Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

[JSGOLD]

Me and the wife went to our yearly get together with a group of 50-60 other folks who get together every year for a Crappie tournament that we usually enjoy. Fishing was tough as expected due to a sudden rise in water that saw the lake raise 2 feet in one day.....but that happens and all you can do is make the best of it. But our main headache was the night before. Now these folks are great people, but most of them work for or have worked for a large company in the area and they make the most of the get together by usually staying up until 1-2AM. We have a section of a campground that is leased for a night and we stay over one night then fish the next day. We are several miles from the water at this camp, so the boats are on trailers. Normally there is a 10PM "QUIET" time observed but this is ignored when we come in. We have managed to pretty much put up with the noise of music and talking while we try and sleep but this years bunch was a bit difficult to deal with....One guy had his stereo system on LOUD until 2AM and the biggest surprise was that one guy decided to work on his outboard from midnight until 1AM, starting it up, listen to it idle, then revving it up a couple of times, then shutting it down. He and his friends would then adjust something and do it again, and again, and so forth. And it was LOUD......I don't know how he managed to keep his impeller in one piece but regardless of that I have never heard on anyone doing this in camp at this time of night.....Next year we have decided to pay an extra fee and get a spot at the other end so we can SLEEP.....6AM comes awfully early when you have had 2-3 hours of sleep!

 

[robert graham]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

Maybe have a meeting with the "group of 50-60 other folks" to establish some camp rules regarding noise,music, lights-out time, etc., try to make a few rules to benefit the majority. My wife and I usually camp in very remote areas for the "peace and quiet", which is really our reason to be out there!

 

[DrWiffel]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

I would have gone over and said something. Music and loud talking is one thing, but revving a motor at 1am… I’m sure if you would have said something they would have shut it down and apologized (or at least I would have) upon realizing how much of an *** they were making of themselves. But then again it’s hard to tell if they’d become violent which is another situation you don’t want to get in to. I suppose there’s always the last resort, call the police.

 

[tomdinwv]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

You got to let me know what campground that was and let me know when these folks are going to be there so I can avoid the place. LOL. It takes all kinds. :facepalm:

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

If this was a "real" campground (as opposed to a farmer's field, informal kind of thing [not clear as to which it was]), I would have been making a complaint to management in the middle of the night. The last time my wife and I were able to go camping, the campground had a stated quiet time of 11:00 PM. The jerks next to us had been putting down liquid brain disolver all day long and then at 11:00, they decided to play beer pong. They were asked to quiet down twice. The third time they got mouthy and were thrown out of the campground at 2:00AM. They got their weeks camping trip cut short on day "1". The only thing that made me feel bad is that they had a couple of small kids with them. Management tried to get the cops to come out, but they had other more serious problems to deal with. Wish the cops could have joined the party. (The clowns had no business driving with that much booze.) I hate rude, obnoxiousm, stupid punk drunks. The point is, you and I paid for a place to sleep and did not get it.

Another time (in a different campground), the people next to us decide to show the family slides outside my tent at 11:00. I politely asked management to remind them of quiet rules. They (the neighbors) shut down with no problems. I have done it before, and I will do it again.

TerryMSU

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

Well it is a tricky situation....These folks all know each other and most work with each other and me and the wife while treated nicely are still considered "outsiders" as we are allowed to participate even though we don't work there(Invited participants only). I managed to get involved with these folks some years back before they started restricting participants so we don't want to make a big stink of the noise....but frankly allowing a boat motor to run in the middle of the night was a bit much and haven't seen that before.....the camp is an regular camp with all the rules but we rent the entire primitive section and usually we are the only ones there...although not always. it is far enough away that the campground managers can't hear much although the motor should have gotten some attention. I figure our best option is simply move to the other end of the camp next year, even though it will cost us....the tournament itself is pretty sweet. For 35 bucks each we get a free night's stay, free dinner, breakafst and sandwich stuff for lunch...but the noise factor is a pain. We used to take our camper there and keep it at the powered end of the camp, and it was quiet. Now with fuel costs I couldn't make two trips at 100 miles one way to take boat and camper there so we went back to tents.....I know one poor guy was there and was not part of our group.....guess he was either oblivious to the noise, was deaf, or maybe he joined in......

I will add...that I have seen a lot of noise at the primitive sites at not only this one but other campgrounds as well. For some reason these areas are noisy while the electrified sections are usually pretty quiet. I remember 2 years ago we went to this same site and the idiots bedside us were so drunk that one guy couldn't stand up and his group was really noisy. They were finally quiet after I assume they passed out. Then it was our groups turn to be noisy....although that year it wasn't too bad.
Tom, not to bash the campground but stay way from the Broken Wheel in Weston in early May...at least the primitive sites....No problem if you are at the other end though in the electrified section.

 

[tomdinwv]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

I've never been to the Broken Wheel. We usually take the camper down to East Lynn and occasionally Mountain Lakes near Summersville. As a matter of fact, we are heading to Summersville with the camper tomorrow.

Hope you guys had a good time and caught some fish.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

We did, although the water level rose 2 feet alone the day we got there...and crappie fishing was lousy. We caught some, but very small. Ironically the bass fishing was great....Wife likes that anyway and she cought several nice ones, biggest on a little over 18" so SHE was happy...Water was clear but the height made launching and retreiving the boat a PITA and I wanted some prize money....which didn't happen. But overall it was better than it could have been. We got rained on a little but not as bad I had feared. Summersville is place we always camped at 1-2 times a year until last year. Love it there, although fishing can be a chore with all the traffic on it. We found that fishing from the bank at night was good and that surprised me.

 

[tomdinwv]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

We went to Summersville Easter weekend but didn't do any fishing. Water was still way down. May do some this time if the water is back up. Not taking the boat with us though. I still have to finish fixing it. We always try to get a spot on the water at East Lynn. You can fish and tie up your boat right there in the campground. Only bad thing is you have about a 4 mile long no wake zone from the campground out to the main lake.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

You can at Summersville too, although some areas are low so larger boats may be a problem. We usually stayed at Bull Run up past the dam. There is good trout fishing year round at the base of the dam and the lake is nice. If I remember correctly Mountain Lakes is out the airport road and near Salmon Run. There is a nice Bar B Q place there too.... My son stayed out there a few years back. Nice place for kids. I assume like most of us you have visited "Fat Eddies" near tha dam.

 

[tomdinwv]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

Never camped at Bull Run, know where it is though, right across from the swimming area if I recall. We ate at the BBQ place at MT Lakes last year. It was really good. Never eaten at Fat Eddies. I'll have to find it and check it out. Thanks for the tip.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

NP. The food is OK but the deserts are their big attraction. They stay busy too!

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Running outboard in camp at 1:00AM

I have camped at east lynn for like 15 years, and used to live at summersville.