I witnessed i think the dumbest thing i have ever seen on the water today.

[Jim B]

Today i was fishing one of my favorite lakes today in Mass and i saw one of the dumest unsafe things i have ever seen. There was a much of guys that came down with a single jet ski and they were doing a host of stupid things. These guys wee boming around doing donuts etc with about 20' of the ramp area. that alone is unsafe and was enough for me to call the police when i was launching my boat, they also had no reg numbers on the jet ski either so they were breking the law on a few counts. I went out and made some runs in the boat since im playing with props and after about 30 min i came back to the ramp to swap props. I went over and told the guys they cant do that stuff that close to shore etc and as i expected they didnt care. As i was leaving the ramp area one of these guys decides to reall up the ante of dumb. He decided to sit backwards on the handlebars and try to do donuts again within about 50' of the ramp. As expected he goes out of control and launches the jet ski up onto shore into the woods. Id say he was going like 40+ when he hit the shore. I called the police again and told them they needed to get someone down there since someoen was going to get hurt with these guys doing what they were doing. They got the jet ski off the shore and it wouldnt run so it ended thier day.



The cops finally showed up after they left and i told him what i saw and expressed my displeasure with thier response. I was pretty disapointed in how long it took them to respond to something that put peoples life in danger. Not just the people on the jet ski but peole fishing off the shore not too far away etc. These guys had no buisness being there since they didnt have a parking permit sticker from the town and no registration on the jet ski and no pfd. The officer really didnt seem to care at all and that was the kicker for me. Im going to write the police chief an e-mail to express my displeasure with what happened and thier lack of response. Luckly nobody got hurt in the whole ordeal.

 

[Berry Lindley]

I'm in favor of increasing the legal bag limit on Jet Ski's from one a day to two. I don't think I'm in the minority.

 

[Eddie Payne]

At least two a day.



What amazes me is the idiots that go flying up a creek with stumps all around and think the only ones there are the ones above water.

 

[TrepMan]

As much as I HATE goverment regulation, I wonder if requiring a licence for jet skis would help? Probably not, as you said Jim these guys didn't have ramp permits or registration numbers on the jetski anyway.



Shame the backwords handlebar driver didn't hurt himself enough or even took himself out of the gene pool.



Trep

 

[byron cooley]

Here in So. Cal we refer to them as "LAKE LICE". They are everywhere here. Whats even worse here is all the rich yuppie kids with the wakeboarding boats. These boats are designed to throw a huge wake for jumping but are a real danger to the small boaters. I was fishing my local lake on a point about 50' from shore and had a wakeboarder towed between me and the shore. I managed to turn the bow into the aproaching wave and rode over the first but speared the second. Had a foot high wall of water running over the front deck. Bilge ran for about 15 minutes to pump it out. The biggest problem with the Lake Lice is the lack of concern for others. It's just part of their big ego trip to stay close to people. I guess they think everybody is impressed with them.

 

[Greg. Avery]

A big a#* deredevil with braid works most of the time with a 9 to back it up.:wacko:

 

[Dewey Storie]

I all for upping the bag limit

 

[Greg Duggan]

Jim,

all i have to say is; "there aint know cure for stupid".





now that i have said that, not all jet skiis and there are owners are bad! i owned 2 of them and i have to say they are a lot of fun when used safely and under the right conditions. to say they are all bad is like saying all Harley owners are idiots. or all bass fisherman are rude and don't care about the water and the land owners...

i have been on both sides of these issues and i have to tell you nothing pisse* me off more than some self ritchous land owner was telling me i can't fish in front of his house. or that i couldn't operate my PWC on my home lake.



obviouly it only takes 1 clown to make everyone look bad. in Jim's case, the police should have steped in and did somthing. i can't imagine watching someone sitting backwards on the handle bars trying to do some idiotic X games tricks while my new Z7 was anywere near them. i think i would have been chucking rocks at them to try and knock some sense in to there under developed brains!

Jim, bring that new rig to NH, it seems like there are less morons on the water up here. maybe it is the actual presence of NH Marine patrol that keeps most of the people in check.



GregD

 

[Edward Rose]

Jim, was that on Quinsig?

Ed

 

[Steven Cassidy]

This happened on Lake Pearl in Wrentham Mass.I'm a friend of Jim's I was on the water at the same time.

 

[Edward Rose]

It happens on Quinsig all the time.

Ed

 

[Berry Lindley]

Greg, unfortunately, you are in the minority. In good hands thery are OK. Based on my unscientific sample, that is around 1 in 200.

 

[Greg Duggan]

Berry,

i agree, there are a lot of knuckle heads out there. because of that, PWCs have a bad name. it is like a lot things, you do not need a liciense to get one or drive one and every dealer will sell one to make a buck. so who's to blame? i blame the dealers.



GregD

 

[Larry Harp]

It's a rare summer here in Oklahoma when at least one teenager isn't killed on one of those things.



I have a good friend who is normally a intelligent level headed family guy who allowed his then 12 year old out on Lake Texoma on one of those crotchrockets. It was a hot one too that would hit +70 mph and Texoma is a very busy and very choppy lake. By God's grace the kid lived and is now a junior at OU.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Waterturds are a PIA !:angry:

 

[Mike Eddy]

 

[Mike Eddy]

Years ago on Lake Ouachita (Hot Springs, AR) I had a skier "buzz" me about three times, very close, in a very few minutes. I bounced a 1 oz spinner bait off his chest and he never came close again.



Might not be real safe, but safer than some a**hole running over my boat!



Mikey

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

What worries me is the response time of the local police department...Had you said something like,. "oh my God, someone shot at the guy on the jet ski!", they would have gotten there much earlier..



Uncle Billy

 

[Bill McElroy]

Welcome back Harpo!!:wub: