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Thursday, 10 April 2008

The nasty kind...

oops... my bad

Why is it, I wonder, that there seems to be a rogue element of power boat anglers who believe they are the only guys with any god-given right to go fishing in the sea? It would be a gross generalisation to claim that most are like that because they're not. Indeed, I find that most boaters I meet are not only considerate, but also very friendly and often genuinely interested that kayakers can reach some of the places they do. But a small percentage of them really do seem to prefer to masturbate their egos instead and act like they're the only ones with any kind of right of way whatsoever.

I've spent a fair bit of time on the water so I've encountered a few of them. Unfortunately I had just such an encounter yesterday. Said spankers were fishing from a small powerboat close by the Bowen island. These guys passed nearby my kayak several times, coming as close as 10 metres at least twice. That didn't bother me really - I was just minding my business and them minding theirs. A couple of hours later they had anchored up and looked to be catching the odd fish. Eventually I trolled my way in that general direction, coming as close as about 50 metres. When I did so one of them yelled out 'Hey mate, would you mind moving away?'

I didn't respond in any way, other than to veer course slightly to appease their request. A part of me felt flattered that they saw me as a threat to their potential catch. But another part of me just thought 'get over yourselves... tools!'