No courtesy offshore

[Back In Black]

Well said Keith,I had a bloke off the cape that was that far north i could just make out his boat.
Next minute he comes flying back from obviously finishing his drift which i wasn't aware of and gives us death stares and causes world war 3 on this forum over it.
It was a piss ant wreck,i had the marks for and moved off when we discovered he was drifting it,still caused a hassle over it.
What do you do?

Mick,
You want some tips on what to do??
Tony

[copie]

I have owned larger trailer boats for some years up until recently and almost only fished offshore, Moreton, Barwon banks and Hervey bay areas. I like many of you and other boaties probably have a lots of gps marks that have been passed on from friends and family. So many times I have arrived at "my" spot to find someone else already on it, so I guess its not just my spot, the way I think is first in give him reasonable space, enough space that would normally make me comfortable or go elsewhere.
Yes I have been fishing an area for some hours particularly of Moreton and up comes a dive boat and drops anchor right where I am fishing this does piss me off and yes I have in the passed called out and told them what I think.
Having said that I have also had boats doing a similar drift as the one I am doing and we have come close to each other, most times for me we have a quick chat " how's it going are you getting anything etc." and we all keep drifting and fishing without the increase of blood pressure.
I have also experienced on many occasions at Hervey bay in the bay there can be up to 60-70 boats within 80-100 square meters all fishing happily and have seen many of these actually tie off to each other everyone enjoying themselves.
Lets face it these day we have many more cars on the road and many more boats on the water its meant to be relaxation not aggression lets not turn the water into the roads with this road rage crap.
Maybe some of the fishing magazines, books, boat shows etc. could really get on-board and promote intelligent methods that both the old and new boating people could take on. For me its just common sense and curtesy I am out there for a good time not a hard time and yes at times we all get in the road of others (patience).
I like all others could go on and on about this type of post but lets face it out on the water there are no white lines no no parking signs and its all left to us to do it right.

Mark

[Badone]

Hi All
My pet hate is when we are fishing and divers arrive on a reef " say Hutchinsons or 9 mile" and they drop off spearos among the boats, you are screwed as they now effectively own the space within 50 metres and you cannot move back onto the drift line or troll line..

Cheers Mark

Mark, I only spearfish so I know what you mean. A diver with a float line in the water pretty much hogs the entire part of the reef. If you were there first then you should feel free to motor over slowly and tell them politely to leave. If they ignore you then it becomes their problem to avoid the boats. Ignorant divers who jump in amongst a mob of boats trolling give us all a bad name and deserve to be put in their place. Also if I get to a spot first like the Cementco and a boat shows up I always let them know that I'll only be 20 minutes and then it is all theirs. Common sense and courtesy go a long way out there.
Simon.

[TheRealPoMo]

I do not have as much experience as a skipper in comparison to many of you, so could the lawgivers provide a ruling on this please ?

If I go to Curtin for example and I see a boat somewhere within a potential drift zone (maybe 1000 by 100 metres), should I:

a) Anchor up a long way off his present location and try to reasonably stay out of his path (should he indeed be drifting), expecting him to get around me if required ?
b) Abandon the anchor plan and drift in sync while keeping a good distance ?
c) Bugger off and go home because there is another boat within cooee ?

What if he was anchored and then decides to drift?
What if another boat turns up ?
If he leaves, do I then own the ground ?
What if there are 6 boats anchored and the first guy decides to drift ?

A little facetious perhaps, but I am interested in what "courtesy" requires here.

..not even going to ask about boatramps....

[JulianDeMarchi]

I was at the 33s one day, struggling to catch our keep of Snapper... This white cat comes up on our drift lines, pulls 8 then moves on deeper, then rubs it in... what do ya do?

[shaungonemad]

I was at the 33s one day, struggling to catch our keep of Snapper... This white cat comes up on our drift lines, pulls 8 then moves on deeper, then rubs it in... what do ya do?

Become a Pirate then you can do what you want.

[JulianDeMarchi]

Become a Pirate then you can do what you want.

aha me matey now you're talking. I would of boarded his boat, but it had twin zukes on the back.

(In case it got missed, I was trying to fish for a bite from someone...)

[soulfish]

I was at the 33s one day, struggling to catch our keep of Snapper... This white cat comes up on our drift lines, pulls 8 then moves on deeper, then rubs it in... what do ya do?

Julian...you yell out really loud "piss off Rosco"

[Andy H]

I'm sure they would have only been pan size anyway Julian.

[The Silver Unicorn]

I'm sure they would have only been pan size anyway Julian.

Must be a little pan!

[odes20]

Its a very broad issue. I came and anchored on one of my marks off Cairns one day, and a charter boat was anchored about 250 metres away. For some reason he came out on the bow shouting and waving at me to go. it was so far off you couldn't even hear him. The assumption was I was encroaching on his mark, although id had this mark for years. I ignored him.

The general issue stands though, keeping a respectable distance. Its sad people cant figure that out, as for those antics by divers, I would definitely take them on about that, and advise them they are putting them selves at risk by their own actions.

[Nslfishing]

Become a pirate!! Haha I love that! Next time I drift into someone's zone and they start shouting I'll just shrug my shoulders and point to the Jolly Roger. Lol ��