1. Surfers....they suck big time. I go to one of my favorite spots a few weeks ago with a few buddies and we are fishing for about four hours, all of a sudden these two "Dudes" paddle their boards right out in front of us. They must have figured, "Hey, lets hang ten right in front of those guys ch#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g the 2 ounce pencil poppers with the treble hooks". Not too smart "Dude". Wouldn't you think these airheads would see us fishing and move on? So after a few casts..."At their heads", and a few kind, well chosen words, they elected to move down the beach a little. To show them that I was not a bad guy we eventually waved them back over as the fishing had died for some reason. If I had shown up after they did and they were surfing, I would not have fished right where they were surfing, so wouldn't you think these guys would use their heads for something other than a dreadlock holder?
2. Boat guys that decide that since the fish are blitzing within casting distance of the surf fisherman, it might be a good idea to troll a tube and worm right through the surface feeding fish instead of laying outside and making a few casts into them. Real bright guys some of those boat guys. (Relax, I said some of them, if this offends you then you must be one of them.)
When this does happen, I generally like to load my rod with a 3 oz. Hopkins and play "Lets See If I Can Nail The Boat Guy". Usually after a few well placed casts the light dawns on the "Captain" and he moves out a bit.
3. When you are slingin' eels, and you hook a fish and you vacate the spot for a few moments to unhook the fish for release, sometimes I need to shine a little light on the fish to remove the hook so I turn my back on the water so as not to spook the fish and by the time I turn to release the fish....some jackass decides to jump in my bootprints.
Not a problem though...I just walk over to the offending party and inform him that I am suffering from a rare disorder where if someone infringes on my fishing area, my 300 pound body goes into convulsions usually resulting in the offender being hip checked into the surf. Now realize that I respect other people and their space to the extreme degree, but I will not have my toes stepped on by anyone. Remember folks, you can get further with a few kind words in the form of a threat, than you can with a few kind words.
I just want to be treated as I treat others which I do not think is a bad thing.
4. Fisherman who feel that they need to walk as close to your back cast as they can when you are slingin' eels in the dark of night....The cure? An unfortunate graphite slap in the head usually does the trick.
5. Fisherman who waste fish....yeah waste fish...catch the fish, get caught up in the moment, and then just don't know what they are going to do with the fish, or they just do not feel like cleaning it. Such a waste. I caught three out of state guys down the Race a while ago dicarding as many as eight bluefish in various locations right on the trail. Not in the dunes...right in the middle of the trail. These blues were in the 13-14 pound size, real nice ones and it really ticked me off
so after reporting it to the Rangers, the offending trio were each fined fifty bucks each for littering. They could have been fined fifty bucks per fish but the Ranger cut them some slack. I just do not like to waste the resource. At the time I would have given my front teeth for a 14 pound blue. Evidently they had caught them the day before and just did not clean them or bleed them and they just threw them on the beach. And there they were, fishing again that day...I hope they got nothing more than the fifty dollar tickets that day.
Discussion...Objection...Agreement...Any additions?