So your catching fish and an internet hero shows up

[BasicPatrick]

So there I was this past weekend...Wendy and I were at a popular south facing beach out for a late afternooon of Blueeeefishing. It's fun...sorry Clammer.

I was fishing a bit to the left of the crowd and making long casts out over one of the lesser bars (to the left of a couple boats..wink wink). It was very slow but I had picked up a couple fish and since no one around was hooking up I decided to stay in the spot, plus Wendy was near me and we were fishing together.

A long comes what at first looked like any another fisherman. I land a fish as he is coming up the beach and he stops short of me and puts on his rubber waders with no belt. He then gets in the water about 25 feet to my right. He is casting an 8 foot rod with a small creek chub popper rigged with no wire or even heavy mono leader. I am throwing a 10 foot rod. He had no shot of reaching where I was casting, none at all.

I hook up again at the end of a decent cast (200 feet or so) and within 5 minutes my new neighbor proceeds to wade out 30 feet directly in front of me. I am waste deep mind you. After a few casts he turns back at me and informs me he is not trying to cut me off or steal my spot and is just trying to get out on the sand bar pointing to where I am hooking up my fish. He explains how the fish will lay up over that bar and how "we who know the spot" will wade out with the dropping tide blah blah blah". He told me the fish were eating squid (hense his blue popper...lol) and a bunch of other info he must have read somewhere. He didn't ask and I didn't tell that I know the location well and have been fishing it for years. I respond "it's afree country"and I am staying where I am.

He proceeds to wade another five feet out and realizes he can not make it to the bar. I begin waiting for him to turn back but nope, he stays there, 25 feet right in front of me. I am waiting and in a bit of shock, so I keep fishing, right over his head. I decided I was not going to move one inch. Wendy was still a bit down the beach and I remember not wanting to get in a situation with this fool with her there.

I hook up again and the fish of course is fighting straight out in front of me. I try and keep it from happening but the fish gets in front of what I now consider a complete idiot. He doesn't move one inch as I land the fish.

The Googan (I am now convinced) turns back to me and announces he is going to try and make the bar again. I respond that I am not moving. He wades around a few different places all in my way and makes it out to the bar with the water only inches from the top of his waders. He hooks up immediately. I keep casting, with my Roberts landing all around him. Of course he spooks the fish off the bar and out of my range. A few times he gave me some dirty looks. One time I had to pull the cast as he was going to get a direct hit.

20 minutes later he starts slowly wading back in. I notice he broke off and am very aggrivated as I have not hooked up since he went out on the bar. I was even more pissed because of his obvious attitude and the manner in which he had been telling me what was going on but he just wasted both of our time by spooking the fish off the bar and out of casting range and was now coming in.

As he wades back in front of me moving very slow. I had to ask the question. "You giving up already?"

"I'm going home to eat dinner. These waders are full of water and I am freezing." The tide should be dropping by now."

I say, "The tide is still coming in."

He replies, "High tide is something o'clock, over an hour ago."

I say, "If you really knew the spot or had turned around when you couln't make it I might have told you that on this wind the tide can be delayed and at 20 knots of wind like we had most of the afternoon we aren't even slack yet. You're just lucky you didnt slip with no belt as you might have got yourself hurt. Have a nice dinner."

He says nothing shaking his head.

I watch him take off the waders and they were indeed filled to the brim. Soaked to the drawers with waders in tow he sloshes off the beach and I just grin and have a private chuckle wondering what web site he belongs to.

Wendy came over and asked my why I didn't hit him with a Kastmaster.

the moral of the story is I just can't win.

[Raider Ronnie]

Patrick,
I've seen you cast with some very good accuracy !.
You should listen to Bigfish and carry this biggest Hopkins in your bag at all times,
And cast it at his frigin head !

[Swimmer]

Googan maybe, jerk absolutely............

[Tagger]

amazing .. internet hero ? I doubt it or he would have some clue , Good Job restraining yourself,,,thats just plain common sense.. Guys a Chooch !!!

[tattoobob]

Patrick, you won
he went home defeated you were there to fish on.

Just chock it up to another know-it-all they are everywhere in life

I deal with them all the time in work, of corse everyone knows how to do Plumbing

[numbskull]

Patrick, I know people like you and you are highly respected in the fishing community, but experienced fishermen denigrating novices bothers me. Maybe trying to help the guy would have worked better. If you had shared your knowledge of the tide with him, he may have remained dry and you could have gone on catching fish for another hour before he tried to get to the bar. Or maybe not. You'll never know. Either way, it is sad to see a man of your prominence in the fishing community get sucked into trying to graze some guy's ear with a Roberts plug. Better to leave that crap for fools like me.

[JFigliuolo]

It was nice meeting you too today!

[joe the plumber]

Originally Posted by tattoobob

Patrick, you won
he went home defeated you were there to fish on.

Just chock it up to another know-it-all they are everywhere in life

I deal with them all the time in work, of corse everyone knows how to do Plumbing

Hell yeah!! If I was any dumba,I'd be a plumba.

[Notaro]

Hahaha, this is a funny story. I get that with people who wanted to talk to me about fighting and combat practical applications. Ugh. Pain in the arse.

[BasicPatrick]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Patrick, I know people like you and you are highly respected in the fishing community, but experienced fishermen denigrating novices bothers me. Maybe trying to help the guy would have worked better. If you had shared your knowledge of the tide with him, he may have remained dry and you could have gone on catching fish for another hour before he tried to get to the bar. Or maybe not. You'll never know. Either way, it is sad to see a man of your prominence in the fishing community get sucked into trying to graze some guy's ear with a Roberts plug. Better to leave that crap for fools like me.

Numbskull...Thanks for the compliment and I see your point. I don't think he was a novice and Googan was probably the wrong description. Swimmer was probably dead on...just a guy acting like a jerk on that particular day. Funny thing was the night before I was with Roy, John and some kids from The Fishing Academy and they had far less knowledge and skill but far more ettquitte, even for each other. I hope if I had thought he was really a novice I would have said more, however the intitial intereactions had me thinking to avoid a confrontation.

Karl...I miss the real BM!!!!!!!!!

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by BasicPatrick

The tide should be dropping by now."

I say, "The tide is still coming in."

He replies, "High tide is something o'clock, over an hour ago."

BP.

I can sympathize. let me set the scene...

I made the mistake of fishing a breachway last year during the world series on a fairly late tide, fishing with 2 others we picked some decent mid-20lb fish among schools of 3-5lb bluefish. The next night I figured I'd sneak back, got there early, and jigged inside waiting for the drop. Saw a bunch of lights coming, so said 'F'it, I'll stay till the turn, make a drift or two and then fish my way back to the truck...' So it's 30min from the drop, water (obviously and visibly) rushing IN and some guy marches out in sneakers and said in an agitated tone, 'hey, Bud, mind if we get a drift out too'..... I bit my tongue, and nicely said, 'Bud, we can get a drift going in a while when the tide starts going OUT!'

I made a drift and left the 9 guys there.

thats why I rarely can stand to fish there!

[Duke41]

I see you point Patrick but I can't wonder what a cluster it could have been if A you hit him in the face with a cast or B he went under and get swept past the bar, waders full of water. The fact that he told you what he wanted to do and did it does not make his actions forgivable. He is in fact an ultra googan jack ass. However the Lord may present opportunities from time to time to protect the idiot from his actions. Tight lines and good health to you.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Patrick, I know people like you and you are highly respected in the fishing community, but experienced fishermen denigrating novices bothers me. Maybe trying to help the guy would have worked better. If you had shared your knowledge of the tide with him, he may have remained dry and you could have gone on catching fish for another hour before he tried to get to the bar. Or maybe not. You'll never know. Either way, it is sad to see a man of your prominence in the fishing community get sucked into trying to graze some guy's ear with a Roberts plug. Better to leave that crap for fools like me.

How many people on this board do you think know what "denigrating" actually means?

Do you think that maybe they only have a clue by comparing the context of your post and therby assume that it must mean something other than complimentary?

Then again, inserting the phrase "by berating the guy" instead of denigrating would just confuse the masses as well.

Might as well leave it alone.

[Saltheart]

Don't neeed internet heroes for this. I've had it happen at 2 AM on a 6 mile stretch of beach with no one around but me and my buddy. Guy walks out onto the beach. heads straight for us (he has 6 miles to choose from , why head towards us?) walks all over my line , actually asks me to move my bait rod so it doesn't get tangled in his legs. Spends 10 minutes there , and then leaves. This guy was so stupid you couldn't even get angry. We just smirked while he was there then laughed our butts off when he left in just ten minutes after walking all over us. this kind of scene is repeated daily , all up and down the coast , from may to Nov.

[Steve K]

I did not think that internet heroes actually fished.

[Bronko]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

How many people on this board do you think know what "denigrating" actually means?

Do you think that maybe they only have a clue by comparing the context of your post and therby assume that it must mean something other than complimentary?

Then again, inserting the phrase "by berating the guy" instead of denigrating would just confuse the masses as well.

Might as well leave it alone.

Yea, we will leave big-time grammar and vocabulary lessons to the smart guys. Could you please stick with the real basic stuff for us troglodytes?

Thanks.

[Duke41]

You a rock formation

[spence]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

How many people on this board do you think know what "denigrating" actually means?

The irony is just killing me here

-spence

[Blitzseeker]

Salt-

You are so right that this happens all the time, and if fascinates me.

I fish a lot on the Outer Cape and steer clear of crowds whenever I can. Frequently I'm on beach where there is no one else in either direction for as far as you can see. When a truck comes into view, you can bet with a high degree of accuracy that they will stop and fish within 20 yards of where I am.

What causes this?

- inexperience/assumption that if someone is fishing there must be fish?
- basic desire for human contact?
- desire to piss others off?
- the fact that i fish in "good looking spots"?

I just don't follow the logic. If I'm driving down an empty beach and see one truck with a couple guys fishing, the chances of me doing anything but waving hello are zero.

[Bronko]

Originally Posted by spence

The irony is just killing me here

-spence

[Swimmer]

Sitting on bucket in between two rods 10 P.M. some night during the bass derby about twnety years ago. The beach is public but where I parked was Indian property that I had permission to park on. I had an unobstructed view for a few miles in either direction. Wagoneer comes careening over the top of the sand dune and parks about 30' away. Person driving gets out and plants a sand spike and his rod in the sand about two feet from my rod, looks at me and says your fishing in my spot.

Needless to say the next few hours until they both left were rather contentious. At one point I bolted to my left knocking the putz with the big mouth down when a skunk snunck up on my bait about 1 foot from where I was sitting and it scared the beejesus out of me.

I didn't budge an inch.

[Swimmer]

One more thing Pat, the other day I was fishing in the same general area. I watched two fellow club members catch quite a few and finally walked that way. After an hour or so RoyL and two of his buddies walked up the beach and got in on the action. We kept going for 45 minutes or so. A half hour later everyone down the beach near where everyone parks walked up the beach to catch. When the last ten fishermen were within 10 steps of where we were catching many blues the bite stopped. It was frieking hilarious. They watched and watched and watch for the longest time and the bite stopped when they were ten steps away.

[Backbeach Jake]

Originally Posted by spence

The irony is just killing me here

-spence

I got quite the chuckle outa that myself..

[Surfpirate]

So the moral of the story is..... listen to Clammer!

[BasicPatrick]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

One more thing Pat, the other day I was fishing in the same general area. I watched two fellow club members catch quite a few and finally walked that way. After an hour or so RoyL and two of his buddies walked up the beach and got in on the action. We kept going for 45 minutes or so. A half hour later everyone down the beach near where everyone parks walked up the beach to catch. When the last ten fishermen were within 10 steps of where we were catching many blues the bite stopped. It was frieking hilarious. They watched and watched and watch for the longest time and the bite stopped when they were ten steps away.

I met Roy and John there right after you were there...and after the bite died...great working with the kids...Wendy and I actually ahd them back to the house for a cookout after...

I expect people to move down on the location fish are being caught...I would never blame someone for doing so...I just didn't expect someone to get directly in front of me...such is life

[JoeBass]

There are a lot of knuckleheads out there. I had a similar experience with 2 guys coming out to where I was fishing, standing 10 feet from me and casting over my line. I was not cool headed about it and let them have it. I just don't understand it. After reading all these responses I'm still not sure what I would in the same situation. You want to take the high road, but you also don't want to let these idiots walk all over ya. so frustrating.

Now I'm going to ask the dumbest question....what's a Googan? (I know it's an "idiot" from these posts but I've never heard it)

[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by JoeBass

Now I'm going to ask the dumbest question....what's a Googan? (I know it's an "idiot" from these posts but I've never heard it)

Its kind of an amalgam of distasteful personality traits. Not the worst kind of person, but has the potential to be the worst kind of person.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by JoeBass

Now I'm going to ask the dumbest question....what's a Googan? (I know it's an "idiot" from these posts but I've never heard it)

Its what we all were before somebody showed us what to do.

[Adam_777]

I first thought googan was someone who used google for all the answers.Now after watching the word evolve I try and paint a picture of a googan and the person that comes to mind is Barney from the Andy Griffith show.Does stuff wrong but doesn't know any better until he is shown.Not trying to cause problems but his general presence usually does a good job of it.Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Tagger]

I still got alot of goog moves ,,always will .. That "internet hero " is a lofty perch .. no thanks .. goog on ..