Dealing with obnoxious individuals while fishing

[coastalfreak]

Was fishing the creek today for sunfish as well as some micro species like darters and such. Found this beautiful little beach on the bank and started fishing. 
 

About 15-20 minutes later about 3 kids, probably in the 11-14 year old range walk down the trail. No problem, I’m in a public park. Just pretty noisy but whatever. A little disappointed that my private little spot got ruined but I’m fully aware that this is public land for everyone. I continue fishing with no problem at all. 
 

Soon, an elderly couple walks down the trail. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. 
 

Next thing I know these kids are full on jumping in the creek maybe 10 yards away from me, throwing rocks in right where my lines are, and screaming all sorts of stuff while climbing on trees fallen over the creek where my gear was and such. At one point, I BELIEVE one of them messed with my pole that was soaking bait while my back was turned to make me think I had a fish. But I can’t be certain about that so I’m not fussing about that. 
 

In the end I got extremely frustrated and agitated so I just left. Turned out the elder rly couple was their grandparents and they could not have given less of a crap regarding their behavior. 
 

Am I overreacting to this? Or would you be bothered too? It just grinded my gears really bad. 

Edited January 3 by coastalfreak

[27conch]

Well one would think that the grand parents would be able to discipline the children and teach them some respect?  

[JimP]

I would have said something.  But then again, I can be a dick.  I loathe undisciplined children.   Don't really blame the kids, I blame the adults.  

[Andrew46]

No kids of my own, but my parents have been told not to discipline my nephew (their grandchild) for fear of not being able to see him. My mom is the disciplinarian and if it were us, we would have gotten a whooping for a lot of things my nephew gets away with. Sad really, but I blame his parents.

[SB59]

30 years ago I would have grabbed one of the kids & tossed him in then smacked the grandfather when he tried to intervene.

But now in my sixties I would cut out the middle man & just go straight to smackin the grandfather.

[jimbass]

I can totally relate to what you went through. I live in Philadelphia and fish at Pennypack creek in Northeast Philadelphia. Because of Covid restrictions parts of it where closed. During the summer busloads of people from New York came and "took over the area that I fished". So I waited for the fall stocking on September 21 I wanted to try out my new st croix spinning rod so I went.there 3 young adults where jumping in the water and " it is illegal to do so in the park" interrupted my fishing.I only fished twice this past season. I am looking to move to lower Bucks county which is less crowded and has more available fishing

[Captain Ahab]

I would have told them to scram.  Ran into this with dog owners letting spot swim where I was fishing.

 

Gentle and polite reminder that I would hate to have their pooch hooked because the owner was a d-bag 

 

They left

[BG_NJ]

I think abortion is allowed up to 168 months now

[Dan Tinman]

In some states it's illegal to interfere with legal hunting or fishing activities, New Jersey included.  A lot of us   have had similar experiences.  To quote Rodney Dangerfield we don't get any respect.  On Sandy Hook there are designated swimming and fishing areas.  I've never seen a guy fishing on the swimming beaches but I've had guys insist on swimming where I'm fishing.  As far as I'm concerned if they get hooked it's their own fault.  I was there first and it's clear what I'me doing.

[CWitek]

I fish to relax and get away from people.  So in such a situation, while I might be tempted to talk to the grandparents, I'd probably just walk away.  The peace of the day was destroyed, people had invaded my solitude, and getting my adrenaline up fighting with idiots is contrary to why I fish in the first place.

 

It's ultimately a no-win situation, so you might as well cut your losses.

[Gatr522]

Tough choice always. Another version of being mugged. Confrontation can be dangerous and/or have legal consequences. Flip side- if you just quietly move every time you are the enabler.

That is the part that starts the anger in me- my contribution to future engagements.

[Jay Blair]

With Kids and our current hyper sensitive and litigious society if the parent figures don't or won't do anything, you should just pack up and move on while you still can.

 

When I was young man and fishing a local pond a group of middle school age kids started hanging out. After a while they got bored and started teasing my dog to draw it away and decided it would be fun to surround my dog and stone it with rocks. I chased they off and they ran home and told their parents a pervert was after them and parents called the police on me. I had fun trying to convince the police I was not a sexual predator even though my dog had lumps on her head and muzzle from the rocks and I was actively fishing.

 

I never considered the fact that young children could be so cruel and devious at the same time. I simply reacted to save my dog and sadly that dog hated kids from that point forward.

 

That was about 43 years ago. I can only imagine what it would be like today with folks worried about micro aggressions and carrying cell phones.

 

Be glad you got off easily.

Edited January 4 by Jay Blair

[Lateral Line]

Stand your ground and use treble hooks. 4x 5/0 should do it.

[Beastly Backlash]

Packing up and leaving in those situations is the wrong choice. Stand your ground. 

 

You don't have to be confrontational, but you can stick to your spot or better yet, move in on their spot and just start casting. They will get the point and it works.

 

Personally, I would have said something to the grand parents too. Nothing angrily though, but what I would have said would be very demeaning. Nothing would be worse to a grandparent then to be calmly told how poorly raised their grandchildren are and how it is a reflection on who they are as people. It results in creating enough discomfort on the other party's end that they will leave.

 

But, leaving because of them just enables their behavior as was pointed out already.

[Beastly Backlash]

40 mins ago, Jay Blair said:

With Kids and our hyper sensitive and litigious society if the parent figures don't do anything about it then there is not much you can do, but pack up and move on.

 

When I was young man and fishing with my dog a group of kids decided it would be fun to stone my dog with river rocks. I chased they off and they told their parents I was a pervert and called the police on me. I had fun trying to convince them that I was not a sexual predator about 4o years ago.

 

I can only imagine what it would be like today.

 

You are spot on, you never say anything to the kids other then something like, "Where are your parents?". 

 

The other option coastalfreak had was to pull a card out of society's play book. Call the cops and inform them that you are concerned about the safety of unsupervised children. It would fly too, with the potential for CYS visits for follow up and all.

 

It always goes that you are better off calling the cops first. In your situation, if kids were throwing rocks at my dog, I would probably just call the cops. Animal cruelty and unsupervised children. I would have also added that they were throwing rocks at me too, technically correct because if you are near you dog when the dog is being hit by rocks how can you be so sure they were not also trying to hit you?

Edited January 4 by Beastly Backlash