I was looking for structure to fish in Chandler's Landing on July 10th, 2020 and was down near a wall about halfway through the slip lanes to the right of the ramp and a large dual engine tow boat came down to me and told me I was blocking his slip. I politely told him I would quickly move out of his way and started to troll to his right side, even though he was dead center in the lane, which isn't very wide.

As I get close to his boat, he veers right and rams me into the marina and two skegs sticking out from the slips and then backs out and heads to open water. Once I evaluate the damage, I circle back and chase him down and ask him why the hell he did that. He then proceeds to tell me I am not allowed to fish in Chandler's Landing. I got a picture of the boat, which has a giant sticker on it stating, "TowboatUS."

I called the police and got a police report and spoke with some members of the marina who were familiar with the owner of the towboat. His slip was actually located near the ramp, so nowhere near where I was fishing, which at the time I didn't even have a rod in my hand. Word got around and he is apparently well known to chase people out of the marina and harass fishermen. He damaged my boat and now is denying it ever happened.

This guy is insane. I would steer clear of him or his services. I know lots of guys fish the marina, including my clubs, but this guy clearly has major issues and doesn't understand that it is public water. I've seen videos of crazy people claiming to own public water but this was my first encounter.

That freaking crazy...

He would need a tow boat for his tow boat if he messed up my boat like that. It might be sunk in his slip!

How bad was your boat?

I would call Towboatus and let them know they have a contractor/employee acting tbat way.

Well my wife was on the boat with me and she was able to calm me down because I lost it once I realized he did it on purpose. He wouldn't even look at me when I was yelling at him. Kept his eyes down.

My boat has a 4 ft. gash down the side that took about 1/8 of gel coat with it. There is another small gash even deeper on the stern that took all the paint and gel coat.

I call the corporate office and spoke with their customer relations manager and he reached directly out to the guy to figure out what happened. Of course, he lied and said it never happened. That guy is a real honorable person. They are basically saying there is nothing they can do.

I am going to try and find someone who goes gel coat and paint repair and it will likely be out of my pocket. I paid for that boat with some of my deployment money I saved during my tour in Iraq so that pisses me off more.

Call your insurance company and let them go after them.

Did you record any of it with your phone?

That's why you carry the Glock

I have video of his boat running from the scene when I said I was going to call the police but not of the actual incident. It all happened so fast that I honestly didn't think he was going to ram me into the marina or I would have recorded it.

I have USAA, which might be able to assist but the Rockwall police said its his word against mine with no witnesses, so it has to be handled in civil court. I would spend more money suing him than the cost of the damage.

Is your wife not considered a witness?

That’s what small claims court is for. Take the police report, gather the estimates, and hit the employer with a lawsuit. Only thing that actually makes any sort of impact on these types of buttplugs.

Also....you may see what video cameras are around where the incident happened.

Surely with all the money in Chandlers......there has to be someone with security cams running 24/7.

No witnesses outside of the parties involved. I guess my wife can't be considered an impartial witness.

I didn't think about cameras in the marina. I have a call scheduled with the marina manager to see if he can step in and force this guy to do the right thing since he is renting a slip there. If he is known to harass fishermen in a marina he doesn't own on public water, they should terminate his contract and tell him to go kick rocks IMO.

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Send a REGISTERED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED letter to TowBoatUSA and inform them of the date, time, etc that this happened and copy your insurance on it. Make CERTAIN that the letter to TowBoat has a "cc: XXX Insurance Co" on the bottom so they will know that your insurance company is involved.

Inform them in the letter that you intend to file suit against the driver, his insurance company, and TowBoat in order to recoup funds or initiate repairs to your vessel.

I guarantee you that their legal team will contact you fairly quickly.