dakota560
10-19-2015, 06:34 PM
Sorry for a late report. Went out bottom fishing last Sunday, Columbus Day Weekend, left the inlet around 5:30. We arrived at the wreck we wanted to fish about an hour later to happily find no one sitting on it. Shucked a bushel of clams on the way out and immediately we started bailing sea bass as quickly as you could get a baited hook to the bottom. Real mix of fish with many jumbos mixed in. Insane fishing with constant double headers coming over the rail. All sea bass were given a stay of execution until the 22nd....hopefully! In between sea bass, we had some quality cod mixed in, some ling and a few nice size porgies. Great start to the day. That's the good.....now for the Bad and Ugly. About I would say 7:30 I look out and see a boat quickly bearing down on us heading directly off our bow. Was hoping he would veer off but no such luck. The boat Babalew, a Luhrs sailing from Fisherman's Den in Belmar captained by Lewis Giannini, throttled back right off our bow and decides to do a complete circle around us looking for the wreck. Guy was no more than I'd guess 30 feet away from us when he circles our vessel. We're fishing a fairly sizable wreck so I decided to give the Captain the benefit of the doubt realizing there was ample room for two boats on this wreck and thinking he would anchor a safe distance away. He was so close I can hear the Captain in an enclosed helm say to his crew "Looks like we're going to share the wreck today" as he decides to drop anchor maybe fifty feet off our starboard side. Elected to let it go. Maybe 20 minutes later, the Captain decided to reposition and moves directly in front of us right over our anchor line and drops anchor. Absolute BS move. Guy drifts back and ends up no more than 30 feet off our starboard side again when I decide enough is enough. I yelled across to his crew "Sharing a wreck is one thing, mugging another boat who was there first is BS" One of his crew decided to be a real douche and the discussion let's just say deteriorated from there. This idiot no less than a half dozen times tried to reposition on the wreck every time dropping right over our anchor line and ending up anywhere from 25 to 35 feet off our starboard side. I've attached a picture of one of his attempts so you can see how close this moron was. Notice the rail of our bow platform at the bottom of the picture which will give you an idea of how close this idiot was to our vessel and the fact he positioned his boat right over our anchor line. Absolutely no regard for the fact we were already sitting on the wreck for a good hour and a half before he showed up. Typical weekend warrior. Finally after the fishing died no doubt due to his numerous unsuccessful anchoring attempts, he picked up anchor and moved. A short while later, I decided to move to another wreck and unfortunately couldn't retrieve our wreck anchor. I'm pretty sure this idiot in one of his failed efforts to anchor up dragged his anchor over my anchor line causing my wreck anchor to become entangled in the wreck. The captain of this boat and his crew are complete *******s, just a heads up for anyone who comes across them on the water. No regard for boater safety or respect in this case for sharing a wreck. I'm not sure what a safe or fair distance is to be next to another boat but 25 to 30 feet is insane and literally dropping your hook over someone else's line is BS.
On a good note, there was a dive boat which pulled up a short time after the vessel Babalew arrived. Name of the boat was Voyager. I want to give a big THANK YOU to the Captain and Crew of this vessel for, without being asked, retrieving our wreck anchor and returning it to our dock! Can't thank you enough for your thoughtfulness and generosity! After trying a few more wrecks, my son and I returned to the first wreck to drift it for more out of season sea bass. The dive boat Voyager was still there and shortly after we arrived the Captain cruised on over to talk to us. I thought he was going to tell us he had divers in the water but instead he asked us if we were the boat who had lost our anchor earlier. Told him it was us, he took our information and then a few days ago I went to the boat only to find the wreck anchor sitting next to our dock box.......anchor, chain and shackle! I can't thank the owners of this boat enough, I believe it's Maureen and Steve Langevin, for taking the time to not only retrieve our anchor but tracking our boat down and returning it to us without asking anything in return. Just an amazing act of kindness!
Just an FYI, there's a story about this dive boat retrieving the 5,000 lb anchor from the Stolt Degali a few years ago. If you have time, look it up online as well as the circumstances leading to the helm of the Stolt being sheered off by a luxury liner in dense fog many years ago. The entire stern of the Stolt, a 575 ft tanker, was sheered off but the boat stayed afloat and was towed back to shore. The tanker had a stern located anchor as opposed to a bow located one and after some dives and research the Voyager was able to locate the anchor and arrange for a recovery mission with the use of a scallop boat I believe and retrieved the 5,000 lb anchor. Pretty amazing find and exploration. Again thanks so much to Maureen and Steve for their act of kindness.....pretty amazing. At the same time if anyone comes across the vessel Babalew on the water, steer clear the Captain has no class and or regard for safety. Real piece of trash!
On a good note, there was a dive boat which pulled up a short time after the vessel Babalew arrived. Name of the boat was Voyager. I want to give a big THANK YOU to the Captain and Crew of this vessel for, without being asked, retrieving our wreck anchor and returning it to our dock! Can't thank you enough for your thoughtfulness and generosity! After trying a few more wrecks, my son and I returned to the first wreck to drift it for more out of season sea bass. The dive boat Voyager was still there and shortly after we arrived the Captain cruised on over to talk to us. I thought he was going to tell us he had divers in the water but instead he asked us if we were the boat who had lost our anchor earlier. Told him it was us, he took our information and then a few days ago I went to the boat only to find the wreck anchor sitting next to our dock box.......anchor, chain and shackle! I can't thank the owners of this boat enough, I believe it's Maureen and Steve Langevin, for taking the time to not only retrieve our anchor but tracking our boat down and returning it to us without asking anything in return. Just an amazing act of kindness!
Just an FYI, there's a story about this dive boat retrieving the 5,000 lb anchor from the Stolt Degali a few years ago. If you have time, look it up online as well as the circumstances leading to the helm of the Stolt being sheered off by a luxury liner in dense fog many years ago. The entire stern of the Stolt, a 575 ft tanker, was sheered off but the boat stayed afloat and was towed back to shore. The tanker had a stern located anchor as opposed to a bow located one and after some dives and research the Voyager was able to locate the anchor and arrange for a recovery mission with the use of a scallop boat I believe and retrieved the 5,000 lb anchor. Pretty amazing find and exploration. Again thanks so much to Maureen and Steve for their act of kindness.....pretty amazing. At the same time if anyone comes across the vessel Babalew on the water, steer clear the Captain has no class and or regard for safety. Real piece of trash!