Fishermen!

[fisherman.ben]

hmm, sounds like trouble. still think i'll keep them on board, perhaps i'll call them "emergency signaling devices" (in the uscg rules of the road, they do mention guns as signaling devices)

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by fisherman.ben

hmm, sounds like trouble. still think i'll keep them on board, perhaps i'll call them "emergency signaling devices" (in the uscg rules of the road, they do mention guns as signaling devices)

good luck using that story

[minaret]

They make signal cannons that are actually legal. Try pulling out your shotgun and firing a round to signal the Coast Gaurd, please. It will be entertaining to read about the results in the news, another Darwin Award..

[mrohr]

Well ,any power boater that cuts your fishing line astern at least was applying good seamanship by passing (crossing) astern, and was oblivious to the fact that there were any lines in the water. I was once crew on a sailboat that did the reverse trick of cutting the lines of a sport fisherman. Made for an interesting encounter.
I too have lost tackle in the more crowded inshore waters of the US East coast;but since
very few sailboats inshore are trolling lines, it is easy to understand how this may happen, I just try to be alert to these crossing situations and start reeling in franticly when I detect trouble looming.

[captain58sailin]

You can also hang a basket from the rigging to indicate fishing as a dayshape. The issue is most casual boaters would not understand the meaning anymore than the dual cone with the apexes towards each other. The other issue is most casual boaters would not even see the dayshapes until way too late. Week end warriors are usually not as observant as the full time at sea people are. Anyone who believes that making a living commercial fishing is easy are delusional. Crabby illustrates very well the kind of dedication, and diligence that is required to wrest a living from the sea, not to mention that the sea is doing it's best to kill us if we are unwary, foolish or unlucky. Since we spend more time on the water than most our exposure and risk is much higher than the casual seafarers. It would serve all of us well, to bear in mind that, we all use the ocean together and we should give everyone a wide as berth as possible and a little kindness, and courtesy go a long way.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

You can also hang a basket from the rigging to indicate fishing as a dayshape. The issue is most casual boaters would not understand the meaning anymore than the dual cone with the apexes towards each other. The other issue is most casual boaters would not even see the dayshapes until way too late. Week end warriors are usually not as observant as the full time at sea people are. Anyone who believes that making a living commercial fishing is easy are delusional. Crabby illustrates very well the kind of dedication, and diligence that is required to wrest a living from the sea, not to mention that the sea is doing it's best to kill us if we are unwary, foolish or unlucky. Since we spend more time on the water than most our exposure and risk is much higher than the casual seafarers. It would serve all of us well, to bear in mind that, we all use the ocean together and we should give everyone a wide as berth as possible and a little kindness, and courtesy go a long way.

If I read the regulations correctly trolling is not a type of fishing that entitles one to fly the fishing day shapes. I clearly agree that people who make their living on the water do not have an easy way of making a living.

Since you seem to think that full time people are more observant I would like to ask your opinion of an incident that happened to me this summer. I was in Casco Bay Maine traveling in an area where the lobster pots are so thick that one has great difficulty in getting a catamaran through without getting tangled and my cat is only 19 feet wide. If one looks carefully one can usually find a narrow corridor between the pots, mayber 25 to 30 feet wide. I was following such a corridor for about a half mile when a lobster boat that had been working perhaps a 100 yards south of the corridor (which was running east/west) pulled into the corridor about 200 feet in front of me and dropped a pot with a bouy right in the middle. I figure there are two possible exlpanations, either he was not being observant and didn't notice me or he was being observant and was just a jerk. The forum rules prohibit me from using a fully descriptive word. I'm actually thinking he was being a jerk.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

If I read the regulations correctly trolling is not a type of fishing that entitles one to fly the fishing day shapes. I clearly agree that people who make their living on the water do not have an easy way of making a living.

Since you seem to think that full time people are more observant I would like to ask your opinion of an incident that happened to me this summer. I was in Casco Bay Maine traveling in an area where the lobster pots are so thick that one has great difficulty in getting a catamaran through without getting tangled and my cat is only 19 feet wide. If one looks carefully one can usually find a narrow corridor between the pots, mayber 25 to 30 feet wide. I was following such a corridor for about a half mile when a lobster boat that had been working perhaps a 100 yards south of the corridor (which was running east/west) pulled into the corridor about 200 feet in front of me and dropped a pot with a bouy right in the middle. I figure there are two possible exlpanations, either he was not being observant and didn't notice me or he was being observant and was just a jerk. The forum rules prohibit me from using a fully descriptive word. I'm actually thinking he was being a jerk.

Absolutely correct on the day shape. Sport fishing is not "FISHING". Many sport fishermen also do not know this either except for the charter guys who have to have a 6-Pack credential. Most of the time you can avoid the unintentional slashing of your sport troll if you use a downrigger ball or Dipsy Diver or other means to sink your line. Anyone who chooses to run a long flat-line behind a sailboat is likely to get it cut off.

Probably also right about the jerk. We can almost count on somone doing something recklessly stupid around us every time we go out. I sometimes think there is a target on the boat or a "kick me" sign. I have learned to chalk it up as "entertainment" and try to guess ahead, just what the "jerk" will do this time. On waters around here, 98% of the boaters have no credentials and have never taken any classes. They know the rules of the road only by hear-say. They don't know the difference between 1, 2, 5 blasts nor do they have a clue to proper use of the radio etc. This places a heavier burden on those of us who have credentials.

[captain58sailin]

Yes by the OP's original statement he was not "FISHING" by the legal interpertation of the rules. Having said that, when I am fishing which is trolling, I am legally "FISHING" by the rules, and I am not restricted in my ability to manuever, trawlers engaged in trawling are restricted. Regardless, the basket in the rigging is an optional dayshape, I would fly one, commercial fishing or not, as a courtesy and perhaps the odd boater out there that would actually know what it means and would take action to avoid my gear, also if it looks like someone is going to get close to my gear, I would certainly give them a courtesy call on VHF 16, in case they were listening.
Captain Bill, I could not possibly determine from here, how that pot ended up in your path, perhaps the crew that was launching the gear thought it would be funny, or they weren't paying attention, you can bet that the captain of the vessel would not want to take a chance to lose that pot anymore than you want to run over his gear. A lost pot doesn't just represent the cost of replacement, it also represents a loss of revenue for that trip, your lost gear didn't catch any lobsters that trip that you can sell. I do not pretend to speak for all commercial fishers; only just a general mind set of those of us who are concerned about interaction with sport/sailing vessels. In Alaska, if you don't pay attention to your surroundings, environment, equipment, etc... it will cost you, your life. Very often in this forum people take a generalized statement and disect it to apply to a specific instance or a strict interpertation of the rules of the road. Yes I do know the rules.

[witzgall]

Bill,

That trawler, it wasn't Patty Cake by chance, was it? We had a run-in with that boat, 28ft woody, anchoring near the Oriental bridge one evening. There were many boats shrimping, all were small skiffs, except for this boat that was clearly too big to be weaving in and out of the anchorage. Except he did not care, and ended up snagging the anchor of a boat right behind us a few minutes after we anchored. Of course, he yelled at us, saying we should not have anchored were we were. He was just generally pissed at all sailboats that were there, right in his divinely ordained shrimping grounds. this is 200 feet off the marina bulkhead.

It took them over 2 hours to cut themselves free from the anchored boat. Somebody came by in a small boat to us at one point, and told us we had just met the meanest man in Pamlico county.

Chris

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

I had one other incident with a small commercial shrimp trawler at the entrance to our creek. He was pulling a trawl up the right side of the channel a couple of hundred yards from the entrance. It was illegal (marked channel) but I was going to blow it off because the channel was about 100 feet wide and I could easily go down the left side. I was under sail and doing about 7.5 knots and entered the channel and suddenly the moron throws the wheel over and crosses the channel. Of course the trawl net was still on the right side of the channel, his boat was on the left side and steel cables were connecting the two. There was nothing I could do but throw the helm over and go down the right side of the channel. I believe I passed right over his net. As I'm passing him he and his mate are having a good laugh. It was good that I didn't have my gun on my boat that day or I'd probably be writing this from central prison.

I'm sure most people who make their living on on the water work very hard for meager rewards, but there are jerks in every walk of life and not everyone who makes a living on the water is deserving admiration or respect.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by witzgall

Bill,

That trawler, it wasn't Patty Cake by chance, was it? We had a run-in with that boat, 28ft woody, anchoring near the Oriental bridge one evening. There were many boats shrimping, all were small skiffs, except for this boat that was clearly too big to be weaving in and out of the anchorage. Except he did not care, and ended up snagging the anchor of a boat right behind us a few minutes after we anchored. Of course, he yelled at us, saying we should not have anchored were we were. He was just generally pissed at all sailboats that were there, right in his divinely ordained shrimping grounds. this is 200 feet off the marina bulkhead.

It took them over 2 hours to cut themselves free from the anchored boat. Somebody came by in a small boat to us at one point, and told us we had just met the meanest man in Pamlico county.

Chris

The boat I had the problem with had no name painted on it and only the number 12 painted on the stern. I was to busy trying to dodge his equipment to see any numbers on his bow. I don't know if you ran into the meanest man in Pamlico county or not but if he was dragging a trawl through anchored boats you might have run into the dumbest, though surely the guy I had to dodge is giving him a good run for his money.

[captain58sailin]

There is no shortage of jerks in the world, and they are represented in all professions. Sounds like you have encountered a very foolish, dangerous fisher.

[stevensc]

Last time I was on the Florida Gulf coast, 2011, I was surprised to see lots of the trap floats were painted blue, some of the traps were now of a smaller diameter than the size (about 8") normally seen. This makes them much less visible and seems like an unfortunate trend.
Steve W