Unwritten Rules of Boating/Fishing

[bbbass]

Unwritten rule:

Don't out fish the captain.

My friend always got really upset with me whenever I was ahead lol...

At one point, I said I was tired of reelin' em in and was going to catch a buzz instead. I just threw my line over board, no cast, went to take a sip of beer and... fish on!

My friend complained about that the rest of the trip. "Oh look at me, I'm Robert, I'm not even going to cast." He mocked, as he attempted to do the same... but no dice for him.

-Robert

My wife outfished me for chinook every time! I had a drift boat and permission from my bozz in Brookings to come in at noon instead of 8am. So we would put the driftboat in the Chetco at a place where if could drift a little, the go to slack water and row back to the trailer/launch.

18" Wide bottom, high side, Guide model, Fish Rite made in Medford:


Me Da:



There was a little spit of land that came to a point just outside the slack water area, and I would drift just below that point then anchor. But by the time I was picking up my rod to bait the egg loop rig (I always tie my rigs beforehand), she would be calmly saying "fish on" and I would be saying "no way". She used a #1 nickel Indiana blade drift spinner



that I had made, tossed it downstream along the line of the point, and slo rolled it back. I'd be putting her fish away, wanting to bait my rod and get it in the water, and I would hear her say "fish on" again.... NO WAY!!!. She had a limit of 5 before I ever got my rig in the water. I caught one on my rig before it was time to quit and go to work. The captain's wife is the girl I love, but I was her deckhand whenever we both fished for salmon.

Good thing she had seasick and didn't like to go offshore in the 16' runabout much. Only on a perfect calm day... mostly for bottomfish. Sometimes I'd put the boat in, run out past the end of the jetty, and turn around before we even got to the #1 buoy. That boat was not intended to be an ocean vessel, but we did it when we could.

16' Runabout with 4cyl Mercruiser I/O:

 

[DirectDrive]

"Fish and Float in a Fish Rite boat !"
Two Guys Fabrication
Medford, OR
IIRC, a couple of Alumaweld guys that left to form their own company.

The guide I use on the lower Deschutes has a 24' Fish Rite windshield boat, 454 Chev power.
Great boats.

 

[Mikej]

I had an interesting weekend on the water. We fished and did some crabbing. As the weekend went on, I realized that boating and fishing are mostly governed by unwritten rules and it only takes one guy with their head up their fourth point of contact to make everyone else's life difficult.

Here's a few I thought of, please add as you see fit!

1: Be ready to launch before you clog up the ramp.

2: Once you've launched, get your boat and truck out of the way. I prefer to have someone else with me who can either go park the truck as I move the boat away from the ramp, or vice versa.

3: When launching where the ramp has a dock or pier, don't tie up close to the ramp. People can't get around you to recover. Move as far out to the end as possible so people can get around you and have enough water to make corrections to trailer their boat.

4: Check out the ditch forming at the end of the ramp. It's from people using more power than necessary to get on the trailer. It's not

5: If someone is struggling, offer your help. Being in the peanut gallery doesn't clear the ramp any faster.

6: If you're one of the crew, help your captain. Being a spectator won't win you any points. Even if you've never driven a boat or backed a trailer, you can at least help keep the boat from floating away.

7: After recovering, get out of the way! The ramp isn't where you unload your gear and make ready for the trip home.

8: If you're not hauling a trailer.....DON'T PARK IN THE TRAILER PARKING AREA!

9: The travel lane for the ferry isn't where you stop to tie your rigs.

10: If you have to get past someone, do it on plane. Displacing water with a 15 degree bow-high attitude at 10 kts doesn't do anyone any favors.

How to get points with your Captain:

1: Don't bring a bunch of crap and take up storage/deck space. Everyone doesn't need their own cooler.

2: Know how to tie rigs...or better yet...bring them pre-tied.

3: Don't sit there eating cheetoes and bologna sandwiches as your captain is doing everything else.

4: Know how to drive the boat, especially if you can't tie rigs/net fish/whatever.

5: Keep an eye out for obstacles, especially if you can't tie rigs/net fish/drive the boat/whatever.

Actually a lot of those rools ARE written! A long time ago!

I've always been a common sense guy. Most of those rules are common sense. I was always the one jogging back to the dock after parking the rig. Whether it was my rig when I was fishing solo or parking a buddy's while he got the boat in order. I always took the boat to the end of the ramp after launching if I was with someone else. Wifey did the same thing when she was holding the boat. Some times with short docks I'd be holding the boat at the bow off the dock at the very end. When returning in the afternoon a person should put the boat mid-dock leaving room for someone to launch, AND someone else taking out be able to tie-off behind you. If there's room.

I quit all that high pressure salmon/steelhead /launching/fishing stuff. I really thrived on it and miss it terribly. The down side though was there were more and more stoopid/dick people on the water every year. The mention of brain dead people with a lot of money running 50-60 feet off your side in a new $50,00.00 boat with the bow in the air plowing water. Looking at you with that stupid face, smiling, and waving....Totally oblivious of the fact their throwing a 3'-4' wake at you that will knock everything around in your boat. And maybe even knock you off you anchor!
When the salmon/steelhead in the Willamette and Columbia got so poor it wasn't wort it anymore.

 

[bbbass]

"Fish and Float in a Fish Rite boat !"
Two Guys Fabrication
Medford, OR
IIRC, a couple of Alumaweld guys that left to form their own company.

The guide I use on the lower Deschutes has a 24' Fish Rite windshield boat, 454 Chev power.
Great boats.

they custom built that boat to my order.. the only brand new boat I ever had. Had to wait for it, but was worth it! Ran the Grande Ronde in it while I was still healthy enough to row, but a bass boat and a drift boat wasn't gonna work for da wife anymore.

I read somewhere that they left Medford (Dreadford), but I dunno where they wound up. They sure made an outstanding boat!!! (Current website shows the company in Grants Pass but only power boats, not drift boats)

 

[Certaindeaf]

This is why frozen fishsticks.

 

[No_Regerts]

This is why frozen fishsticks.

Gordon's fish sticks and tots! Love my air fryer!

 

[Mikej]

Gordon's fish sticks and tots! Love my air fryer!

You still eat those? Some of those "Minced Pollock" products were good in the day. But geezus, now? I got no taste now, literally. A McDouble and fries at McDees is gourmet to me now.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Gordon's fish sticks and tots! Love my air fryer!

Dude, step it up and visit Costco, they got some really awesome Halibut sticks there, better then a lot of restraunts!

 

[Mikej]

Dude, step it up and visit Costco, they got some really awesome Halibut sticks there, better then a lot of restraunts!

Yeah? Like $17.00 a pound? No.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Yeah? Like $17.00 a pound? No.

Nope, it comes in a pre packaged box in the frozen section!

 

[Knobgoblin]

Trident brand. The cod products are excellent quality, and value. Mike , Ura-ki

 

[JohnnyMac]

(The bozz in Brookings got me started on having a beer and some soda crackers to fight or stave off seasick.... I was very skeptical but it worked GREAT!!!!!)

Soooo, if a beer and soda crackers works, then a 6-pack and some chocolate chips cookies would be better right?

18" Wide bottom, high side, Guide model, Fish Rite made in Medford:

I had a 23' Duckworth Magnum. Loved that boat. Bought it in Juneau, AK, dragged it down to Salem, OR when I moved, then dragged it back up to Wasilla when I moved back to Alaska but sadly sold it before I came back down this time. I now have 20' Hewescraft (albiet a low-tier model) but it's not nearly the quality of the Duck. I sure miss it.

 

[bbbass]

Poop BEFORE. Nobody is turning the boat around and going back just because you have nervous bowels.

Back in the day, I trained myself to poop after breakfast and lunch.... reason being that I had flight duty every other day, USCG patrol flights were in the morning and after lunch. Tho C130's do have a place to poop, it's real tough to hang yer butt out of the side door of a helo. And ain nobody comin back to the base for an aircrewman that gotta go.

You still eat those? Some of those "Minced Pollock" products were good in the day. But geezus, now? I got no taste now, literally. A McDouble and fries at McDees is gourmet to me now.

Mike, I NEVER liked actual fish sticks.... one of the hated Friday Catholic meals. Groton packages some good fish fillets, but fish sticks... ugh. Not enough catsoup in the world.

 

[bbbass]

Soooo, if a beer and soda crackers works, then a 6-pack and some chocolate chips cookies would be better right?

Ummmm, such a thing as overdoing. I'd be willing to try the 6-er, but beer and cookies sounds pretty gross.

I had a 23' Duckworth Magnum. Loved that boat. Bought it in Juneau, AK, dragged it down to Salem, OR when I moved, then dragged it back up to Wasilla when I moved back to Alaska but sadly sold it before I came back down this time. I now have 20' Hewescraft (albiet a low-tier model) but it's not nearly the quality of the Duck. I sure miss it.

What's a Duckworth?

Oh, about $50k-$75k.

NICE boats!!! I looked at a few in Lewiston/Clarkston. VERY well made and sturdy boats! Always drooled over those.

 

[308]

3: Don't sit there eating cheetoes and bologna sandwiches as your captain is doing everything else

That leaves me out...lol

 

[308]

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[2506]

Almost all of this comes down to what Wife and I call the "me generation". This "generation" no longer seems to have an age parameter. It seems to run from young to older. I define it as the people who seem to think they are the most important person in the world and everyone else does not exist. What can be fun to watch is when another"me" does what they do and holds them up. Then they often explode because they have never learned to be polite and pay attention to anyone but themselves.
I have noticed it has gotten so bad that I often see a surprised look on peoples face when I treat them with politeness. So many have gotten so used to people just acting like Dbags to everyone around them. At work this morning when a new hire cleaner came asking about emptying our trash and I held the door open, grabbed the cans for him, grabbed some new bags for him. Then the shock of shocker thanked him. He looked like it caught him off guard that someone did not treat him like he did not matter.

Now imagine asking that same ilk to get vaccinated, wear a mask, and socially distance. We're doomed.

 

[Alexx1401]

Now imagine asking that same ilk to get vaccinated, wear a mask, and socially distance. We're doomed.

A LOT of them do. They are often the over the top out to enforce the new rules on everyone else. That is until it's not convenient for them. Then they exempt themselves. After all they are important don't you know

 

[Mikej]

Maybe it was already mentioned butt……

Poop BEFORE. Nobody is turning the boat around and going back just because you have nervous bowels.

Hmmm.....I guess if your off shore/over the bar, yeah. But when your going up river a couple miles to anchor or troll you most certainly are going back to the ramp. No one poops in my my bucket. And I'm not going to be in the same boat as someone dropping trow and crapping over the side of my boat!

Just for fun on those times you did toss anchor and RUN back to the ramp? The walk, "Walk" up the dock, is The "Gut Shot Ape". It's worth seeing and provides weeks of good natured ribbing of your fishing partner.

 

[sobo]

The walk, "Walk" up the dock, is The "Gut Shot Ape".

Everybody knows "that" walk. Any semblance of privacy is blown...