Posted on 05/21/2007 11:11:59 AM PDT by JZelle
A newcomer to tidal Potomac River bass fishing recently sent a blistering note to a popular Web site, the Bass Fishing Home Page. With tongue in cheek, the e-mailer wondered what happened to common boating courtesy on one of the nation's top bass fishing waters.
He signed his name Tony, and although some sorely needed word clarification has been added, here is the note from www.wmi.org/bassfish:
"[I] was wondering. Just moved or should I say [got] stationed here from Ala. [I] just want to get the rules right. Is there no common courtesy on the lakes and rivers here? Is it OK to be on plane 3 feet from another boat and start fishing 10 feet ahead of him on the same bank ... or is it OK to be on plane in front of someone fishing a point? Just wondering so I can join the crowd."
The comments stuck with me. Here you have a new boater on the Potomac thinking he was still in Alabama, where courtesy and even helpful advice among fishermen is not unusual. How sad. It apparently didn't take long before Tony noticed it's not the same around here.
The difference in proper behavior and common courtesy on the water between Deep South states and the Washington area is enormous.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
So is metro Atlanta. It's full of yankees, too.
You got me on that one. How do you fish with a shotgun?
This guy will find a lot of rudeness on the ground there too.
You are right. As a native of the south I am compelled to agree with you.
This story is really about bass guides, tournament wannabes, and bass pros. Just like the writer, normal people don’t behave this way.
I’m not a regular fisherman, but I did keep my boat on the Occoquan for a while, which is where all of this stuff happens. Many - but not all - of the bass people seemed oblivious to boating etiquette and safety, even with us big boat people. They would pass to starboard, goose it to cut in front of you, ignore the no wake zones, etc.
So, yeah, the bass guys did have a reputation as loosey-goosey, all too aggressive boaters among the Occoquan recreational boaters. But I had no idea they were this rude to fellow bass enthusiasts. I guess it doesn’t come as any surprise.
I spent a good deal of time in the REAL South...grits in Mobile, Baptist Church in Jackson, MS, touring Ponchatrain on the SS President with my brown bag bottle....and ol' "Dink" Archer from 'Mumphus' once called me a 'good ol' Yankee sheeut".
There is enough sectarian crap in the world without the need to continue it in the US of A!
Longview is a friendly town. We're even polite to visiting Yankees at our Sons of Confederate Veteran meetings. ;)
As far as marine courtesy, I can only reflect on a very recent experience. I boat nearly every weekend on Georgia lakes, and most years cruise the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Common courtesy on our lakes is that if you're going to pass within 100' of another boat, you slow to at least minimum wake speed, if not to no wake, especially passing sailboats on the ICW. However, I just returned from cruising the Gulf side between Tampa and Naples. The rule there seems to be that if you're going to pass near another boat, you accelerate, pass as close to them as possible and laugh as your wake rocks their world. The marinas were superb and friendly, but the other boaters were among the rudest I've ever seen. I can only attribute it to the fact that most of the people I met there speak with a Yankee accent.
Regional diversity must be preserved at all costs, even the rudeness in certain parts of the country. Better someone who is an a-shole to you up front than someone who smiles at you as they stab you in the back...
Friendliest cities, IMHO are Louisville, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Nashville. Chicago is probably the friendliest city in the world with a population over 1MM.
I’m not.
I lived, hunted, fished in No Cal. I now live in WA state, and the rural areas aren’t the warm, fuzzy, courteous places I’ve experienced in the south.
Nothing compares to either NZ or Australia. They define courteous, city or outback.
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