Angry Fisherman

[Lastdraft]

On the Yare this morning, cruising mid river at 3.7knots, on a bend in the river just after the Ferry House, hidden in 6 foot of foliage / reeds dressed in his camouflage jacket I was yelled at by an irate fisherman, I can only think I broke his line, a line so fine the fish can not see it, but he expects me to see it from distance in drizzling rain. 

As a fisherman myself I always try and give shore side anglers a wide berth but if you insist on making yourself invisible to river traffic then you have to expect you will lose your rig. If the angry fisherman is reading this, sorry, hope your day improved. 

 

[PaulM]

I was a fisherman long before a boatist but even as a kid, if a boat was heading for my gear I would reel it in. Can’t see much point in yelling and shouting about it. Even now when fishing I often loose my float if I turn my attention away for a second or two, how is a pilot of a boat supposed to see it and even if they do boats aren’t exactly fly like in there agility!

i too have been on the receiving end of a fisherman’s verbal.

 

[Chelsea14Ian]

All it takes is common sense. 

[dnks34]

The only time I have ever caught a fishing line was fortunately just before the boat was being lifted so luckily the fisherman got his rig back. 

If they don't make themselves visible in amongst high reeds there isn’t really a lot can be done and theres not a lot of point shouting about it.  

Fishing line can do a lot of damage to stern gear if you are unlucky so the fisherman may have come off best out of it! 

[ZimbiIV]

Has anyone every seen a happy looking fisherman? Rarer than the happy farmer.

Personally if I want to sit and do nothing, I sit and do nothing!

paul

[PaulM]

3 minutes ago, ZimbiIV said:

Has anyone every seen a happy looking fisherman? Rarer than the happy farmer.

Personally if I want to sit and do nothing, I sit and do nothing!

paul

True, but sadly sitting and doing nothing raises questions in my house! By going “fishing” you can sit and do nothing without the questions, unfortunately even as inept at the sport as I am, occasionally the doing nothing is spoilt by the catching of a fish. 

The unhappy ones are those who feel the need to invest £1000’s in gear and £50 a day in some magical bait that they throw into the river by the bag load. 

[JennyMorgan]

Surely it is incumbent on anglers to watch out for boats just as it is for boaters to watch out for anglers? 

[VetChugger]

I "fish" regularly and totally love it. Only thing is I don't try too hard and release anything caught straight away. I just love sitting there perusing and watching the world go by. Having a boat allows periods of horizontal perusal as well. I'll wave and smile at all boaters also! What's not to love?

[NorfolkNog]

9 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Surely it is incumbent on anglers to watch out for boats just as it is for boaters to watch out for anglers? 

Indeed JM - common sense! 

Favourite fishing spots are around blind corners, boatyards (preferably at the entrance) 24 hour moorings (particularly like Rockland where there are few anyway)

Yet look at Oulton Dyke for instance or the Bure near Upton Dyke. There are fishing platforms on a straight wide stretch of river where fishermen and boaters could easily see each other and take avoiding action accordingly. 

I can't say I've ever seen a fishermen smile either, particularly the ones gathered around Herbert Woods entrance 

[eddybear]

The worst experience I had with a fisherman was at How Hill a few years back, the river was very busy and a lot of boats coming down the ant So had to keep well to the right, unfortunately just past the end of the mooring is there was a fisherman with his line out and I had no choice but to hug the bank which resulted in a face full of maggots and  verbal abuse even though he had young children with him, the idiot didn't have the sense to see how busy the river was and personally I had nowhere else to go there was me going up river and three abreast coming down but that foul mouth bad tempered fishermen couldn't see it (rant over)

[ranworthbreeze]

Tan had a bad experience with a couple of fisherman that were again hidden a couple of years ago, it really shook her, the verbal abuse should not have been given to any woman, some men will always act big when they feel they are untouchable.

Regards

Alan

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Tan had a bad experience with a couple of fisherman that were again hidden a couple of years ago, it really shook her, the verbal abuse should not have been given to any woman, some men will always act big when they feel they are untouchable.

Couldn't agree more Alan, no need for it at all, but most certainly to a woman. They certainly wouldn't be feeling untouchable if they ever abused my girl

[Maxwellian]

I just want to say in the words of the TV presenters when someone has said the name of a brand on air. Other brands of angler are also available! I have met many of them. 

[Ray]

4 minutes ago, Maxwellian said:

I just want to say in the words of the TV presenters when someone has said the name of a brand on air. Other brands of angler are also available! I have met many of them. 

This is true of course, I have had my share of unfortunate encounters too but for obvious reasons these are the ones we remember

[Hylander]

1 hour ago, eddybear said:

The worst experience I had with a fisherman was at How Hill a few years back, the river was very busy and a lot of boats coming down the ant So had to keep well to the right, unfortunately just past the end of the mooring is there was a fisherman with his line out and I had no choice but to hug the bank which resulted in a face full of maggots and  verbal abuse even though he had young children with him, the idiot didn't have the sense to see how busy the river was and personally I had nowhere else to go there was me going up river and three abreast coming down but that foul mouth bad tempered fishermen couldn't see it (rant over)

Well it shows he only had half a brain in the first place to waste his maggots by throwing them at you.    Can you imagine what a delight he is as a father indoors.    Miserable devil.

[JennyMorgan]

I had the last laugh going through Potter a few years ago when, like Eddy Bear, had to hug the bank  where, unfortunately, I picked up an anglers tackle on my keel. The tirade started, you have the whole river blah blah blah, we've all heard it, and then he threw maggots at me, I didn't take kindly to that. He hadn't bargained on me having an electric bilge pump that was rigged for washing the boat down!! You can guess what happened! As I told him, two can play at that game! 

Against that I have had far, far more cooperation than aggravation when going alongside where anglers were fishing. Surprisingly a number of those helpful anglers have commented that it was nice to have been asked to move as I was coming into moor. 

[JennyMorgan]

25 minutes ago, Jayfire said:

Couldn't agree more Alan, no need for it at all, but most certainly to a woman. They certainly wouldn't be feeling untouchable if they ever abused my girl

I have every confidence that your girl could and would give as good as she gets, and probably more! All said with a charming smile I'm sure!!

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

All said with a charming smile I'm sure!!

I wouldn't bank (pun intended) on that 

[MauriceMynah]

Yes the vast majority of anglers are normal, fine and friendly folk, and yes most of us have come up against that small minority of brainless obnoxious toe-rags that just want putting down, but I just see it as pond-life trying to catch pond-life.

[vanessan]

We avoid anglers if at all possible, giving them a wide berth on the rivers (assuming we can see them!) and always asking if we can come into moor where they are fishing on BA moorings. Only once had a problem where one offered to help by taking a rope and then doing his darnedest to damage the boat’s pulpit rails! Moron! The daft thing was, this was in the days of Aldeby being a BA mooring and there are umpteen good angling spots along that stretch of river. Too far from the car park I guess.

Pond life trying to catch pond life - love it!

[TheQ]

I've upset a few Fishermen over the years,  mostly when tacking a sailing boat and needing the whole of the river. 

I've also upset a few during regatta week,  as I've gone out in the morning putting the buoys out and stopped  to let them know what's going on.  they don't like being informed that having hired a place for a couple of thousand the first week in August to go fishing.  That they'll have up to 150 boats sailing past them all day for 5 days. 

[NorfolkNog]

Serious question - is it possible to fish at night?

[Gracie]

14 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

Serious question - is it possible to fish at night?

Hi Mr N 

Yes it is. I have many fond memories of night fishing with my dad. You can buy night lights that insert into the top of your float, normally bright green ones, non fisher folk may think I need to get out more when I say this but it's so exciting watching that little light disappear under the water when you get a bite, the times I called to my dad to say I've caught a whopper and once landed the maggot was bigger than the ruddy fish 

I'd just like to add for the record not all fishing folk are miserable, rude beggars a bit like flappy thingy helms persons are not miserable know it all's either 

Grace

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

9 hours ago, eddybear said:

The worst experience I had with a fisherman was at How Hill a few years back, the river was very busy and a lot of boats coming down the ant So had to keep well to the right, unfortunately just past the end of the mooring is there was a fisherman with his line out and I had no choice but to hug the bank which resulted in a face full of maggots and  verbal abuse even though he had young children with him, the idiot didn't have the sense to see how busy the river was and personally I had nowhere else to go there was me going up river and three abreast coming down but that foul mouth bad tempered fishermen couldn't see it (rant over)

Back in the 80s, there was a major article in one of the angling papers (Mail, or Times) where a guy was cruising past some fishermen, when he received a tyrade of abuse and foul language. The guy in the boat remonstrated back only to have the fisherman cast a heavy ledger weight at the boat and breaking a window. The guy in the boat then drew a gun and shot him.

Then a couple of years or so back, we were moored at Womack staithe where a fisherman made it known he he was`nt going to move. We had a spot mid staithe, and a boat came up looking to moor. I told the guy there was a spot at the end of the quay, but there`s a fisherman who`ll give you  an arguement, to which he replied "really"?. I watched him manouvre the boat to stern moor, and the fisherman telling him he could`nt moor because he was fishing, well, strong words to that extent, then the guy on the boat said "MOVE, WE`RE COMING IN". The fisherman tried to stop them, but had no chance against many tons of hire boat. The guy even placed his tackle box OVER THE MOORING RINGS, and got really irate when the guy on the boat just picked it up and pushed it aside. There was a brief arguement, and the fisherman then moved, albeit only about 6ft. He was gone within the hour.

Then last week as we were cruising up the Yare, there are a great many purpose made fishing platforms, yet less than 50 yds upstream, there`s a quay, where a group of men were fishing. I shouted over "the fishing stages are just over there", and got ignored. I wonder what those idiots would do if i moored Lightning between two of their platforms, probably moan about boaters?.

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Gracie said:

the times I called to my dad to say I've caught a whopper

Is that me? 

1 hour ago, Gracie said:

landed the maggot was bigger than the ruddy fish