It's impossible to tell (unless you were there) what was said. I wouldn't assume the worst (but can understand why you would). It's all a matter of interpretation when there are no other facts to go on.

Maybe he inlightened them to some detail and the moved to the bank to finish their afternoon.

Tx_basser, how about the guys at Lavon on the East fork ramp that just back their truck down the ramp and sit on the tail gate fishing? or that work on their outboard while there is 50 boats trying to load and unload. Thats the dangdest thing I have seen. I hope that stuff goes away with the re-model. I do see both sides maybe cut a 5 year old some slack but a courtesy dock is just that to help keep the boats moving at the ramp.

People fishing there on the dock and around it gets crazy. Most the people I see everytime I go out there and for the most part they get out of the way. I have seen some though that fish straight from the dock out over the ramp and have had some give me dirty looks as I am putting the boat on the trailer while running over their lines. There is just not alot of room right there for people to fish and load/unload boats. I don't like to beach it to the north of the ramp cause of the boulders and I don't quite trust most the folks on the dock to leave my boat tied to the dock. That just leaves me to pull in between the bridge pylons and of course there are a few that will have to get out of the way. The only thing I can think of is he asked them to move, but I have never read all of the signs down there.

I think the marshalls just get rilled up when they see you there Coffee lol. I have seen them there a few times and they just drive through and maybe stop and look around then head on out.

So instead of sitting there stewing why did you not volunteer to tow him to shore? If you had volunteered help, he would have been out of your was faster.


Jay, free fishing in Texas was Saturday only.


I fail to see the problem in the original post. I do not even see the problem of it happening in front of a 5 year old girl. The little girl should have the impression stamped permanently in her mind that not following the rules gets you in trouble even if you are grandparents.

I didnt help the guy to shore cuz he was 5 feet from the bank. He could've jumped out in the knee deep water he was in and got things done a lot faster. I wasn't in any real hurry anyways....Just amused at how "rude" some people can be when they know people are waiting on them. I mean, if I know someone is waiting on me, the first thing I do is get the heck out of the way. For one, I don't want anyone breathin down my neck while I'm trying to do whatever I'm doing. Especially if I'm having a problem with my boat.

I may have missed this comment, but one reason you don't fish from the loading dock is that I believe fishing line will ruin a motor in a hurry. If you break off near a ramp loading dock, you just risked someones expensive outboard motor to your fishing line.

I appreciate the Norman Rockwell picture of the girl and the grandparents, and I also have read enough about the Lake Worth Marshalls to avoid fishing that lake, but the grandparents, were not thinking and needed to move. For everyone involved, I can only hope the Marshall was polite about it.

This is great banter!

Mike--that is a heartfelt story, and I am glad there are people like you on the force.

Mark--With all due respeect, I still don't buy the fact they were "patroling nonetheless" as a means to be overzealous about one's job. As mentioned, if I were an officer of the law, I would try to go more by common sense, and less by the book. Maybe my common sense would have been to retract the book and allow the people to enjoy their Sunday afternoon of fishing--but that is why I am not a Marshall, I guess. :-)

Kingfish--Way to go!

Fwbassman---I am with you all the way about that dock "getting crazy". See a previous post where I ranted about the behavior there and actually had to cut a guys line with scissors so I could get by. I guess in the end, the lesson here for us all is that the bad spoil things for the good.

Thanks!

I have gotten the word that some changes are coming for the ramp under the 820 bridge. They are supposed to add some sand to the shore just north of the ramp, as well as removing the big rocks, to facilitate beaching boats for loading and unloading needs as well as paint better parking stripes and putting up some signs about dock use. Not that people care if they park between the lines or read the signs. BTW, I and another guy in my dept. (FW Water) have had some input, but the one thing we need to avoid is a war between boaters and non-boating fisherman. You could come back and find your stuff vandalized so a moderate and considerate approach that allows both to use the lake is in order. I know when I didn't have the means to own a boat, the dock was often the only non-fire ant infested place to fish and we all know the fishing is always better on the other side of the dock. We'll have to see how it goes, but hopefully it will materialize soon. Also, if that little girl had fallen off the end of the dock and drown as Granny and Gramps stood by helpless, it would be ugly. I agree that we don't know what transpired, but from personal experience have seen that several of those marshalls are not the best of the best. One day I was down there in line to dump and had my 12 year old and his 11 year old friend in the boat with their PFDs on and one of them asked me if I had vests for both boys. Ah, let me see . . .

The guy was in the boat trying to clear the prop? you ever try to clear a prop while leaning over the motor? Saw a guy doing that on RC, I stopped & offered to help - from the (relative) safety of my boat - but he got it just in time - and if I ever see you hanging over the stern tryin' to clear your prop I'll do the same. As regards the lady on the dock...two words come to mind: "Excuse me, maam". Sorry, that's three words...

I can only go by what I have seen. I know personally I ave spent MANY days on Worth over the last 2 1/2 years. Maybe as much as anyone that fishes out there and in no way have I ever encountered one single issue from a Marshal. Never once have I seen them mistreat or disrespect anyone either. I have seen a lot of different ones out there and they have all been cordial and polite.

Coffee:
On another note I have ZERO sympathy for anyone that gets busted out there without a permit. Same on any other lake that requires one. If you got time to fish out there that much then you got time to take 5 minutes and get a permit.
I know I saw you make a ton of posts after weekday trips out there and then when they tagged you for no permit you kinda got mad at them. Not trying to blast you but your bad impression of them was more than a little self induced. I wish they would tag more people on that though cause I feel like if I gotta pay the fee so does everyone else. They have decent ramps and docks and those fees help keep them that way. Too many boats are still launching without one and I will still say thats why they are patrolling. Also unless you have came in after dark and seen the riff raff that was hanging out around the ramps before they beefed up patrol I think you would like their presence as much as I do.

I think there should be two seperate tags. One for your boat, good for all Texas lakes and one for bank fishermen. Price would obviously be different. I mean seriously, some old people that take their grand-daughter fishing twice a year should not pay the same price as a guy that has a boat and fishes every weekend.

Chew on that!

Ah, but I must correct the Mark Perry on this one. :-) You state that I got "mad" when they tagged me for no permit. If you refer to that post you will see that I EXPLICITELY stated that I am man enough to accept THAT fine, and my disappointment was toward all of the other frivolous fines that went with it such as no whistle, my so-called "empty" fire-extinguisher, my "dirty life-jacket, etc. (ALL of which I am happy to say I successfully challenged and won). I am not trying to slam YOU, but do ask that going forward you please do your due diligence before making such an accusation against me by having better knowledge of the facts.

It seems as though the FW DA also believes in common sense, and after describing what I had endured, it was decided that the Marshall was "out of line." It's clear you have not experienced anything such as this, and as a Civic resource to the city, I truthfully hope that you never don't--and I honestly mean that.

You take things way too serious here and maybe even too personal. Its just conversation. What you do and how you do it is totally your business. I am sorry if you feel you were misquoted by me but again I guess I was just imagining you being upset about getting caught. No big deal. My apologies to you and I'll simply avoid referencing your posts in the future. It seems just last year you had a million questions about Worth and now you seem to believe that things were never bad at the ramps before your time out there. You almost think that these guys just jack with people all the time. I can only relay wat I have seen and I did that. The ramps are a safer place period.
I would never stand a defend a public servant being a jerk. I have no tolerance for that at all. I am a public servant and I truly believe in being respectful to the citizens and I realize they pay my salary. Again you are entitled to your opinions and my apologies if I misread that.
Do me a favor though, if you are gonna bring up my lack of "due diligence" then I'd like to ask, did you do the same and enquire what the marshall actually said to the grandparents and have a clear understanding before you posted that or did you assume that he just ran them off? Due diligence is a two way street on this one I think.
I hope that you realize I don't purposely intend to offend you and if I did I am sorry. Heck I don't always agree with everything some of my best friends do and they don't always agree with me. I can disagree with someone and still respect them. Don't take it personal. Take care.

It appears some people like to pick and choose which laws should apply to them. If an officer observes someone breaking the law it is their obligation to intercede. We already live in too much of a touchy feely society. Laws are LAWS and must be observed by everyone. Without laws there would be anarchy.

Louie
Did you offer to help the guy in the jon boat or just gripe? Maybe he was new to boating or needed to borrow a sharp knife.