be careful when fishing alone
 

I Heard this from a friend who heard it on a scanner about 4 am this morning. A lone fisherman out at gooseberry was beat up and struck in the head with a rock. The fisherman although hurt and bleeding called police and proceeded to follow the six people in his car while talking to the local PD.
The Westport police caught and arrested all six jerks, they also called EMT's to the scene to take care of the fishermans injuries. I have no names, but if I see or hear anything more I will update.

Kudo's to the police and I hope the injuries to the fisherman are not serious.

Please be careful especially if you fish alone.

WOW that guy is lucky!!!!!!!!!!! and tough & I thought I had it bad today sinking in mud up to knees.
ML

be armed :rocketem: when alone...

I hope it's not who I think it might be......and he is usually armed...

No it wasn't him matt.

thanks Max....I just called him and no anwser...I was getting worried
Glad they got the punk scum!!!!! :liquify:

Glad to hear he was able to follow them and contact the authorities. Hope he is ok, but also hope he's a member or knows a member to provide some intel about these fools. Should they even be seen in an area of fisherman again maybe a smile and a pat on the dive knife or long handled gaff will wake them the f#%k up and let them know I know who you are and it's game on. :hang: :skulz:

good to hear it wasn't him.. if it were, i'd be more worried about the 6 punks :nailem:

This just sucks! I hope the fisherman is okay and these scumbags get convicted of assault and get some time, but that probably won't happen in this state.

I fish alone all the time, and just carry a knife with me, and I would rather leave than be confrontational as I have a family to consider, but stories like this make me want to get my pistol permit.

The last thing I want is to have to deal with someone looking to screw with me when I am fishing, unfortunately, you run into some strange characters and the odds go up that you will encounter some bad characters, or alcohol or chemically impaired punks when you are out in the middle of the night alone at some places. I would rather have the ability to defend myself rather than have my skull crushed in after handing over a wallet.

There is a post on another forum about a fisherman from Long Island that is missing. A determination has not been made as to what happened Friday night, but this guy has not returned home. I hope he shows up home alright and hope that he is not the victim of violence or fishing accident - it appears that he was fishing alone too.

A sidearm while fishing...are you guys n#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g futs?

If anything carry pepper spray, anything else isn't going to be worth the legal hassle when you have to justify defending yourself.

-spence

rather be tryed by 12 than be carried by 6. iffin' you have a permit to carry- you're silly not to these days.

Silly not to? It's not like we live in that violent a place. Granted, I feel for the guy, but this seems to be a very isolated event...

-spence

Even if it isn't that violent of a place, carrying will only add a little extra weight. The fisher would have been justified in doing what he had to if he had been carrying. Chances are if these 6 meatballs had seen a sidearm, they would have beat feet.

Granted I would hate to shoot someone. But if I feared for my life they would have been onthe losing end. None of them would have wanted to be the first one with an extra orifice.

Oh and pepper spray doesn't work on everyone. When I was in the service we had to do the CS gas tent. It is a confidence thing so you believe in your mask. You filed into the building and stood at parade rest. The DI would them come in and explain what was going to happen. He would then crack 3 CS canisters. Someone would yell GAS and everyone would mask up....except for our DI. He would walk up to each soldier and have them unmask. Your eyes would shut and your nose and throat would be on fire. You had to sound off with name, rank and social sec #. Most guys would hold their breath before unmasking and just spit it all out with a held breath. The DI would then ask the soldier something else forcing him to take a breath. CS makes pepper spray seem like cotton candy. A guy like the Drill Seargent Mallet would have laughed at ya if ya squirted him with the spray. So my advise is if you carry spray be prepared. You may use it on a guy like the DI I had in basic.

I would imagine saltwater isn't very good for the canisters either.

That was my first thought too. He would probably negotiate his way out of it without using force though.:angel:

:laughs:

Mac, maybe we should dig out our K-bars and hang them off our surf belts.......... Hell, if I felt threatened, my 1088 would be more than just a deterant, could do some serious damage to someone, even if I had to sacrifice the rod.

Unfortunately, people being the victim of violent crimes is hardly a rare event. I agree it is rare that a fisherman is jumped at 4am by 6 goons, but in general, society is incredibly violent. In fact, the US leads the world in violence, but the good news is the rest of the world is catching up. Read Col. David Grossamn's books on violence and killing or "Killology", it is.....interesting to say the least.

Man I was just down the road about the same time that morning. What is wierd though, a blazer pulled up and two guys got out and one had just shorts and a t on(it was very cold) he kind up stood a little behind me to the side and I was thinking what the @#@# is this guy doing(he was just standing staring at me for a minute) as my hand went to my knife and then they started getting fly fishing gear out and and I was at ease,but they didn't look like fly fisherman.You never know! I hope that guy is ok:eek5:

all six are guilty of assault with a deadly weapon (the rock)
if they operated in force together...

they should all do hard time.

gotta carry a nice knife on ya at all times... there the only things that never jam in the heat of the moment ;)

Could post M18A1's around your perimiter as well :gf:

Seriously I just don't see it. I wouldn't have any fun fishing a location I felt was that threatening. Surfcasting at night can be dangerous enough as it is.

A much better bet would be to not fish alone.

-spence

A lot harder to fend off six guys with a knife than a gun. Can't convince my wife of this... Just having it would have probably been enough to keep this from going down that way.

Louisville Slugger. My weapon of choice.

Lets be real, a knife doesn't do much against a rock. And in the dark it doesn't offer quite the visual deterrence (without making it very visible) that a nice baseball bat does. You can visibly leave a bat hanging out of your trunk or at the edge of a pickup bed if you're feeling nervous due to someone nearby.

And, you can inflict serious, disabling pain with far less potential for manslaughter then you could with a gun or knife. One negative is you can't really handle a firearms with a bat.

No permit or anything else needed too. Obviously you can't tote it out with you when fishing, but it's still ideal when you're at your vehicle which is where a lot of these incidents go down, I would imagine.

I'm still trying to confirm who the victim is of this incident. I have a bad feeling it's someone I know, as he was heading there in the AM that day and haven't heard from him since.

local paper may have some info later this week. will post when i find out

http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/imag...02_img0400.jpg
Voodoo Doll - they never know what hit them..I've got several going at all times...

Everyone here has some good points and I agree that you should carry SOMETHING to protect yourself. I have nothing against firearms but can understand that most people wouldnt want to deal with what happens after you shoot someone. A bat is a good choice, they even have those stubby bats made for clubbing fish which could be handy because you could keep it with you. A nice extractable baton would be a nice choice too. A good point was made that surf fishing at night is dangerous enough as it is weather it be slippery rocks or rough current, that gives me a nice little rush and adds to the excitement for me but the last thing I want to worry about is someone else putting me in danger. I dont get scared at night but I am very cautious when someone is around and I try to always be ready for anything that could happen. I like being on a beach with other anglers around, that is probably when I feel the most safe because hopefully they would try to help me like I would anyone else. Sorry for the long reply, I just think a good discussion came of this and would like to hear what other people have to say. Thanks alot.

Alex

I am not really sure of what the situation was, whether he was coming or going. I know if i was leaving and saw a bunch of guys partying in the parking lot perhaps being a bit roudy, i probably would have called the cops, hung back and checked out the scene before they saw me. Then again if i pulled into the parking lot and saw a bunch of guys drinking, i would have called the cops.
As i see it now, I am sure the gate will now start being locked up again making for a long walk being made longer.

The thing with drawing a weapon is, you better be ready to use it, both physically and mentally or be prepared to have that weapon used on you. Having a gun is great, but do you have the stones to protect yourself when the chips are down and your life is in serious danger, which in this situation, it clearly was? I have not a doubt in my mind that I will use deadly force to save my life, I have held that mindset since the age of 18 when I served in the infantry and now as a patrolman, I have to live, I have to win each confrontation, period. Anything short of that, weapons are useless and could be dangerous.

That's how I feel as well and it's why I like my visible (without actually holding it) baseball bat. Once you're wielding a knife, something is either already happening or likely to happen or at the very least the police will pay you a visit wondering why you were wielding a knife. It's just more drama then I need. Then again, so is getting whacked in the head with a rock, which is why there is logic to a gun.

I just feel with the bat I can clearly be a discouraging target, without actively doing anything. Head things off before they get to a confrontational level. If I'm in a spot I'm feeling vulnerable, I just make sure the bat is visible in the light of my trunk or that I shine the light on it in the bed of a truck. It passively gets the message across without escalating a situation.

Tough subject, and tough to get the balance of safety and defense right...

3oz snag hook to the head.