What would you do? Interesting boating moment on the CR Saturday.

[Swamp Puppy]

So, I was anchored up on the OR side of the channel about 100 yards or so off of Sand Island with marker 77 almost directly across the river from me.

I was alone in my anchor spot with 1 boat well above me and another down at the lower end of the island. lots of beach goers on the island, but not a lot of traffic on the water.

sometime around noon'ish (i don't check the ol' phone much on the river) , a boat came running at me from the washington side of the river..from seemingly out of nowhere. it didn't look like a fishing boat and my first thought was, "here comes the cops".

This boat kept running, up on plane, coming straight on to my port side. i was keeping an eye on the craft..as most would..and started to get a little nervous as the distance quickly closed and this person was still running straight at me with no apparent intentions of changing direction or slowing down.

it got to point where i had to decide if i was going to take evasive action or not and was just starting to stand up and get moving..when the boat, at the last possible moment, made a sharp turn and passed by me heading up river. The boat then took a direct course towards the boat above me approaching them quartering in from the port side stern. it looked like they got fairly close to that boat as well before correcting and then heading off up river to places unkown.

now, here is the kicker. as the boat turned and passed me, there was a plain as day ODFW emblem on the side. There were two people aboard. 1 male (driver) and what appeared to be a female passenger.

I am actually pretty steamed about it as there was no reason for them to approach in the manner they did or pass by me so close. As i said earlier, boat traffic was light on the river and at that point in time there were no other boats in the vicinity giving this guy LOOOOOTS of room to go wherever he wanted.

I have been checked/pulled over by river LE guys many times..they always approach slowly and usually pull up from below and well off to the side until they ID themselves and let it be known that they intend to pull alongside to check things out. Never have i seen any LE boats approach anyone in the manner that the ODFW boat did to me. in all honesty, a sherriff or state'er would probably have cited a recreation boater if they had seen them operating in the same manner.

additionally, what the heck was ODFW doing a fighter jet fly by on me for anyway? they are not law enforcement and have no jurisiction to do anything other than "observe and report", which we should all do anyway.

i have it in my head to fire off an email to the ODFW office and report this incident. what would you do?

 

[Markcanby]

I would have been on the cell after seeing the the sticker on the side.

 

[Thuggin4Life]

I would have done many things in the moment that arent forum freindly. maybe even shot a signal flare directly at there boat. then I would be spenting countless hours pursing justice for my self with phone calls, emails, letters, and maybe even a personal apperance.

 

[Left Bank]

I'd do exactly what you'd mentioned but I would report it to law enforcement. I don't care who they are, a recreational boater, county sheriff or ODFW there is no room for that even if the river was packed. You're right that if a sheriff were to see this they would chase em down and possibly write them up.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

I would have been on the cell after seeing the the sticker on the side.

Probably would have...but we were sitting around trying to sort out why they would have done what they did when my rod buried in the rod holder about 10 minutes later and excitement ensued. had a nice fatty steelhead on the other end of the line. never had a steelie bury my rod in the holder before. thought i had a 30lb plus early fall run salmon on the other end for a few minutes.

i think i am going to fire off that email though... still would like to hear other's thoughts.

 

[troutdude]

Skip the email. I would not hesitate to call ODFW's main office, and speak with the top person in that office. (I always start at the top in those situations, it saves a lot of time repeating things). If you get the run around, then fire "off" your email. Send it to several of the top brass. Then, follow up with phone calls until they take satisfactory action.

 

[Raincatcher]

^^X2

 

[Irishrover]

Your course of action depends on what outcome you desire. The first thing to do is write down everything you remember about the event such as time place weather condition, boat and subject description and so on. If you call ODFW have those notes at hand along with anything else you want say to them. If you go the e-mail route send one to the head office and copy one to the district office where the event occured. Doing this will make it harder for one person to blow it off. When two people in the organization know about a complaint, you will tend to get more of a response. If you want more than an apology you would need to contact OSP or your Sheriffs Office. If that is your choice then when you e-mail ODFW advise them that you have made a complain with the appropriate LE agency. You could also contact ODFW and let them know that if you do not get a satisfactory answer you will turn it over to a LE agency. I noticed you said you were alone in your anchor spot does that mean you were alone in your boat or do you have a witness to this event? Just wondering because it would be helpful if you did. At any rate sorry you had that happen, but at least the river was nice enough to give you a steelhead!

 

[Swamp Puppy]

Rover - I was "alone" in the sense that i was the only boat in that spot. There were 2 others aboard with me.

 

[Irishrover]

With yourself and two other eye witness to this behavior I'd make a phone call followed up by the e-mails. The supervisor will say something to the effect that he need to find out who was in the boat (ODFW's Boat) and talk to them to see what they have to say. Your e-mail to them is to confirm your phone conversation with them and that you are waiting for their response. Those eye witness you have will add a great deal credibility to your complaint and addtional pressure on ODFW to get this clead up. Good luck.

 

[beaverfan]

Well they do have some authority. I believe it states in the regs that you are required by law to show them licenses and tags upon request. With that said, I agree with Troutdude and several others. They should not be out there endangering/scaring people!

 

[Rascal]

make sure you let us know how this all turns out