First off, BEAUTIFUL DAY TO BE ON WATER!
With that said, So i’m rushing on plane out a creek we usually get bait out of and guy from his dock is giving me the slow down sign. he has a floating dock with zero boat or anything there that could be damaged by a small wake and all other boats in this creek are on lifts or those floating docks you run your boat on out of water. Except one in which i slow down for. there is actually one more way in the back but never really go there. I never wake a floating boat BTW.
Am I the A$$ or is he the entitled guy that lives on the water and thinks he owns the water around him? Serious question because i’m fishing his dock monday out of spite. If dude had a boat in water i would have back off way before i got there. Again, i’m on plane not digging big wake.
Oh yea, me and wife only caught a few whiting out of the wando today so i’m not gonna waste time in the report section. only got menhaden for live bait. They were everywhere in the wando. never seen the tide so high today either. boat landing water was over the slope so water was up half way to truck tires just to get the boat off trailer. crazy.
Eff them yankee sobs ,burn em out is what I say.Especially the ones on Beresford creek,I grew up there. I know you said you hunted on Daniel island with your grandpap .It’s a dam shame Hammer.
I know man. I really miss those days. everytime i run by DI and see that marina and big houses over there I reminisce. best deer and dove hunting i’ve ever known. I didn’t know how lucky i had it back then.
UGH the good ol days…
So this is less about wake, but i fish banks and docks a good bit on creeks. Ive had quite a few guys, who seemed like perfectly nice guys go straight thru my line because they were flying and not looking for fishermen’s line (maybe they were just looking for boats not to wake?). Risked damaging my gear, their engine potentially via my 20lb braid, and one guy in a john boat i swear i thought my braid was gonna take off his head as fast as he was going so close to the fishing dockside of the creek.
When i think they might go thru it i try waving at them fast, motioning to get them to slow down, anything to get their attention so they dont F both of us up. Most of them “didnt see me” either bc they werent looking at the guy trying to flag them down or didnt care and ignored me (or were drunk).
Not saying this guy was doing this. Just saying dont ignore every guy trying to slow you down.
I hear ya. I dont blame you for being annoyed, 50% of the time id probably feel the same in the same situation. To me, these get really subjective (and can change depending on how i feel that day).
About 10 years ago i was in this weird situation i wont go into in detail, but i honked at and flipped this guy off on the road that pissed me off bc he almost hit me as he cut me off while rolling a stop sign (blah blah). A lot happened after that, but when i looked back on it a couple days later i realized how me flipping someone off could affect that persons entire day and could really ■■■■ some ■■■■ up. It changed my view on this kind of stuff.
For example, lets take his side for a second: if he is sippping coffee on his floating dock he worked his ass off to afford for 40 years working 60+ hour weeks and he doesnt want to get waked and spill coffee all over himself. It kinda comes down to whether you consider his entitlement to enjoy his morning more than your ability to get bait a few minutes faster (if at all, bc bait can leave in an instant, right?). Maybe he is thinking about when his grand kids are on his wobbly dock. (Who knows, ppl overstep for all sorts of reasons, some valid and some unreasonable ).
Long story short… i dont blame you. Id feel the same way a lot of times. Just be careful of being vindictive bc sometimes ■■■■ can get crazy. You dont always know how you are going to affect that dude or what they will try to do to retaliate.
pretty good way of looking at it. I’ll try and see things from the other side if possible. I guess i won’t fish his dock tomorrow LOL.
Actually i’m taking the kids tubing and hopefully eating some app’s at california dreaming or crabhouse. looking forward to some family time.
If no one is on a dock without a floating boat, I’ll usually plane by. If someone is on the dock, I will usually slow to idle speed out of courtesy.
If I pass someone fishing in a wide creek, I’m practicing the golden rule by staying on plane passing them. That’s what I want others to do, rather than pull off plane throwing a giant wake, taking several minutes of my fishing time as they pass, then doing the same as they get back on plane. It’s way less disruptive to fish and fishermen to just stay on plane as you pass. Unless it’s a small creek then of course I will slow down to pass. This topic was discussed at length on this page many years ago.
As the owner of docks, I suggest slowing down for a dock in most cases is ridiculous.
If your dock and float can’t handle a wake it won’t last long in a place with as much as ten feet of tides, hurricanes and northeasters. If boaters slow down for every dock in the low country they would never get anywhere. The big boats are going to throw a wake no matter what.
Let me assure you, pretty much no one does slow down. If the plan is to yell at and flip off everyone who buzzes your dock, plan on getting counseling. I have gotten yelled at by people on docks myself and don’t understand it.
It seems to me that Optiker has got it right here. I would only add that, since I kayak some myself, I treat kayakers with greater care. Getting back in a kayak on the water is no fun.
Amen on passing kayakers. I’m a boater and a kayaker so I see both sides. Taking a waved bow first is one thing, taking one from port/starboard is another. And, getting back in is one factor, not losing any gear is another.
Stay on plane five feet further out than the dock owner can throw.
On the kayaker thing, I fully support people and their rights to kayak in big water. My only ask is that you stay to one side of the waterway. Don’t put all the bigger boats at risk by travelling way out in the middle of the river or even worse within the channel markers. I don’t know how none of them have gotten run over in Shem Creek or at the Folly ramp. Its crazy. Use common sense.
