Hurricane Arthur - 7/29

Went fishing Saturday.  All I can say is wow.  Got to the Bear Run / 422 launch around 6:15.  Bit of wind but nothing crazy.  Headed for the shallows to dig up some perch.  Started fishing, only one boat in the same area as us.  And I'm talking 1/4 of the lake.  This guy is throwing a duck lure, clearly a musky fisherman.  He backs his boat about 30 yards from us and casts his lure between our lines maybe 20' from the boat.  But whatever, some people right?  About 10 mines late he backs his boat within 15 FEET of our boat.  When his boat was a foot from our bobbers I had enough.  "HEY ***HOLE DO YOU SOMEHOW NOT SEE US HERE?!"  He turns around and is like "Ehh?  Didn't hear you?  I'm musky fishing!"  ... "YOU ARE TEN FEET FROM OUR BOAT!!"  Then he's like "So are you guys bass fishing?"  ... "GET THE **** AWAY FROM US YOU ******** ******* *** ******* ************!!!!"  He ignores that, keeps talking.  I give up and just sit down and go back to fishing.  Here's the kicker... guy says "Fine, don't talk to me you co**suckers!"  I can't even... what?  We moved before he could come back and ram us.  What a tool.  
 
Not much in the way of action, though grandpa did curse me and my next 3 fish were bass.  SIGH.  About that time the wind picked up from annoying to savage.  We ducked into a shoreline of death, an Arthur special.  The kind of water that has nice weeds and should hold fish but doesn't even have bluegills.  Arthur veterans can pick them out by sixth sense, and somehow they are ALWAYS the only place sheltered from wind.  Anyway, wind only picked up from there.  At one point we are in a finger 90 degrees to the main lake.  Lake is E/W and this finger is N/S.  Wind is typhoon level in the E/W part of the lake.  Talking whitecaps and 1" chop.  And somehow the same wind is roaring down the N/S finger AT THE SAME TIME.  Crazy insane magic Arthur wind of death.  We were anchored close to shore, in a protected shoreline with two richter anchors and it was still blowing my boat around.  Almost ended up beached and called it a day.  The ride back to the bridge was sketchy and then we got to the main lake.  It was a washing machine.  I'm talking about shore to shore chop that would make Erie proud.  Craziest thing I've ever seen there and I've been chased off by storms before.  My 20' deep V wouldn't go straight in it.  I had to zigzag around to get back to the launch.  
 
Bonus... as I approach the launch two kayakers are paddling at a standstill RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOCKS.  Not giving a single **** about blocking the launch in a hurricane.  I was over it.  I just went right in front of them to the dock.  Was hoping one of them ran into us so I could go Somali pirate on them and sink them both in lake_rage.  There were also two boats to the right of the launch in about 6" of water... no idea what they were doing there.  Offered to help a guy trying to solo trailer his boat in that wind but he waved me off.  When I got back with the trailer my fishing buddy was in his car trying to help him.  That's pretty much exactly why I don't solo fish my rig.  You can probably launch and retrieve most of the time with no problems, but when things go sideways you are going to need some help.  
 
Trip summary:  BLAH.  Thanks, wind.  You jerk.  
 
 

was having an off day till I read this, it put a smile on because I've had a day or 2 over the years like that, you know the old saying some day you will look back and laugh
 
 
 

At a very early point in the day I realized I wasn't happy with my available swears anymore.  Having said ****, ****, ****, *********, *********** so many times they no longer had any spice.  That's the kind of day it was.  On the bright side, my boat retrieved without the trailer guides I took off.  Which was pretty spectacular considering the gale force winds.  So... yay?  

KingKool, didja ever meet anyone for the very first time and immediately want to buy them a toaster for their bathtub?
 
Sometimes, I feel that way about JetSkiers that want to jump my wake when I'm runnin' a tiller motor. I'd like to put a 12ga. pumpkin ball right through their engine.
 
On another note, one of our Parts man at work fished Arthur early Saturday morning. He said it was the best day he'd ever had out there, catchin' wipers right where the gulls were divin'. He said he ran out of shiners in about 2 hours as he and his brother caught a bunch of wipers in the 20-25" range, and a few good largemouths. All released, naturally.

Man, what a day! I've had to deal with being blown off the lake before, and I wade pretty much 100% of the time! I've also had some serious boating jerks to deal with. Thankfully, the worst one was when I had brought some kids to fish. That might seem odd to think of it thankfully, but their behavior infuriated me so much that if the kids hadn't been there, giving me the need to set the right example, I would have certainly come to blows with the boaters. In a nutshell, I was fishing the old bridge abutment at Barkley road, I and the kids had our lines out no more than 20 feet from shore, and a boat full of...ahem....slides up to the abutment to disembark without a word of acknowledgement! 
 
At the same spot at a different time, I was standing in a tiny opening in the reeds late in the year, when an elderly guy headed STRAIGHT TOWARD ME to land his canoe, without a word! I was too dumbfounded by his arrogance to react, and mercifully just allowed him to beach.

luvinbluegills
In a nutshell, I was fishing the old bridge abutment at Barkley road, I and the kids had our lines out no more than 20 feet from shore, and a boat full of...ahem....slides up to the abutment to disembark without a word of acknowledgement! 
 

Just to note, that creek channel is the only area a motor boat can pass in that area.  I fished down from there one day (duck pond area).  While I was fishing, a group showed up at the bridge area.  The only way back to the launch is through that creek channel.  I tried 2-3 other routes, bottoming out and getting caught in weeds.  Eventually, I had to go through that channel, as does any motorized boat fishing towards the mouth of Muddy Creek.  The people shore fishing were probably as mad as you were.  I explained it was the only deep water in and out, they didn't seem to care.
 
Check your regulations, boats always have the right of way of navigation over fishing lines.  This is one of the very few areas, besides launch areas, where this would pertain to Arthur.  Most other areas, guys are just being jerks to save a few seconds or just clueless.