[rpsurf5]

All,

I was fishing Jamaica Bay/JFK yesterday , as you can tell from all the recent reports from there, there are loads of bunker and fish.

I was out there in my kayak yesterday. The bunker were EVERYWHERE , pods and pods of them. Enough schools for every boat out there to have their own personal school. I headed towards a spot in the middle , mindful to keep a safe and respectable distance from any boats in the area. Once I found a spot , I saw a good school of bunker that had no boats on it so I headed towards it and started snagging. I happen to look over my shoulder and one of the boats that was not near me and not on the school I was on was about 15 ft behind me

! That is not a safe and respectable distance to be from any boat , let alone a kayak. The guy saw me go towards a school and in spite of all the bunker in the bay , he needed to follow a KAYAK to get on a school !! I turned around and said something , but he ignored me. I said something again and he finally said something back. He said "I was here first". That is BS, he was nowhere near the school I was working until he saw me on it.

99% of the time I am on the water in my kayak I have no issues. Lots of respectful people out there. But yesterday was the 1% of the time that really sucked. No reason or execuse for that guy to be up my ass like that.

I am sure most people who read this do the right thing on the water. The others who dont probably arent reading this or dont care. But have some respect for other people on the water.

John

 

[MickieBelle]

The guy sounded like a bully John. If one of these characters gets out of hand take his hull # and call it in.

 

[SORTIE]

rpsurf5 wrote:
have some respect for other people on the water
this is the crux of John's post. it doesn't cost you a dime to take another vessel into consideration when piloting your own. even if a kayak or rowing shell is in open water (i.e. not a no-wake zone) I don't go charging by leaving a 2' wake behind me. Keep your eyes open and put yourself in the other boater's shoes.

 

[MakoMike]

SORTIE wrote:
rpsurf5 wrote:
have some respect for other people on the water
this is the crux of John's post. it doesn't cost you a dime to take another vessel into consideration when piloting your own. even if a kayak or rowing shell is in open water (i.e. not a no-wake zone) I don't go charging by leaving a 2' wake behind me. Keep your eyes open and put yourself in the other boater's shoes.


Just a reminder that you are legally responsible for your wake, whether you are in a no wake zone or not. Any damage you wake causes will be on your dime.

 

[SORTIE]

MakoMike wrote:
SORTIE wrote:
rpsurf5 wrote:
have some respect for other people on the water
this is the crux of John's post. it doesn't cost you a dime to take another vessel into consideration when piloting your own. even if a kayak or rowing shell is in open water (i.e. not a no-wake zone) I don't go charging by leaving a 2' wake behind me. Keep your eyes open and put yourself in the other boater's shoes.


Just a reminder that you are legally responsible for your wake, whether you are in a no wake zone or not. Any damage you wake causes will be on your dime.
the Circle Liner sometimes waked the chit out of us when I was rowing in college (Harlem River boys, not very picturesque). In the mid-70s a rower perished after his four-oared shell was swamped by the Circle Line under the Broadway bridge -- he tried to swim for shore but was caught by the current. his body was found a month later under the GW bridge.


This post edited by SORTIE 03:39 PM 05/05/2008

 

[DarthBaiter]

SORTIE wrote:
MakoMike wrote:
SORTIE wrote:
rpsurf5 wrote:
have some respect for other people on the water
this is the crux of John's post. it doesn't cost you a dime to take another vessel into consideration when piloting your own. even if a kayak or rowing shell is in open water (i.e. not a no-wake zone) I don't go charging by leaving a 2' wake behind me. Keep your eyes open and put yourself in the other boater's shoes.

Just a reminder that you are legally responsible for your wake, whether you are in a no wake zone or not. Any damage you wake causes will be on your dime.
the Circle Liner sometimes waked the chit out of us when I was rowing in college (Harlem River boys, not very picturesque). In the mid-70s a rower perished after his boat was swamped by the Circle Line under the Broadway bridge -- he tried to swim for shore but was caught by the current. his body was found a month later under the GW bridge.

Circle line is gonna be hearing from a Dockmate who's boat almost ended up on the dock from a Circle line Ferry.

you are responsible for your wake
Seems the bigger the boat, the less meaning this has. I still can't believe all the wazoos flying by the Columbus U. rowers in the East river.

 

[ihavegills]

Saw that on the post

This was my reply,

I was the green 2 seater yak

I think I saw you anchored towards the center.
Bunker blitz action has always been a "run'n'gun" game. My yak takes wake water the whole time when someone is in front. The wakes don't bother me though, comes with the territory in that kind of action. My rule is, if you have no control over a situation and you are uncomfortable....remove yourself from the situation. There's plenty of water and fish to avoid steady channel traffic. I don't think any one boat would purposely attemt to swamp us and we're all here to write about this.

To elaborate, I don't think this guy was out to get you. You were just in his way of getting to HIS bass. The problem is you are the unfortunate one in this situation. I would have continued to paddle further away. You said it your self, the bunker were everywhere. Makes it that much better when you rope in and start hooting, WOO-HOO...THERE OVER HERE....HA-HA!

If you expect people to respect YOUR space in THEIR water, you'll be let down everytime.

 

[baywatch]

2 Sided Coin

I think with gas prices the way they are you will more yaks on the water. Most of the time they are used in shallow places were power vessels can not go.

This sounds like it's going to be an ongoing problem.

Down here they have areas known as NO MOTOR ZONES and the fishing there is fantasic. Matter of fact lots of stink potters have yaks on there boats anchor the p/b up and paddle in to some of these places.

 

[rpsurf5]

ihavegills wrote:
This was my reply,

I was the green 2 seater yak

I think I saw you anchored towards the center.
Bunker blitz action has always been a "run'n'gun" game. My yak takes wake water the whole time when someone is in front. The wakes don't bother me though, comes with the territory in that kind of action. My rule is, if you have no control over a situation and you are uncomfortable....remove yourself from the situation. There's plenty of water and fish to avoid steady channel traffic. I don't think any one boat would purposely attemt to swamp us and we're all here to write about this.

To elaborate, I don't think this guy was out to get you. You were just in his way of getting to HIS bass. The problem is you are the unfortunate one in this situation. I would have continued to paddle further away. You said it your self, the bunker were everywhere. Makes it that much better when you rope in and start hooting, WOO-HOO...THERE OVER HERE....HA-HA!

If you expect people to respect YOUR space in THEIR water, you'll be let down everytime.

Eric,

I saw the guy as I was pedaling. I specifically picked a spot in the middle of the water a safe, respectful distance away from him. Before I knew it he followed me and was up my ass. After my little chat with him, I moved away from him.

He may have not been out to swamp me , but he crowded me on purpose and could have potentially put me in a life threatning situation , not cool at all. He knew exactly what he was doing and his lack of remorse when I said something proved it. Just the fact he was so close to me we could carry on a conversation shows he was too close to me.

The guy was throwing a cast net , he wasnt having much luck , with all the bunker around he should have gotten a weeks worth with one throw. They were so thick I could have scooped them up with my landing net ! Maybe that is why he was so ornery !

John

 

[ihavegills]

I know that netter you were talking about. That's all he did all morning. I did not see one bunker come up, nor did I see a pole go over. Should have thrown a bunker in his boat and told him this may be the only one he get's the way that net was working. LOL.

 

[PaddleOn]

Unfortunately we are at a major disadvantage in our kayaks and basically "sitting ducks" out there.
I've had one bonehead up my rear once that freaked me out

A sailboat!!!
I could have reached out and touched the hull.

I'll never understand humans.

 

[Bigkeepers]

That is the biggest problem I have with north shore boaters. A few of us will be out drifting for fluke or whatever spaced out nicely so everyone has their own personal space and some jackass needs to do 30 right between all of us. It isn't dangerous necessarily although it could be. What it is though is very discourteous. Thanks for the wake pal. There is an entire Long Island Sound and you need to drive right past me.

 

[tunafever]

Sucks that he HAD to be that close, but how was the fishing ??

 

[baywatch]

I've had one bonehead up my rear once that freaked me out
A sailboat!!!

Was he under power or sail?

Sometimes those blow boaters take advantage being under sail usually with power boats( stink potters )

A sail boat overtaking a Yak is unheard of and totally out of line.

If he was that close a knife along the hull would give a nice reminder of waht he/they have done.

 

[ReelTime]

Hi Viz

I always give smaller craft, whatever they are, a wide space. I know what it feels like to wonder if the lunatic even sees you! I know I have a hard time getting back into a kayak. And the water's still so cold.

I have the same issue in traffic when on a bicycle. I wonder if they make a small strobe light on a pole? I have flashing lights front and rear on the bike. Also those aerosol horns are great. A loaded flare gun with a white flare might be good to have?
Also water resistant camera that will take a beating to catch they guy on film for his numbers or boat name.

Same old story, you're surroounded by assassins.

vk

 

[MakoMike]

baywatch wrote:
I've had one bonehead up my rear once that freaked me out
A sailboat!!!

A sail boat overtaking a Yak is unheard of and totally out of line.

I would have thought that it was a fairly common occurance? The overtaking vessel is always the burdened vessel even if he is under sail.

 

[bassman909]

The only time I have ever been waked enough, that I thought my 21ft boat would flip, was an early spring day a few years ago, water still in the 40's, and I have the kids out to see the seals. We are outside the channel near the Jones Beach Piers. The BOAT that almost flipped me and my kids? THE NASSAU COUNTY POLICE BOAT. And he just kept on going. I had to grab my son from going over!

Scary when the idiots aren't just weekend warriors.

 

[ihavegills]

Police boat

LOL- Biggest wake I had to deal with in the yak Sunday was the police boat. We were just in the launch zone in about 4-6 ft of water and the waves were peaking at that point. Could have surfed them.

 

[baywatch]

Mike,

My point being is that usually a blow boater is a pretty savey person, aragent yes... becuase of the sail rule, but still knowledgeable and should know better in a situation like that.

 

[GotTheBlues]

forget the yaks for a minute, theres no common courtesy at all out there. I can give you a thousand stories. I cant wait till boating liscenses are mandatory where people will actually have to learn the rules of the water.

And for all you yakkers out there, if theres some kind of fishing tourney for yaks like last week and you all bunch up in an area dont do that smack in middle of narrow channels, you can go to alot of places our boats cant around channels. I was coming through the channel in j-bay last week and I had to wait for 10 yakkers to row away so i can get through, and there were about 20 more that just sat there showing me to go around them, so I did, at full throttle Hope I shook you guys up alittle.

Yakkers, get out of the channels, and get your yak out of the water at night if you dont have proper lighting.

I have full respect for every single person in the water, doest matter if you on a yak, jetski, boat, swimming and safety is my first concern, but I still look at everyone in the water as if they dont know what their doing, meaning i always just keep my distance.