Sooke Etiquette

[Captain Dudds]

I normally fish up near Malcolm and I've found the etiquette in Sooke is somewhat lacking. The main annoyance for me is how close boats motor by when your trolling.

At Possession the other day, I'm in 90' of water right off the point and a 25 foot inboard roars between me and the point and I'm thinking, WTF buddy! Give me some space I'm trying to fish here! Its early and we're in the morning bite and people are hooking fish here and this guy rumbles right over the ****ing hot spot! But then the next guy threads through the boats on his way by too...

I've noticed the same sort of thing at the head and the trap. And at Otter a few weeks ago I'm in 65' of water and an explorer cruises inside me by about 40'! What is the deal with this place? On Malcolm, I would NEVER do that. If I'm fishing the backside or the pass or wherever, and I'm about to leave, I go slow strait out to clear most boats then get up on a plane and go outside everyone, unless there are a few guys way way out there - and this is not just me, this is roughly what everyone does.

I can't imagine everyone is an arshole and couldn't care less who they **** off, so is it just me and this is not considered a big deal or what is going on here?

 

[Rum Buddies]

I know what you mean, it can be pretty bad. I think the difference is anybody can come fish sooke, experienced or not. You go to port mcneil and you're likely getting die hards and guys with the know how to NOT buzz your boat.

The other thing is sooke can be so crowded that if I was to cruise on the outside of all the boats I'd add an extra mile or 2 to my travel time.

http://www.fishingvancouverisland.org - a new Fishing forum

 

[scott craven]

You are right Dudds , there is a definite lack of respect that seems
prevalent in the Sooke area.
Maybe too many boats trying to fish the area ??
Last thing you need while trying to net a fish is a 3' wash from a passing boat threatening to knock you down.

 

[Tsquared]

I don't know what size boat you're in Dudds, but I saw a guy bomb straight through the fleet at Otter a few weeks ago coming very close to an elderly couple who were in a 16 ft open tin boat. They bounced and smashed in his wake and I could tell the woman was in discomfort. The gentleman and I looked at each other and just shook our heads--what can you say about such cluelessness?
T2

No Rigours

 

[danthewire]

Yep been fishing there since the early sixties,used to have to dodge the commercial boats.Now its a bunch of clueless idiots roaring around.The regulars for the most part are okay, but it is getting worse.Dan

 

[chris73]

And while we are at it, there was a guide's boat about 2-3 weeks ago at Beechey Head that ran full thottle into a pod of orcas. He was not more than 20' behind one of the whales that surfaced for air at one point and he didn't slow down at all. I remember that boat and he headed for Pacific Lion. If I see that again I will call him in with picture proof. I can't believe how inconsiderate some goofs are out there...

 

[ReelAffair]

I keep 1 and 2lbs weights out ....BUZZ ON BY and SURPRISE


WHACK


Some people are just plain ignorant

No wonder there is a thing called Road rage

 

[alley cat]

Capt Dudds was that Explorer blue and white ?
Also the Grady White , white hull two tone blue striping?
I may have been just down from you in the white and blue trimmed Livingston ( 18ft)off of Otter when that happened and later again off of Muir this idiot flys by within 3 boat lengths while I am waving him off , and he just totally ignores everyone.

AL

 

[salmon9]

I don't like fishing that area for this reason. Seems like it's a Seasport running inside close to me whenever I am out there. In the good ol days you would have a talking to back at the dock if you did this. Wen leaving a fishing spot, or passing by, go to the outside with considerable distance from the boats concentrated in a fishing area, too bad if there's chop out there.

 

[banger17]

not to mention the folks who cruise right next to you when it is overly obvious you have a nice fish on... what are they thinking? a little courtesy when someone is playing a fish please!

nearly lost my 24 yesterday as some jackass trolled right past us (about 20 feet away). i think i would thrown my 15 lb cannonball at him... nevermind a 1 or 2 pound weight!

 

[wolf]

One thing you have to remeber a lot of people out there just dont have a clue its not there fault they just dont know one guy you REALLY have to watch out for cutting fish off is a catermeran boat with big huge letter on the side of it calle "SEA CAT" he cut 3 of my fish off last year and he usually fishes by himself.

I yelled at him last year to move and his response was "im tired of you catching fish" so politlly told him what I thought of him then he threated me with tell me im lucky he didnt have his 45!!!

The best thing to do if you see someone do what your talking about after you have done fishing buzz by who ever it is then come back and ask if they enjoyed the wave and ride and tell them well thats what you have done to me earlier say sorry and tell them to donr do it.

As dudds said earlier up where we guide we dont have this much grief and there a ton of tourists up there but theres more guide boats that tell people what to do I guess???

If you do see them at the dock maybe explailn to them what there doing.

As for me you will see me turn right around if you have a fish on in front of me and ill try and take out as many boats as I can as well as I will give you all the room in the world to land your fish as its hard enough to hook them and I definatlly believe in karma if i cant turn ill definatlly lift my riggers for you as well fishing is supossed to be fun. not stress and thats where most of it is when people are getting to close I hate it.

Just give people room its a big ocean those who know me know how much I HATE people near me be it salmon or halibut right addicted LOL LOL we only have a month and a half left lets try and give space to everyone out there

Good luck Wolf

Blue Wolf Charters
www.bluewolfcharters.com

 

[Luna]

Common sense for most of us but are these newb shows a lack of etiquette or lack of experience? Not everyone is a guide or have grown up on the water. Ya it rubbs me as well! Lots of gong shows out there weather its the way people handle and release fish or the way people run their boat. 3 choices here...Try and calmly(or not) educate them on the water, try and calmly(or not) have a dock talk. Maybe they actually don't know ant better??. #3, just f'ing deal with it cause it ain't going away!!
Hey Addicted remember that guy that got educated last year off Possession. Definently not a calming chat,lol! Dewey gooned.

 

[Captain Dudds]

AC I can't remember the colouring of the explorer - might have been the same.

I totally understand that the people doing this are mostly unexperienced and have no idea they are pissing everyone off and potentially even runnig over someone's fish, so....

Maybe someone should make up a little poster explaining this important etiquette factor and see if outfitters and some of the marinas would post it up? A little diagram of a point, some boats fishing it, and where you should go by them? I'm pretty busy with courses this next week but I'll see if I can throw something together.

 

[Luna]

Tottaly appreciate your enthusiasm in regard to trying to make our local fishery better and a bit safer Dudds. Goood luck. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Karma-Kazi]

Yeah, seems 90% of guys get it right, but there is always that 10 percent. I have more toubles when anchoring then I do with other trollers. Because I cant get outa the way[xx(] But I have been cut of a few times. I was at the trap a few weeks ago and an old timer was fishing alone. His boat was aimed right at me, and I assumed he was working his gear or fighting a fish.He got withing 12-15 feet or so, So I yelled at him, he was sleeping in the back chair with the kicker handle in his Effing hand. He appologized more then a few times. But i kept thinking what if...

-Steve

 

[Time]

Etiquette questions would be a nice component of the exam for the Pleasure Boaters Operators Card.

 

[Rockfish]

I am sure everyone has stories like this and much worse. I am lucky as I have never had a fish cut off, but then I don’t fish a tenth as much as the guides and some others. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to have someone cut off your client’s fish with their rigger cables.
We had one incident last year where another boat is slowly overtaking us to the side and then for some reason decides to turn around and makes a sharp turn right across our stern. It happened so fast all we could do was boot the kicker and try and get a little distance on him. I thought for sure he was going to rap both his downrigger cables around ours, but by some miracle he only snags one of our lines. I keep letting out line and eventually he pulls it in cuts off my teaser head and anchovie, and at least throws my flasher back in. No idea how he could think it was a good idea to cut across our stern 15 feet back of our boat.

 

[Little Hawk]

I hear you Dudds. Out on the chuck is no different than when you're on the road. Yeah it's about etiquette but it's also about COMMON COURTESY!

I used to get real pissed about arse-holes on the water or on the road, to the extent that the lingering anger would pretty much dictate how the rest of my day went. Now, I work at getting over it ASAP; give the ***** 'the finger', smile, turn up the music and forget about it.

There are a couple of things I think us local (courteous) fisherman might do to deal with this in the long term.

1) If you are driving and you phone the cops and give them some 'dick-heads' license number after describing how he purposefully cut-you-off while weaving dangerously in and out of traffic, the cops will send him a warning letter in the mail. MAYBE IF WE TAKE DOWN THE OFFENDING BOATS REGISTRATION NUMBER (CLEARLY VISIBLE) AND GIVE IT TO THE COAST GUARD - THEY MIGHT DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

2) There was some talk on a thread about this sort of thing a few months back and I think maybe it's high-time it happened. Maybe one of the Mods' could set it up.
LET'S START EITHER A NEW-TREAD OR, BETTER, A NEW SFBC FORUM CATEGORY ENTITLED SOMETHING LIKE:

"AND THE NEW BOATING DICK-HEAD OF THE DAY IS..."

Each new post could hopefully be replete with pics of the offending boater and or a description of the craft and the incident.

This could go a long way towards getting some of these idiots to change their ways or get them off the water all together.

My 2-bits...

 

[Luna]

quote: MAYBE IF WE TAKE DOWN THE OFFENDING BOATS REGISTRATION NUMBER (CLEARLY VISIBLE) AND GIVE IT TO THE COAST GUARD - THEY MIGHT DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

This could go a long way towards getting some of these idiots to change their ways or get them off the water all together.

Good idea but co's and the coast guard are spread pretty thin and if anything they should be dealing with impaired boaters and doing more safety gear checks. Unless they are caught red handed it is a matter of he said she said.

We are all forgetting that we all share something in common with these idiots....We all like being on the water. So lets keep whining about how we are all superior to these guys OR try and educate these newbs. Remember we ALL started somewhere. If you dont want to help educate these newbs than you may as well be part of the problem. Rant over.....Make this stupid whining thread go away and lets get back to fishing boys.

 

[Tailspin]

www.tailspincharters.com