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.

[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!!!!!!!!!

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Duke41]

You a rock formation

[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.

[Surfpirate]

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

[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 ..

[Backbeach Jake]

We're all googs when we're out of our element. I'm supagoog on rocks.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by 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.

That would be a Barney, similar in appearance and action but typically landlocked and has a gun rather than a rod.
There are others of the same genus, skiers are known as Turkeys and typically hang out in Bars in the latest ski clothes and are seen standing on double diamond slopes, if you watch carefully you will realize they are slowly sidestepping down the entire trail. They will tell everyone in the bar at happy hour that they blasted down Ovation and how tough it was.

[Squid kids Dad]

Same thing happened to me last year and I found out it was a club member...Go figure..

[Frankiesurf]

Last week I was standing 150 feet or so from a blitz. Casting into it and catching blue after blue. The only other guy I can see is 300 yards to my left. I see him start wading his way towards me. He stops about 20 or so yards from me and the first thing he does is get on his cell phone and then starts waving his arms over his head like a madman. I look over my shoulder and here comes his buddy who sets up directly to my right. This guy has an 8 footer spooled with mono and his casts are going maybe 50 feet. His buddy has what looks like a 6 foot boat rod with a spinning reel on it. He is casting AND reeling upside down. I am not sure but it looked like he was using clams but reeling like they were plugs. This guy was casting about 30 feet. It gave me great pleasure to continue catching fish while these two idiots were coming up blank. I did tell the one cell phone idiot he was walking much to close to a 3 foot drop off. His buddy probably would have drowned trying to save his dumb ass and I would have had to make the call.

There were fish all over the place even if a little farther out than they could cast. Why jump in right next to me? I have the ONLY fish producing spot?

[Brian L]

Hysterical..

Yes, all you can do is hope to educate folks w/r/t etiquette when things like this happen, as it's obvious that nobody else has or will. Just think of the service you pay to yourself and your fellow anglers in the future when the offender ceases his behavior. (yeah, I'm an optimist, and hopefully you don't get the uber-jerk who will also tell you to go f*** yourself even when you try to help them out!)

Boat guys can and will be the same. Just yesterday I'm fishing up in the bay along a ripline in about 6-10 feet of water. I'd been drifting over the same spot for a good 45 minutes with nobody but an anchored commercial boat within half a mile of me. Guy and his wife in a 30-sumpthin foot ski/pleasure boat and an umbrella rig on wire line comes trolling up the deeper edges of the island then turns hard left and drives no more than 25 yards off my stern. My fishing partner has a pogie out right in that range and had to reel it in pronto to keep from getting cut off. The guy cuts right over our drift, and looks over at me frowning and pointing hectically at his line, cussing at us because we're in his way!

I looked up, wanted to say something horrible (we'd caught two keepers at that spot), but instead loudly shared with him that he's probably going to get snagged on bottom with all that wire out and an umbrella rig in 10ft. of water. He mutters something I couldn't hear(probably good that I didn't!), then drives another 100ft, finding the bottom quickly as his line climbed up the shallow part of the rip from the 25ft depth he was in. His rig snares, rod goes over and he thinks he's on a big fish, because the boat is still moving and line is ripping of his reel. He jumps quickly off the wheel, grabs the rod and begins hollering instructions at his wife/girlfriend as to how to control the boat. He then waves to me and points to his line as if I should get out of the way because he's "on". I looked over at him and shook my head, laughing. "You're SNAGGED!" I said. Took him a good minute or two to believe me then he took another good 10 minutes to unsnag himself. When he finished, he reeled his line up and drove off with a pout, said nothing and wasn't seen by us the rest of the day.

Had I said what I originally wanted to say, my guess is that a person that ignorant would have went out of his way to make the next several hours of my fishing as miserable as possible. As it was, we let him make an ass of himself after the warning, waited 10 minutes and went back to fishing. Got five decent keepers yesterday and had a nice day on the water that stayed nice because I didn't lose my head.