why ????????

[ironhead70]

all i was wanting to know is why do people have to tie their boat down on the ramp and why would someone else get mad and bad mouth the people doing it and then turn around to do the same when i was nice enough to let him pull out before i was to put in. i did not think it would lead to having to go take a course, would that really make everyone pull their boat out of the way to tie down, come on if they got enough sense to back a boat down the ramp, then they should have enough common sense to pull out of the way

[HiDefFisherman]

totally agree HB on the visitor's license, but would it be practical to have visitor's safety certification? It's unconstitutional to apply laws to just certain groups of a population. I also agree with you that we would be at least addressing the largest portion of the problem. Just the legal stuff that is in the way.

Also, as you are pointing out about the state of registration. The issue there is this, I know a lot of people who fish at KY Lake, and are residents of IN. But these folks have a "cabin" in KY, so they simply register their boats in KY instead of IN because of tax reasons. This just leaves open another loop hole.

Wow, the more we explore this, the more complicated it gets.

I guess I am just totally opposed to increasing the size of our government.

HDF

[HiDefFisherman]

Ironhead,

I totally get what you are saying. It goes to what I've always said, and what someone else has said here... "You can't legislate common sense."

That said, you really can't teach it to folks who have already grown to adulthood, at least in chronilogical age, not mental age. These folks seem to think the world revolves aroung them. And I guess I am guilty of this too, in some areas. Example, a family member had an appointment for some small surgery this Friday. Today the Dr's office called and wanted to know if the procedure could be done tomorrow (Tuesday). After checking, it was decided that yes it could. I called them back, and they said great, just make sure to call them 45 minutes prior to when they want us there to make sure they can still do it. Now being that I have been in public service type businesses for over 40 yrs, before retiring, I belive this world should revolve around me, and they should call me, not ask me and my family to sit around just in case they can do the procedure at a more convenient time for them, and then expect us to make the extra effort to make it easier for them, when we are paying...

Oooops, sorry off on a tangent. The point I am trying to make is that I think at some times we all kind of think we might be the center of the world.

I do agree totally with your frustration. Thank you for allowing us to hijack your thread and explore other dimensions that are related to your original premise.

HDF

all i was wanting to know is why do people have to tie their boat down on the ramp and why would someone else get mad and bad mouth the people doing it and then turn around to do the same when i was nice enough to let him pull out before i was to put in. i did not think it would lead to having to go take a course, would that really make everyone pull their boat out of the way to tie down, come on if they got enough sense to back a boat down the ramp, then they should have enough common sense to pull out of the way

[creeker]

Now they may decide to apply the law only to those of us that have KY license on our boats. In doing so though, they will be breaking constitutional law.

Then how is it that I can't take my boat through Indiana without getting stopped for not having a license plate on the trailer? Ky doesn't require one.

[sglass]

KY requires a plate if you plan on taking your boat out of state. You do not need one in state. Why I do not know. As for the morons in the State on our ramps. This year alone I have had two people give fishermen bad names everywhere. One was at Herrington after a tournament there was about 20 boats waiting to pull out. I am assuming a guys partner had never backed a trailer down before. It took him at least 10-15 tries to get it down Chimney Rock's wide ramp before he had it half way straight. That was funny to watch. Another was at Wilgreen. I was launching for a tournament and some guy decided it would be easier to leave his boat on the ramp instead of tying off to go in and get some crickets. He then went back to the boat and fooled around for at least ten minutes. I finally got aggrivated enough to squeeze my 20 footer just to the right of him and launch inches away from him to prove a point. I was by myself and launched and got my truck off the ramp before he moved. Why????

[ironhead70]

KY requires a plate if you plan on taking your boat out of state. You do not need one in state. Why I do not know. As for the morons in the State on our ramps. This year alone I have had two people give fishermen bad names everywhere. One was at Herrington after a tournament there was about 20 boats waiting to pull out. I am assuming a guys partner had never backed a trailer down before. It took him at least 10-15 tries to get it down Chimney Rock's wide ramp before he had it half way straight. That was funny to watch. Another was at Wilgreen. I was launching for a tournament and some guy decided it would be easier to leave his boat on the ramp instead of tying off to go in and get some crickets. He then went back to the boat and fooled around for at least ten minutes. I finally got aggrivated enough to squeeze my 20 footer just to the right of him and launch inches away from him to prove a point. I was by myself and launched and got my truck off the ramp before he moved. Why????

now now now lets take it easy on people backing up we all have problems backing up our first time and im sure there is alot of people on here that still do, may not take 15 min. to do it, and i will never have problem with ne one attemting to back up ill even jump in to help give direction and the more u sit there and watch someone back up the more nervous they get hey atlease they r attempting to hurry up and get out of the way

[sglass]

That one was pretty funny to watch. He jacknifed at least 15 times. I would have done it for him but his partner was sitting in the boat shaking his head watching so I did not want to step on toes. My truck is hard to back up at night and I sometimes can get a bit squirrely but 15 attempts on a double ramp?????

[raporter]

Idiots on the ramp is one of my big gripes. There is no one fix for all the problems. I am sure many on here do similar to what I and my friends do when we get to the ramp. Everything in the boat is ready before we leave home. We back down the ramp (Only taking one lane) stop at the waters edge, get out of the truck, take the straps off the back, lower the motor,one of us gets in the boat, back the boat down enough to unhook it then back till it floats off the trailor. Takes maybe 60 to 90 seconds and we are on our way off the ramp. Slightly different when by myself and the truck will be on the ramp maybe 4 minutes.
Anyone have other ideas on how to do this?

[Duayne]

Idiots on the ramp is one of my big gripes. There is no one fix for all the problems. I am sure many on here do similar to what I and my friends do when we get to the ramp. Everything in the boat is ready before we leave home. We back down the ramp (Only taking one lane) stop at the waters edge, get out of the truck, take the straps off the back, lower the motor,one of us gets in the boat, back the boat down enough to unhook it then back till it floats off the trailor. Takes maybe 60 to 90 seconds and we are on our way off the ramp. Slightly different when by myself and the truck will be on the ramp maybe 4 minutes.
Anyone have other ideas on how to do this?

Usually pull the back straps off before getting on the ramp, but that's only if the wench is in great shape and it's not too steep. I can see someone putting the straps on b4 pulling up the hill if their wench is iffy..

[FiletAndRelease]

I have taught all 3 of my kids to back a trailer and load/launch shortly after receiving their drivers license. My 17 year old son is better than alot of grown ups at backing, one day at cedar creek while watching a husband and wife try backig down the ramp numerous times and jackkifing, he offered to back their truck down for them, out of frustation the the husband looked at me waiting in the boat at the dock and asked if a teenager was serious, I said heck ya he can do it. The guy let my son drive while he sat in passenger seat. My son backed right down the ramp straight as can be. We helped em load it and even showed em a few tips. They had just bought their first boat and were just learning. We saw em on the lake a few weeks later and they have gotten alot better at it.

I agree that there should be some sort of boater license on the lakes. It would be hard to implement/enforce such a measure, especially out of staters and such. And the marinas that rent boats would really fight it.

Just my .02 cents, sorry about the rambling.

Rick

[Hlleonard]

Hey guys.....everybody is talking about a " safety class" of some sort when it seems that the thing that is peeving everybody is the folks that seem to not care if they are holding other folks up while washing and waxing their boats on the launch ramps .... I doubt a safety course would improve this any....
It would mostly just increase the cost of owning and operating a boat. I hope I'm not stepping in doggy do here but I don't think we have a a big enough safety problem to have to put up with another bunch of government regulations that only get enforced for an increase in "tax collecting" fine money.

[Dave Stewart]

First of all..let me say that I do not and have not launched at Irwin Cobb Marina...LOL. If you see my boat sitting on the ramp for an extended period of time, please check on me because something not good has definitely happened to me.

I do not see a mandatory safe boaters course certification as a mandatory licensing program...if it were a licensing program, I would expect it to also include on the water testing of the driver such as you get an on the road test to get a vehicle operator's license.

We already do have law requiring the passage of the ky safe boating course on the books...for those between the ages of 12-17 to operate a powered watercraft on Ky waters...this includes out of state folks. So the tools are in place to do this...just include everyone else above the age of 17. No, it won't stop the stupid people that sit on a ramp to load their boat...but it may just make some ignorant folks aware of a lot of safety rules and regulations that they have no idea about..like who has the right of way on the water etc.....NO...it won't cure stupid and it won't stop the person who does not care that they are in a no wake zone...but it will educate those that are now ignorant that would follow the rules if they had a clue...and generate some money for the KDFW to maybe hire more enforcement officers which we sorely need...and it would not put any more added burden to the system other than having the enforcement officers check for the certification certificate of the boat driver when they are out there checking for safety equipement, fishing licenses etc.

As far as not having enough of a safety problem to justify this...then you have never been on Ky Lake on a holiday weekend or on a summer Saturday or you would change your mind. I don't expect the other smaller lakes are much better.