My wife asked me what I wanted to do for Father’s day and I told her I wanted to go fishing Saturday night. Weather forecast looked good, so we headed out around 4 to let my daughter swim and play in the water for a while before fishing. Around 6:30 we headed towards the dam trying to mark some fish without much luck.
Finally ended up at the towers before the crowd showed up. Had one pull down and one fish on that got under the boat and got off on the motor. My wife grabbed the rod out of the holder and as it was coming up went under the boat. I was trying to coach her on how to get it around the motor but she just cranked it up right into the motor and it popped off. Oh well, stuff happens. It turned out to be the only hook up of the night.
Later on, we moved around to some humps and tried them without any luck. Finally we spot-locked on a hump right out from the yacht cove and had some promising marks. We were there about 20 minutes when I looked up and see a big sailboat coming straight at us in the dark. I got on the horn and it just kept coming and coming and coming. They never even tried to change course.I finally had to crank up and move out of the way just before the asshole ran us over, the whole time laying on the horn. Rods were still down, ipilot was trying its best to put us right back where we were. As the idiots went by I screamed every thing I could at them and all they did was try to tell me to calm down… yeah right! Well that ended the fishing for me.
So the moral of the story is watch out for idiots who are not watching out for anyone else, because they will run you over and think its no big deal.
A well placed flare over their bow might have gotten their attention.
It’s a shame that some people don’t have a clue(or just don’t give a crap) when they’re boating, especially at night.
Glad nothing bad happened.
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
I didn’t really have time to think about that. My first thought was to get the spotlight out and shine them, but it was stowed away and I didn’t have that much time. By the time I saw them they were about 50yds away and closing quick under power. As I was cussing at the guy he said, “we saw you”… really? I guess thats why I had to crank up and move out of your way before you ran us over then!! They were completely clueless about what just happened.
Next time you are out at night maybe you should have the spotlight more handy rather than stowed away .This lake is not exactly safe at night .Our night txs were risky at best.
TOM GITTO
Team Shad Up and Fish member
20ft Sea Hunt cc Red T Top
Yep, I should have got it out when it was getting dark, but I let it slip my mind. Thank goodness everyone was safe and it was just another lesson learned.
quote:
If you a using the anchor-lock feature, are you considered anchored or under power?
That’s a good question. I did have both lights on, but I was not moving. I had not turned the nav lights off because I wanted to be more visible as there were quite a few boats running around in the dark. I know most of them saw us, because they all gave us a wide berth. This jackleg never even saw us, being the helm was at the back of the boat and he never made a change of course.
I fish almost exclusively at night. I ran 16’ strips of green LED lights right under the rub rail on both sides. Each side has 300 LED’s. They barely use any power and I am light up like a Christmas tree. I also avoid areas like the entrance to yacht cove, rusty anchor or any narrow cut through. Lots of young kids out there in daddy’s big boat that have no clue. Once September comes around the lake is much safer
I a agree with you, but we were 1/4 mile or more out from the entrance to yacht cove in wide open water. I wouldn’t be any closer than we were because there was a considerable amount of traffic. This guy came from across the lake and was not making any noise. We just happened to be directly in his path.
