Went to lake Alvarado tonight with a buddy. I got to the boatt ramp to find it rather crowded. The usual swimmers and bank fisherman were joined by a group who were noodling. Not a big deal. It is public water after all. However, the noodling was taking place at the end of the boat ramp. They had a big cat cornered right on the end of the ramp. They were nice enough guys. They were more than willing to to catch the boat and push it toward shore. Normally I would fire up the motor for that, but decided against it since they were standing six inches from the prop. I know the water is for everyone, but it seems the boat ramp is really for boats. It is in the name. Anyway, nice enough guys. Got some dirty looks from the swimmers that I had to navigate to get out to open water. I didnt wait around to see if they caught it, but I really should have stayed to watch the guy who was waiting to put his boat on the trailer.

If they're brave enough to stick their hand in a dark underwater hole, I would probably yeild them the right of way. I would have had to stay and watch however.

Nothing irritates me more than inconsiderate people at the boat ramp. I was at Lake Raven a few weeks ago and idled over to the ramp to load the boat and there were about 8 people with lines thrown out in every direction. I politely reminded them of the "no fishing" signs painted in red all over the pier

Politely reminding them is probably the method to use if you need to say something. On a ramp, loading and unloading "should" have priority, everything else "should" be secondary.

I saw a couple of guys pull about an 12-15lb cat(estimation as they didn't have a scale and I wasn't about to let that thing in my boat) while noodling by arco pad..

aggravating times spent at the boat ramp to say the least...them jack'wagons who don't yield the "no fishing or swimming" around the boat ramp" signs are prolly the same fools who pay no attention to the "left lane for passing only" signs on the freeway...what needs to happen is some enforcement of them there signs...I'm just say'n...

Had the same issue on lake Alvarado a while back people letting their kids swim around the back of your boat while on the bank getting drunk and running back and forth across the ramp while trying to back in i'm sure most folks are like me and look after their kids pretty close in a public place like that it's going to take somebody getting hurt pretty bad before they will enforce the rules I feel for the person who's doing the right thing and has an accident out there

I wasn't aggravated by any of it, really. It was just odd. I do wish the city of Alvarado would put a little money into the lake. I think the public land goes far enough around that they could have a nice little swimming area and a boat dock. But, that takes money, and since I don't live in Alvarado...I should just be thankful--and cautious.

The movie "Deliverance" did come to mind.