Rick's Pondmates

Rick,


I wasn't there to see and hear their body language, facial expressions and spoken tone. But the incident you wrote about, at the pond you fished in this week's Panfish story, that shocked me and it has been bothering me all week.

It's good that you reported the incident to the landowner. Good also that the landowner says he will seek a court order barring those people from entering onto his property again. But as a legal matter it is not neccessary that he does this; all he has to do is call the sheriff's office, swear out a complaint and have the group arrested for illegal trespass. Not next time but this time. They did not have his permission to fish the pond; you did.

What is most disturbing to me is that this bunch of hoodlums verbalized a demand that you surrender all your fishing equipment to them. Given that the monetary value of the tackle you typically carry totals over $1,000; given that you were leaving the pond when they made this demand; given that the group attempted to pursue you on your way out -- all these actions taken together are prima facie evidence that this group saw you as an easy mark and they were intent on stealing your property from you.

Technically, what the group committed is a criminal offense. A felony crime in every state. The crime they committed is called Theft By Verbal Intimidation, also known as Strong-armed Robbery. They did not succeed -- this time. They might not have succeeded anyway, given your self-defense skills.

You are a good fist-fighter. Many other fly fishers, myself included, are not. I am, though, a skilled police combat shooter. Had I been with you on this trip, upon hearing that demand for your equipment (and mine, too) I would have gone into my vehicle for a very good friend, after which those people would have found themselves staring into the Tunnel of Doom. I despise thugs and bullies; I despise thieves.

It's a great relief to me that you survived such an encounter...this time. It's none of my business, Rick, but if you would think back again on their behavior that day, giving weight to the question of whether you felt they would have actually attacked you. It's up to you, but would you consider reporting this incident to your county sheriff's office? (Maybe a printed copy of the FAOL article would suffice.) You wouldn't have to file an assault charge, just report the incident as it happened. Give law enforcement their physical descriptions, describe the boat and vehicle, relate the events as they unfolded, and especially give the sherrif the pond owner's name (since he knows the offenders by name).

I suspect there is a high probability this group will repeat such behavior in the future. Maybe not with you but with other fishermen at other bodies of water. If robbery or a physical assault is the outcome (perhaps involving a homicide) it would be a tremendous help to investigators and your county prosecutor to have this evidence of the group's prior aggressive behavior -- evidence and testimony that can be shown to a jury to gain a conviction. People like these need to go to jail. What they did to you rates going to jail.

This group of thugs you encountered on that pond, they are on a collision course with disaster. Better the disaster be theirs and not yours, or someone else's.


And now...back to fishing! 8)


Joe
"Better small than not at all."

I would have turned the trespassers/would be robbers in to law enforcement at the first chance I got. I have a waterproof camera! A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. If they grab the camera, they won't get the SD card with their photos on it.

P.S.
Gator feeders beware! Your picture feeding the gator, and vehicle/tag picture may be at the FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) office. The game wardens will be in touch if you got caught red-handed (pun intended).

The honest answer in this situation is to do just what Rick did and that is walk away. It's always best to walk away from a fight and only resort to self defense when it is necessary to defend oneself from physical injury.

Turning them into law enforcement would have ended with "he said / She said" one person's word against another and nothing would have happened.

The best fight is always the one you walk away from.

Yes, I have a concealed carry permit and yes I do carry a firearm, especially when fishing alone. However, I've never felt the need to even put my hand on it when fishing. Something like that is an absolute last resort and reserved for when a situation becomes me or them. In that case, I want it to be me instead of them, but walking away is always the first and best option.

Trying to reason or argue with idiots like that is kind of like trying to dress a pig in a tuxedo. All it does is frustrate you and pi** off the pig. Said another way, you can't reason with a fool.

Nope, I think Rick did the best thing in the situation, just walk away. Shooting someone over a fly rod is not something I would want to live with the rest of my life. If I had to shoot someone to protect my life of the life of someone in my family, I would just have to learn to live with it.

Just my .02 worth.

Jeff

The Sheriff does know, via the landowner.
They are on the radar for some ohter things also.
A court injuction has ben served on them.

Hopefully I will not meet them again.

Rick

Rick and Joe, thank you both for bringing this up again. Appreciate the updates as well. No one has to tolerate this kind of behavior, and it is really good the land owner reported it. Tip of the hat to you gentlemen.