First altercation with an angler

Blackfeather

Blackfeather

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Now on the Thames
www.blackfeatherboatcharter.com
It was very busy on our part of the river yesterday with the Traditional Boat Rally etc. Never seen so man people on and by the water.

Coming upstream form Hurley to Hambleden with lots of traffic on both sides, I get yelled at by an angler telling me to get over the other side of the river (that would be the 'wrong' side and straight into the path of an oncoming narrowboat). I point to said boat to show him there was no room but he then started testiculating (waving his arms around shouting bo**occks), swearing and called me a knobhead. Nice when you have young children on board.

Enchante.

Not had this happen before - most unpleasant.
 
Testiculating :D:encouragement:

If you didn't swear back in front of those young children, you won the day. Some anglers look like they're on day release.
 
It's a lot better on River than it is on the canal as you are further away, on the canals, there has always been the hassle with fishermen due to the closeness. Have seen fisticuffs before.
 
Why didn't you wait 'till the oncoming boat had passed then give the angler his due space. That would have been the mannerly thing to do instead of running roughshod through his patch - he has as much right to be there as you.
 
Just to stir the pot, a former colleague who is an angler would say that the 'testiculator' is a fisherman as opposes to anglers who are gentlemen, apparently.

(reaches for tin hat).
 
SAMYL said:
Why didn't you wait 'till the oncoming boat had passed then give the angler his due space. That would have been the mannerly thing to do instead of running roughshod through his patch - he has as much right to be there as you.
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Fisherman need to learn to lift their rods out of the way of oncoming boats. I recently changed my props and cleared a carrier bag of fishing line from them. Fishing lines damages the rubber seals on outdrives and is expensive to fix . Also, when they have the whole riverbank to play with, they're not welcome on the limited public mooring spaces.
 
I had one fisherman call out to watch his line, he was actually quite polite so no swearing involved.

I thought they used to have florescent floats to you could see where the line goes into the water? Are they just not used anymore? Would be helpful for both boats and fishermen.
 
RichardGS said:
I had one fisherman call out to watch his line, he was actually quite polite so no swearing involved.

I thought they used to have florescent floats to you could see where the line goes into the water? Are they just not used anymore? Would be helpful for both boats and fishermen.
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If they are fishing in the fairway they are meant to use weighted line so it won't foul props.
 
SAMYL said:
Why didn't you wait 'till the oncoming boat had passed then give the angler his due space. That would have been the mannerly thing to do instead of running roughshod through his patch - he has as much right to be there as you.
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It is only by actually moving through the water that gives steerage, ie control.
Any breeze or wind will cause the boat to drift towards bank and shallow water.
Once aground things get awkward and expensive,ask me how I know. ;)
Only option is to continue as slowly as poss until other craft has passed.
It seems to me that it is the work of few seconds to reach over and reel in a line.
There is lot more effort involved to keep 5 tons of boat from colliding with a gramme or two of nylon than vice versa ?
 
Blackfeather said:
I didn't ride 'roughshod' I slowed right down and waited for the other boat to pass and then eased over to port.

But thanks for prejudging. You must know him.
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I concur. SAMYL appears to be short of a few cells...

Most fishermen/freeloading bankside fodder types know their place in the pecking order, and either fish with suitable equipment in appropriate places, or go elsewhere. Sadly you met one of the 'five year special' types who complain that you have the audacity to use your £80k vessel with it's £1000 river licence on the actual same river they pay nothing for.

I met one a year or so ago, and simply ignored him. Well I may have made some kind of popular 'polishing a sausage' kind of sign, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Every time we see you, you are positioned correctly, and keeping well within the limit, which is quite a result given the power of your boat :encouragement:
 
When we were upstream from Oxford last year we observed that most fisherman want to fish the opposite bank from where they are sat, they tend to wear camouflage and hide behind bushes. Then they seemed surprised that we hadn't noticed them! Didn't have any aggro though, just made slow progress so they could retrieve lines, I think we happened upon a match as there were loads of them for a mile or more along the bank!
 
oldgit said:
It is only by actually moving through the water that gives steerage, ie control.
Any breeze or wind will cause the boat to drift towards bank and shallow water.
Once aground things get awkward and expensive,ask me how I know. ;)
Only option is to continue as slowly as poss until other craft has passed.
It seems to me that it is the work of few seconds to reach over and reel in a line.
There is lot more effort involved to keep 5 tons of boat from colliding with a gramme or two of nylon than vice versa ?
Click to expand...
Thank you for your lesson in boat handling.
I've only been driving boats for about seventy years now so probably still have a lot to learn :sleeping:
 
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