Where's the on the water etiquette ?

[Ice Cream Bill]

Was fishing Friday am offshore on a NS boat when I see a 38 ft Henriques
6 pack charter (Serenity Now out of Howell, NJ) speeding directly toward us. He continues to circle us (a much larger vessel) two times like a shark before setting up right off our bow. Did you get the coordinates you wanted???

Most of our boat limited out on big black sea bass, huge porgies and bluefish. Hope you were able to fill the coolers for your patrons.

[Billy223]

I feel your pain. I had to deal with a lot of inconsiderate boaters out there inshore. I really had thought boaters were helpful considerate people on the same team but they are no different then the next driver on the parkway. All about themselves.
Trying to boat my first Bass of the year and I pull away from the fleet to find my own empty section of birds, bait, and bass breaking surface to only find myself swarmed by other boats in seconds. Like magic, they appeared out of nowhere. Others plowing right through bass breaking the surface knocking everything down and making them scatter. I say nothing and just shake my head but the last guy in a bigger boat heading home seemed to ddeliberately plow through the pod I was working with tons of room arouns all sides of me. All I could do was hold out my arms and say thanks!
I know it isn't all boaters, there are so many helpful cool boaters out there but the JO's that are all about themselves make it less desirable to even be near other boats.

[Capt Joe]

A plastic urinal mugging a party boat............. nah....do ya think?????

[rockbottom]

We had a similar situation Friday morning inshore. Seems like the etiquette decreases year after year

[Madcrab]

its time boaters record these incidents and report them to the coast guard.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Madcrab

its time boaters record these incidents and report them to the coast guard.

Most of these incidents are nasty and miserable, but I doubt the CG wants anything to do with them, unless it was seriously dangerous, and could be verified.. even then, by the time they were on the scene the perp would be home watching the football game..

Stealing GPS coordinates is a shitty thing to do, and deserves scorn and ridicule, but isn't illegal I would imagine.. if the guy wasn't throwing a big dangerous wake, or close enough to cause a crash, he probably wasn't doing anything really illegal.. He was just being a p#%&ck... bob

[Blind Archer]

Not the first time that name has been mentioned. Not the kind of publicity you're looking for as a charter.

[RC.]

First, if you were fishing offshore a bit it's more likely that your boat was sitting on the piece the other boat was looking to fish. He probably wasn't looking to steal your spot (not that it's even your spot, as it sounds like you were a customer). You may have just been there when he got there and he took a look to see if he could get on it. It happens all the time. And by the way, with today's technology, there are very few secret spots anymore.

Second, there is no such thing as etiquette on the water anymore. I will agree with you there. Its no different than being on the Parkway or any road. People are for themselves and disregard common courtesy and safety. I come out of the Manasquan inlet and the way people zoom around you just to get to the prized striped bass is dangerous. Or watch the idiots going through the train bridge...... and by the way, our sponsors are not exempt from any of this! Enough of that rant. Congrats on your catch of big black sea bass, huge porgies and bluefish.

RC

[Capt Joe]

Originally Posted by madcrab

its time boaters record these incidents and report them to the coast guard.

Now THATS funny.

[Reel Class]

A lot of those "offshore" or mid-range wrecks are close to nowhere near others. The guy probably had a plan to fish that wreck, and since most them are spread out over a large area (much larger than inshore pieces) he probably figured he could get on the piece safely - which it sounds like he did!

If the guy ran 50 miles to the spot, he doesn't want to run another 10-15-20 miles to another spot. Yeah you were on it, but he was able to squeeze in!

Look I'm not defending the guy, but it sounds like he got on the piece and kept everyone safe (based on your post). If I'm out there and I want to fish a particular wreck that's in the middle of nowhere, I A) leave early, and B) look on the radar to see if a boat's on it or near it before I get too close to it.

Glad you caught fish. Nice job!