White Catamaran Capt. D!$&

[Capt Eric]

keep from making it worse. If he is not a charter captain he was sure acting like he was one with his group.

Acting like a charter captain???? I'm not sure what this means, but please don't lump all charter captains into one group! I run the second largest full time private 6-pack boat on the lake, and I couldn't tell you how many times I've turned off a line that I wanted to be on because someone else (no matter what size their boat) had the right-of-way. Some people get it, some people don't. Right-of-way has nothing to do with size or the number of lines you're running. I've had little boats come at me on my left side, get inside my board line, then yell at me because I'm the *******! I'm sorry, but if you were on my right side, I would have turned long before you got that close, it's simple right-of-way.

I do everything I can to work with all the other boats around me, and sometimes we get in a pinch and have to call on the radio and ask for some help. Maybe ask someone to slow down just long enough to get by if we can't turn the other way. It happens! And about 6 times out of 10, we'll get a little help from the other boat. The other 4, we just have to deal with it. None of us want to trade paint out there......the paperwork just isn't worth it.

Oh, and my 2 cents on the original issue here? As the captain of any vessel, it is your responsibility to maneuver your vessel in order to avoid collision, even if you do not have the right-of-way. It sucks, I know. But in order to save your gear, sometimes you need to give way when you shouldn't have to. There are too many boater out there that either do not understand the rules of the road, do not care to follow the rules of the road, or get too involved in what's happening out the back of the boat to realize what's about to happen in the front!

Process of elimination.....this particular boat is not a charter. I saw Sara J mentioned a few times here... If it were a Sara J boat, close enough to hit your gear, you'd easily be able to identify it. Sara J's boats are floating billboards, you can read Sara J from 3 miles. (I'm saying this was NOT a Sara J boat involved in the original complaint post.) "Eagle Eye" is another 34' King Cat, and he is in the water at Anchors Away, but has not been out on the lake yet. "EyeTime", another 34' King Cat, still in the building at Anchors Away.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far. Tight Lines! Good luck! Stay safe!

[WVWalleyeHunter]

No offense intended to the good Charters out there. That was not the point of my post, it was to help me identify the culprit and that has been accomplished.
I did every thing I could to aviod the conflict, the area was not crowed and he had no reason not to turn and avoid me, like I said before i kept turning and turning to avoid him and even stopped to reel my gear in. He pushed me up against the shallow area and rock pile by the monument and then ran over my gear as I was reeling it in and never stopped and then he continued on like I wasnt even there.
I have identified the boat and it was not A Sara J boat or Eagle Eye or Eyetime.
If i have a run in with them again I will deal with it as approporiately and as "immaturely" as possible.

[Jiga-Byte]

WVWalleyeHunter it sounds like you did everything right in this case. You gave way, even when it wasn't your obligation. You did everything you could prevent an incident. I have no idea who this person/boat was but it sounds like they were just trying to be a bully out there on the water.

I realize that there are always two sides to every story, so I will refrain from formulating opinions on any one person or boat. But from what you've stated - you did everything right; especially the part about not retaliating in the presence of the children.

Its sad that some people are selfish and inconsiderate of other vessels on the water. Hopefully we can all learn from this; and move on to respect each other on the water and become better fisherman.