 bridge. The divers drifted under my boat and surface 2 or 3 feet away as I was pulling the anchor with the outboard running. I was upset to say the least. The last thing I wanna do is run over someone.
No one wants to intentionally hurt another person. However, if they are running in and encroaching on your position, then they are dumb enough to suffer whatever consequences may arise. I got nothing against divers and dive boats, wish I had gotten into it many times, but them trying to bully someone off a position is BS. If I’m set up on a piece of structure and they come in, I’m still going to be dropping iron.
Mark
Pioneer 222 Sportfish Yamaha F300
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
If they are stupid enough to move in and dive where you are fishing whatever happens is on them! That being said, years ago while fishing and artificial reef off Florida we had an interaction with divers. We were down to our last rig after losing a bunch getting hung up. Some divers were working another part of the reef so we asked them for help getting the rig loose. One diver went down and came back up. He told us we weren’t hung on the reef, but on a very big Jew Fish! He got his spear gun and went back down. The rig moved a little. The diver came up and we asked if he got the fish! He said the fish saw him coming and got in a big Blue Cadillac and locked the doors
Who was it? They are morons who are giving divers a bad name. Some idiots are their worst own enemy. They should have found another place to dive, simple as that. If it’s the boat that I think it is, they have a reputation of doing that on the 60.
I’m a diver. Theres no way in hell I’m diving under another fishing boat. The risk involved is too great. Getting hooked and reeled to the surface from 60 feet is a really good way to get seriously injured if not killed. I would not fish over a diver no matter how stupid they seemed. The odds of seriously harming one of them is pretty high. I haven’t checked lately but I want to say another vessel is supposed to be 200 yards away from a dive vessel. Correct me if I’m wrong guys. Bad form on his behalf.
Capt. R. Killin
“Day Tripper”
Shamrock 20 cuddy
Ford 351W
Other that not hurting anyone, the best thing you could have done is OUTING the Dive operator! If he is bringing and putting divers in an area, that puts them at risk, he needs to be OUTED
I’m pretty sure that is the shop under the round holiday inn. This is probably the 5th time I’ve heard of the trinity involved in something like this. I would call up the shop and let them know. It’s a shame that 1-2 assholes can give everyone else a bad name. Most private boat divers with any experience will shy away from fishing boats. We just go to other spots. I think they promise a dive at the barge on the C60 and they have a charter that pays for it, so they don’t have the option to dive somewhere else, after they have already sold the package. Not that it justifies it, but that’s probably the reason why.
I’m pretty sure that is the shop under the round holiday inn. This is probably the 5th time I’ve heard of the trinity involved in something like this. I would call up the shop and let them know. It’s a shame that 1-2 assholes can give everyone else a bad name. Most private boat divers with any experience will shy away from fishing boats. We just go to other spots. I think they promise a dive at the barge on the C60 and they have a charter that pays for it, so they don’t have the option to dive somewhere else, after they have already sold the package. Not that it justifies it, but that’s probably the reason why.
I agree that it's not an excuse. I realized instantly it wasn't a private diver like yourself who actually has common sense. Thanks for the info
Last year my wife and I were tied to a mooring ball over a wreck in the Keys, had another friend’s boat rafted up beside us. We had a good chum line going and were catching the heck out of yellowtails and grouper.
A huge commercial dive boat came plowing up, it was about 200’ long, the ones that have the week long livaboard dive trips. The circled us from about 100’ away, throwing a huge wake that about bashed us up, then came back again and anchored right beside us and hoisted their dive flags. Then they get on the hailer horn and announce :ATTENTION FISHERMEN WE ARE PUTTING DIVERS IN THE WATER! And they did, about 60 of them with spearguns on one little wreck. We had bubbles all under us and the bite was gone.
I was afraid to crank the engine there were so many divers around, so we just slipped the line and drifted away. Dang. What ya gonna do?
The next day we were trolling for dolphin about 20 miles south of Cudjoe and the same SOB came blasting right by us throwing a 20’ wake. Dang near swamped us. Looked like it was heading to the Bahamas.
As a diver and a fisherman, I would say you are absolutely in the right and they are in the wrong. A verbal confrontation was definitely necessary. That is the boat from Charleston Scuba near round holiday inn as skinneej said. You should go by there and have a talk with the owner. A dive boat can’t be pulling that kind of stuff and it would absolutely put their insurance policy in jeopardy if something were to happen in that situation. That is bad etiquette, bad diving, bad captain skills and just bad news. Bigger man of you by moving on to another spot but that should definitely be discussed with that business.
