Stay Away these are my fish !!

[LadyB]

Greg

With all do respect, after reading your initial post and it's aftermath, I think some of you that have followed this thread should stop and think before you post some of this crap.

You started off this thread in part by giving advice on how to avoid confrontation on the water. Where you lost me was mentionig your baits were so close to Fred's they were breading??? You clearly set up to close to Fred to begin with and any experienced tuna fisherman would agree. You comment on the cc being to close??? Having an altercation with two boats in one week may speak directly to your methods. If we want to avoid confrontations maybe we should take into considerations things like wind and tide and set up a drift so we dont end up in a pile. It's easy not to do. These fish are not glued to the bottom of someone elses boat. I hope we can all agree that they do have tails.

As far as the Back Off is concerned. The post comments that followed Greg, are beyond your control. Lets all remember that Shawn is not here to defend himself. If he were here, there might be another side to the story because there always are two sides. I am not saying he didn't swamp you but I don't believe he just happened to come along and pick you out of the 4th of July crowd and said "hey it would be fun to swamp someone". It is wrong to swamp your boat under any circumstances.

Posts that are listing Shaw's info or asking about what kind of trouble pumping a few holes in someones hull would get you are out of line. Although you are not responsible for that crap Greg, considering you are a charter captain it would be much more professional of you to take up an issue with another fisherman directly instead of posting it in here.

[Shark Bait]

As an admitted weekend warrior that can only hope to acquire as much knowledge as you guys have, I appreciate the post by Greg. Yes I agree there are always 2 sides to a story but if you have 10 stories all accusing a single boat of malicious activity my pappy always told me at least 10% is truth.

I find the entire topic, while abrasive and concerning, informative. I have always tried to think about

• my drift

• how far my bait is

• can I read the hull numbers on the nearest boat to me

• where is the closest stick boat and which way is he going

• who's kite am I under (sorry I always forget to look up when fishing)

What if Greg never posted anything at all and the next time someone did get hurt or worse, due to the actions of that other captain. I know how I would feel if I had nothing to say or had taken no action. I also know that I will be taking note of any boat that acts in this manner. The sea is dangerous enough without some nut job trying to swamp your boat. I do think that if this action warranted a post then maybe it also did warrant a call to the authorities.

[Col. Kurtz]

As an admitted weekend warrior that can only hope to acquire as much knowledge as you guys have, I appreciate the post by Greg. Yes I agree there are always 2 sides to a story but if you have 10 stories all accusing a single boat of malicious activity my pappy always told me at least 10% is truth.

I find the entire topic, while abrasive and concerning, informative. I have always tried to think about

• my drift

• how far my bait is

• can I read the hull numbers on the nearest boat to me

• where is the closest stick boat and which way is he going

• who's kite am I under (sorry I always forget to look up when fishing)

What if Greg never posted anything at all and the next time someone did get hurt or
worse, due to the actions of that other captain. I know how I would feel if I had nothing to say or had taken no action. I also know that I will be taking note of any boat that acts in this manner. The sea is dangerous enough without some nut job trying to swamp your boat. I do think that if this action warranted a post then maybe it also did warrant a call to the authorities.

I fully agree, thank you SB. Who's to say Greg didn't reach out to this (seemingly entitled) individual directly in addition to this post? I viewed Greg's initial post as an informative warning of what's going on out there this season, and nothing more.

It seems to me that there has been a great deal of unnecessary "reading in" to the initial comments...

[LadyB]

shark bait I am glad you do think of that stuff because you wont have to worry about confrontations on the water. To your point, posting it here does not constitute taking action. Again to your point, if Shawn was here to defend himself maybe you would not be calling him a nut job because you would have heard both sides. Make sense? Posting it here does not do a gread deal of good.

Shawn is a well respected fisherman as is Greg.

[Captain Greg Sears]

Everyone has experienced that feeling of anger when someone comes to close or jumps a school of fish you have been working. I have had this feeling many times. I have been full time charter fishing for a little over ten years. I used to get all upset when someone followed me or came to close to me when I was tuna fishing. I have acted childish and screamed and accosted people in the past. I apologize to anyone I have done this to. The past few years I have learned that I do not own the Ocean and either do you.

Communicating like an adult is probably the best way to avoid confrontation. But some people refuse to communicate or think everyone is reading their mind. Most of you know I fish every day from April until Nov. I am always monitoring channel 69 because this seems to be the main working channel for the Stellwagen fleet.

This week I had two altercations with fishermen I have never seen before. One was a small Blue center console it is a nice boat looked like a Novi style hull. This instance I was in a tight fleet of about 10 boats drifting with live bait. Fred "Akula" and myself where so close our baits where breading with each other. We communicated like gentlemen kept bumping away from each other. I was watching Fred's Balloon get smashed and he was watching my kite get smashed. The conditions of the drift kept bringing us back together. I decided I was going to move because Fred was there first but as I started to pull away I was trapped between 6 boats all within 100 yards of one another. I picked the best route I could find and it lead me between two boats. I announced on Channel 69 that I apologize for getting to close to the two boats and I proceeded to pass slowly. One of the boats hailed me back and said "no problem thanks for the heads up", The other boat did not respond ( The boat mentioned above). After I crossed through, the center console boat got on the radio, he seemed to know me because he called me Greg but he did not say his name or boat name. He started swearing at me he called me an A hole and a jerk and then he just kept going on and on how much of an A hole I was for getting to close. Oh by the way he came in behind my drift after I was already there. Fred was the first guy to set up there so if anyone owned that spot it should have been Fred. If the blue boat guy listened to my comments instead of screaming bloody murder he would have known I had no choice and I apologize for picking those two boats to go between. I did see his balloons and kept as far away as I could but I also had a kite I had to avoid on the other side so I gave both boats equal distance. I did not have to say anything to anyone because none of them own that spot. I could have put a bait out right there next to his bait if I wanted to be an A hole.

The next altercation I had was with a stick boat named "Back Off". I did not recognize this boat mainly because I am not normally fishing near them. But lately the harpoon boats have been working close to the rod and reel fleet. I know a couple of the stick boat guys and they know me. When I see a guy on the pulpit chasing fish I give them right of way and I hope I get to see them stick one. I had this experience the other day and the spotter plane thanked me for stepping off. Then the spotter plane watched me catch one on the troll and he called me to tell me 20 fish where following my rigs and he watched one come up and grab a squid bar. I always wanted to harpoon, I even bought a harpoon boat but charter boats are not allowed to harpoon even when they are fishing in general category. The last couple of weeks the harpoon boats and planes have been working the same bunches of fish that the recreational and general guys are working. I have been fishing on the backside for about a month and it seems to be the only place to catch fish lately. Two days ago I was trolling the 130 foot depth line I started at the Old PH buoy and trolled south. I was just south of the golf ball following some whales. The stick boat " Back Off " passed me. He stopped about 1/2 mile in front of me, a guy got out on the pulpit and it looked like they where checking out behind the whales? The guy got off the pulpit and went up on the tower with the captain. They then proceeded to slowly move south about 1/2 mile ahead of me. I ran into a school of bluefish and got all my rigs smashed. As my crew was reeling in the bluefish I noticed the "Back Off" turned around and started steaming full speed right at me? They pulled up beside me and started screaming at me like I stole there bluefish or like I cut them off or something? The captain kept calling me an A hole and proceeded to full steam towards my rigs like he was going to cut them off and then turned at the last minute then came back to wake my passengers and tolled me to go back to P town?? Then he kept turning any way I turned I guess so he could keep me from any fish? I just kept trolling south he finally left me alone. Not sure what I did to piss this guy off but I assume it was a case of him owning that spot or what ever was around those whales? He had no spotter plane or was anyone on the pulpit? I was just trolling the same way. There was not even any fish there I found them 5 miles southeast of there? No stick boats or planes they where all up fishing around the fleet.

I owned that spot ... LOL ... Because no one else was there.

I apologize for being an A hole....

I just wanted you all to read the initial post again most of you skipped this and went strait to bashing or got confused by the confusion. especially those of you who decided you know the real story or are the most experienced? I was not going to post on this again but since I started it I thought I would end it with my original post.

For those of you who love to bash...
Its easy to be an A Hole hiding and posing behind a computer screen name.. You should try being an A hole using your real name it will make you more humble and honest. SFC would be a better place if they required real names like Face Book.. Read the last line of my post for those of you who think I am in the wrong with the issues on this thread..

Bashing behind a screen name or an attempt to disguise your voice on the radio is just a sign of jealousy... And in some cases is just a sign of of your true A hole nature....

Point 1: We all just want to have fun.... Without getting hurt or making enemies who want to hurt you... We all make mistakes and we should learn by them not be ridiculed by A holes... Be constructive not destructive you will feel better about your self..

[lowlands]

It seems to me that regardless of whatever misguided slight was perceived on the part of the boats in question, it seems like a senseless case case of road rage. Charging someones boat and putting them at risk is not a sane response to someone accidentally scaring your fish.

I understand frustration. I've felt it often as charter boats intentionally troll a slick while I'm sharking, or when they intentionally cut across my spread to intimidate. But I don't raise the bar to the level of felonies.

If they had gotten on the radio and explained why they were so pizzed, maybe it would work better than trying to run someone off the water.

In these cases, video cameras will do wonders though. It's no longer he said. It's very clear. And btw, it works both ways. No rec or charter boat wants to see their rig on youtube in a negative way. I'm sure no comm boat does either.