Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

[JSGOLD]

We frequent a fishing lake about 30 miles away from our home and we bank fish not too far from the boat ramp.(Just bought our first boat a few weeks ago) and last year we saw two of the dumbest things I ever saw, boats or no boats.. The first was a "minor" stupid where three guys in a Jon boat had to rus to the shore to relieve themselve (or stock up on beer I'm still not sure)...anyway they came up to the bank rather than the ramp and the first guy jumps out, then the second guy..the poor guy in the back yells, the boat goes STRAIGHT UP and down with him still yelling. Lucky for him it was only 4-5 foot deep. Cooler, cans, gear, and the guy all got fished out and they all thought it was funny.

the second one still has me concerned
We saw a LARGE family show up one evening with a 13-14' aluminum jon boat, beer in hand and the old man carrying a whiskey bottle in a bag, all trying to figure how to unload the boat, then start the boat, with 6 of them in it...(boat could not have been rated for more than 3-4) and they floated around yelling at the ones still on the bank and they in turn were calling someone for help in starting it... Another boater pulled them in to shore, and then a poor guy shows up, visably upset,,tells them how to start it and then EIGHT people climbed into this boat, and one had a baby so NINE people were crammed into a boat that was leaning badly, ran poorly, and two of them at least were drinking...they went out about 300 yards, came back, got a life preserver for the child and then went out again while we sat there stunned...The other guy comes up to me and told me he had just sold them the boat, it was not registered yet, NOTHING, and these clowns were risking their lives in it an hour after buying it...To make it more complete a storm was coming in and it was less than an hour from being dark. the people were not going to be out long based on part of a conversation we heard but the guy that sold them the boat was scared to death. We were leaving and discussed calling police but it is an isolated place miles away from the nearest police, and we were concerned about them possibly becoming violent. We just did not know what to do. We stopped about 30 minutes away and went back and were prepared to call police anyway if they were still out...but luckily they were back and trying to pull it out. They have not been back there since, hope they decided against boating.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

There is no fix for idiocy...

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

The sadder thing is that 2 weeks later after the first three guys did their "Titanic" impersination with the jon boat four teenagers were fishing at Stonewall Jackson lake near Weston WV(another lake we frequent) and they turned it over. Not a shallow lake either like this smaller one the three guys sank in. One drowned, and it is beyond me why people would overload a boat that way. Young people sometimes feel invincible or just don't know any better I guess.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

Thank god I was never young.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

Thank god I was never young.

Me too
Wisdom comes only with age

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

One of my favorite backwards compliments is to say "He has all the wisdom of youth and energy of old age."

The second story in the first post really bothers me. A situation where you ahve a moral duty to stop them from going out due to the risk to the innocents (the baby on board clinched it). But it's hard to muster the courage, especially when you risk being attacked at an isolated place.

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

thats how some people are eliminated from the gene pool.
like Ron White says " You can't fix stupid"

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

No way we could have stopped them..period. Four men, two teenage boys, two women...and much drinking. One guy left a full beer on the ramp with no regard to who saw it. They did at least come back to get the young child a life vest...but still risked lives but going out in a drastically overloaded boat. This lake is isolated with limited cell coverage, and rarely we see game wardens there...although we have seen more this year. We should have called someone anyway but you risk retaliation by these types of folk. Still, we drove back there and were prepared to if they were still on the water. I have not seen them since, as we frequent this lake a lot since it is close to home and has good fishing. They may not even live near there, who knows. Our larger lakes are pretty well watched so if they try this dumb stuff at Summersville or Stonewall Jackson they won't get far, especially with beer in plain view. Just ranks up there as the all time dumbest thing we have ever seen.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

On lighter note, as we have always fished near boat ramps due to the fish holding near them, we have seen several new "no plug in boat members" being welcomed to the club! A few "I did not know this boat leaked" members too.

 

[AZcamperguy]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

No way we could have stopped them..period. Four men, two teenage boys, two women...and much drinking. One guy left a full beer on the ramp with no regard to who saw it. They did at least come back to get the young child a life vest...but still risked lives but going out in a drastically overloaded boat. This lake is isolated with limited cell coverage, and rarely we see game wardens there...although we have seen more this year. We should have called someone anyway but you risk retaliation by these types of folk. Still, we drove back there and were prepared to if they were still on the water. I have not seen them since, as we frequent this lake a lot since it is close to home and has good fishing. They may not even live near there, who knows. Our larger lakes are pretty well watched so if they try this dumb stuff at Summersville or Stonewall Jackson they won't get far, especially with beer in plain view. Just ranks up there as the all time dumbest thing we have ever seen.

Sounds like some inexperienced people. A simple "Hey, you guys look like new boaters. You realize that you may be overloading the boat? I hit this lake often and I've seen people go down from overloading. Do you know how to check the capacity?" Or you could say something like "I had a boat just like that. Great boats! I am pretty sure the capacity was only 4 adults....yada, yada."
Just make a compliment and provide some helpful info.

 

[cbavier]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

Sounds like some inexperienced people. A simple "Hey, you guys look like new boaters. You realize that you may be overloading the boat? I hit this lake often and I've seen people go down from overloading. Do you know how to check the capacity?" Or you could say something like "I had a boat just like that. Great boats! I am pretty sure the capacity was only 4 adults....yada, yada."
Just make a compliment and provide some helpful info.

This would have been a great way to handle and help the newbies to boating without belittling or offending them

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

Yes you are right there AZ....but there was alchohol involved here and it was obvious even to them they were overloaded due to boat listing so badly....anyone leaving beer cans about in plain view and the old man (driving the boat had much stronger brew in his possesion.) might have become enraged. What we should have done was drive like a bat out of he** to the nearest town and called the police...or course you still risk retaliation here...and we are there almost every week. Anyway we assumed the guy who sold them the boat would have said SOMETHNG, especially since it was still technically in his name yet. But instead he shook his head, muttered something and left.... I hope we don't run into this sort of thing again, but if we do I will be sure to at least point that out to them....but there are lot of folks here who don't listen, especially while drinking. The nearest thing I could relate these folks to were the Beverly Hillbillies....tell them and they don't understand...I was just reluctant to do anything with the wife with me, but I probably should have done something more...

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

I don't know that I have a "moral obligation" to stop anyone from doing
something stupid. I would do as CamperGuy suggested but that's it.

It's still a free country and it's not illegal to be stupid.

So you drive like a maniac to the nearest phone; I can hear the phone call now:

Hello police, there's 8 people and a baby with a life vest on in a jon boat on wacky lake. I think there may be beer or booze on board too.

Police - and....???

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

We are our brother's keeper. More important, his child's keeper. That's where the moral obligation arises. Not so much with a bunch of drunk adult males.

5 guys were fished out of Okracoke Inlet after dark yesterday by the ferry--they had all been in a 16' boat in the ocean inlet at dark and a swell swamped them.

 

[C-worthy]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

The moral obligation question is interesting. I wouldn't have confronted drinkers - after all, some people don't even take good advice when they're sober.

I might have offered to be witness for the seller though, at the trial where these boaters would try to sue him after the drowning(s).

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

The fact that drinkers were involved was the problem as far as me trying to advise them anything, frankly. I had a wife there who had been subjected to violence some years ago and while I would not run from trouble I have to weigh things as well, if you know what I mean. That is the problem, maybe they would have accepted my advice, but frankly I doubt it. The boat was tilted badly, they knew full well they had too many in that boat, all I would have done (I think) was get a grumble, or maybe start a confrontation. Outnumbered like that all you can hope for is that this is the day the game wardens wonder by, but that does'nt happen ...Now I am not saying these were violent people...but they were STUPID, and 2-3 at least were drinking...so what do you do??? Anyway, it is a stupid thing regardless, one of the dumber things I have seen in my many years...

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

I don't think anyone is second-guessing you, JSGOLD; you did what you thought was right at the time. I'm certainly not. Upon reflection, you may have done something different; maybe not. None of us were there, but our speculation is just a discussion so that if we find ourselves in a similar situation we will have thought through a few options. So your post was very useful in that it prompted thought and discussion--a good way to learn.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

Very true....and as a new boater I will probably run into more people like this, sad to say, but stupidity is everywhere. We all make mistakes but it is amazing what some people will do. At least these folks have not returned.

On a lighter note....one thing I saw about 5 weeks ago while not one of the stupid things I ever saw, was kinda wierd. At the same lake we are talking about I happned to turn around around noon and noticed a group of neatly dresses folks standing around. Did not think much of it at the time, but then I noticed the group was growing....LOL, turns out they were having a baptism there that day, which in itself is not a big deal, I have seen this done before at other places I have fished. The funny thing about this was that there were about a dozen boats out that morning, two coming in when these folks went to the BOAT RAMP (the ONLY one) and held their service! Normally they would go to a shallow part that was clear and do this but water was milky and the reverand thought it best to have it at the ramp. They were there only an hour or so and the two boaters circled a bit and fished and went along with it all, after all who want to interupt a minister?

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

It was just Mother Nature trying to thin out her herd, getting rid of the unfit. Ya can't go around and babysit everyone.
You're not one of those guys that some complained about busting their shaft seal because they had your fishing lines all wrapped up in their prop aren't you?

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Two Stupid Things I Have Seen

"You're not one of those guys that some complained about busting their shaft seal because they had your fishing lines all wrapped up in their prop aren't you? "


I have to admit that if you ever fished at Summersville Lake near Salmon Run I MAY have caused a bit of that, LOL. Too many rocks and trees in the water there, but a lot of fish! Now I get to complain myself though starting this spring though!