CLUNK!

[Tom Nic]

So, Bassman and I are enjoying the fabulous 30-40' viz at TTN Friday night. We're at about 50 fsw at the bottom of the first large tire piles on a very high tide.

All at once I hear a clunk and Bassman burbling loudly in his regulator.

I spin around in time to see two large flashers and their attached "hoochies" and hooks twirling by in the water column, resplendent and clear in our great viz.

The "clunk" was the downrigger ball hitting Bassman's tank.

[coachrenz]

Yikes!

What in the world are they thinking? You don't need a downrigger to fish in 50 feet of water.

Craziness, they must have been weaving in and out of the moored boats.

Glad you all came out of it ok.

[Tom Nic]

The good viz also revealed two more flashers and hoochies hanging from a buoy line in the same area, but about 15' SHALLOWER! I didn't remove them... just in case anyone wants some fishing gear.

[Stu]

scary glad you didnt get hurt.

[Dusty2]

Them fishermen are crazy folk! You don't need a cert to buy fishin gear and it shows! Wed while I was suiting up at Les Davis a guy pulls into the dive area in his boat and proceeds to drop 3 crab pots over the side..

Glad that down rigger just hit his tank. Could have been his head and the guy at LD could have dropped one of those pots right on someone too. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

[spatman]

wow, glad it only dinged your tank, keith.

[dwashbur]

The last time we dove at Illahee State Park over in Bremerton we had to deal with a ton of crab pots; our favorite activity was going around to them and taking the bait out of the pots and tossing it aside so the crabs could have a nice feast without all that nasty getting boiled later on...

[Geek]

Them fishermen are crazy folk! You don't need a cert to buy fishin gear and it shows! Wed while I was suiting up at Les Davis a guy pulls into the dive area in his boat and proceeds to drop 3 crab pots over the side..

Glad that down rigger just hit his tank. Could have been his head and the guy at LD could have dropped one of those pots right on someone too. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

What's the Law on pulling a boat into that area at LD and dropping crab pots anyway? I remember a couple weeks ago me and a few other divers started yelling at a boat doing that because there was a lot of divers under at the time.....

[defied]

It's legal. They can do it, but if they are within 300 feet of your dive flag (Assuming you have one out there), then take lots of pics with your phone while yelling at them, and call the police.

D(B)

[Geek]

It's legal. They can do it, but if they are within 300 feet of your dive flag (Assuming you have one out there), then take lots of pics with your phone while yelling at them, and call the police.

D(B)

Great, I can either have dive pots come down on me or have jet ski's doing brodeis above me......

[WylerBear]

I hate to be the voice of reason but perhaps using a dive flag is prudent when there are so many fishing boats around. I know we don't usually bother with one at TTN or at LD if not there with a class but it may be a good idea while the craziness is rampant. It doesn't happen all the time but if there are a bunch of fisherpersons out there, use your flag. Not saying that the fishing people will pay attention but some of them might. And perhaps you'll get a chance to educate more boaters about what that silly red & white flag is all about.

[Tom Nic]

I hate to be the voice of reason...

You are most welcome in being the voice of reason Georgia.

I mainly wanted to tell the story.

I'm really glad no one got hurt.

I wasn't railing at the fishermen - although trolling with downriggers inside buoys that are less than 30 yards off shore is a bit, shall we say, "risky". Witness the flashers hanging on the buoy lines that I saw.

Kind of like the guy I saw when I was diving last Saturday with John and there were at least 50 boats out there. He was done fishing, and didn't want to run the gauntlet of boats that were trolling so he headed toward the point - at full throttle, INSIDE the buoys at TTN. :geek: I don't think the rest of the boaters surfing his wake were too thrilled about it either.

Sigh... I guess I need to dig up that old dive flag I bout a few weeks after I was certified. That I've never used.

[H20doctor]

I liked the clunk of the tank Hitting the ground from Keiths truck... Clunk

[Tom Nic]

I liked the clunk of the tank Hitting the ground from Keiths truck... Clunk

THAT is a whole 'nuther thread... and I'm glad that I was not in on that one!

[Geek]

I liked the clunk of the tank Hitting the ground from Keiths truck... Clunk

Yea, I was with Bassman and the...... other person involved in that a couple weeks ago. Should have seen Bassman's face when I asked if I could set my gear up on his tail gate to put it on

Then I heard the story... at least they are able to still dive together, Bassman is a class act-ish..

[pogiguy05]

I agree that Bassman (Keith) is a great dive buddy, However if you see him backing into a parking space keep an eye on him. Thats all I am going to say about that.