Shot at on Big Lake
 

I'm sorry this is long but worth the read. It has taken me a while to be able to post this publicly because it has affected me more than I realized. Two years ago on August 11, 2012, I went on an afternoon/night fish on Big Lake. I have a friend that works offshore and his teenage son loves to fish so I called him and set up the trip because Dad was working. Getting my boat ready I had this weird feeling like I didn't want to go so I sent a text and said that I would reschedule our trip. About 30 minutes later I couldn't resist and went out by myself. I launched at Hebert's with some daylight left fished the pocket till dark and headed toward the launch hoping to find a few camp lights on with no one fishing off the docks. I found just that, two camps north of the launch with light on and the docks looked like a ghost town. I am always considerate of any dock fishing and move on. This is a shallow area and it was already a falling tide so I trolled in and anchored because of the wind. I heard a bullet pass by my head and at first thought it may have been kids and a bottle rocket but it wasn't. This was coming from a dock that I couldn't cast to if I wanted to. The second bullet passed by my head and I went into panic status. While turning around to see who/what was going on I saw two bullets enter the water about 2 feet from my starboard gunwale. I immediately pulled anchor and another shot passed close enough to my head to make me loose balance and fall over the bow. I am barefoot most of the time in my boat and when I hit the bottom I kicked off to get back in the boat (oyster reef). I never realized I sliced up my feet with the adrenaline. I gunned my boat in the shallows scraping the prop and the hull on the reef. Once I got out of the light into the darkness I started to think that if I didn't find out who this was I would never get my boat fixed. So...I gunned it straight at the dock (can't explain this action!).....when I arrived he was waiting for me at the edge telling me that I am going to drown tonight. He swung at me a few times to no avail and I slung my dock rope on a cleat and jumped up on the dock. He ran into a doorway on the dock and I told myself I may have just made my last mistake so I ran to the door and waited outside. He came out unarmed and I dropped him and hit him two more times to make sure he was out. I jumped in my boat and gunned it for the launch hoping he was alone. On the way to the launch I look down and my boat floor is covered in blood and I think "Oh God ..he got me"... Then I remembered my feet getting cut up. I made it back to the launch and called 911 and loaded up my boat and wouldn't you know the drunk guy showed up at the launch with a pistol in hand just as Cameron Parish was pulling into the launch. He was charged with DWI and Felony assault with a firearm. I got my boat damage paid for but I am more thankful that I did not take that young man fishing with me that night because he would have hit one of us. Fishing for me is a retreat and a total relaxation from everyday life and he almost took that from me. I have just now started to enjoy fishing again with a reclaimed passion. Needless to say I am packing every time my boat leaves the launch. Next person that shoots at me will be leaking! Sorry for the long post but I needed to share with my fellow fishermen and get it off my chest. Thanks.

Wow that sounds like an intense fishing trip...thank god you didn't bring the kid I could not imagine how things would have went if there was a child involved.

Unreal

Did they convict him? Was it his camp or just staying there?

He was from Lafayette just staying there.

you better than me Mike cuz he'd a been a dead SOB if I got my hands on him

I have my 9mm holster on a RAM mount now under console. IF I had that then he would have been a dead SOB for sure. I would like to beat his A@@ one more time!

I remember that ,, it was the psycho that has the brown camp !

Can't believe he don't not get charged with attempted murder

The deputy told me that if he would have hit my boat or "me" he could charge him with attempted murder. When a cop is shot at and "missed" it is still attempted murder!
I was pissed!

Wow! glad you are OK. jez...

thats crazy

Wow

wow that is a crazy situation!

That is crazy. Glad u survived to tell about it.

I love the part where you knocked him out.

For you to drive your boat up to him while he is shooting at you that is either very brave or very Dumb. Thank God he had put his gun away when you tied up and knocked him out.

Damn Bro sorry to hear that....... thats a POS.


I agree, but its to hard to prove if you don't have any damage or evidence that he shot at you other than your word.

X2, glad you made it back alive to tell us this.

Thats a very scary and crazy situation.... Not sure i could of done what you did tho... Glad you made it out alive to talk about it. Was that just a one time visit for that dude? or is it his camp? That dude needs to be beat till he cant function so he cant ever do some stupid crap like that again to someone.

See this kind of stuff doesnt happen on sabine.... looks like its the only safe place left to fish! :-)
good story though. crazy people in this world!

Wow thats crazy. I always have my pistol(s) in the boat. Fishing does crazy things to already crazy people. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it

Glad you didn't wind up with the fishes

Glad everything worked out. And you got to give him the ol' 1,2. So he just randomly started shooting? There were no exchange of words prior?

That is crazy. Glad you're alright and got to lay the POS out. This just goes to show that guns, liquor, and fishing the lights don't mix!

Was there ever a motive on what set him off?

This brings up another question. What's up with people being such cry babies about people fishing by their lights.
If no one is on the dock and they left them on and you don't get all up on their dock what it's the problem ?
If it was mine and I wasn't fishing them I wouldn't care. I've heard of many people that got chewed out and threatened to have police called.
Pretty sure the cops can't do anything about people fishing a public lake.

I had this argument with my buddy who has a camp in Hackberry. He says he leaves his lights on to get the fish used to going there at night. He can control his lights with his iphone and will turn them on 2 or 3 nights before he goes to his camp so the fish will be there when he gets there. He also doesn't want anyone stealing his fish. I asked him "so you train your trout"? His response was "its like decoys in front of your duck blind, you don't want someone hunting your blind". I told him it was pretty much like a duck blind at wax lake, if you don't want some one hunting your decoys pick them up. If you don't want someone fishing under your lights, turn them off. He's an idiot, I love him but he truly is a moron. I assume there could be other reasons people why get mad about this, but the common tread among all of them is stupidity. That being said, if there are people fishing from the dock that is lighted you should not be fishing there without their blessing.

That's about what I thought.
It's not like that one group of fish is the same one night after night.
If you got someone all up in your biz while you trying to fish your lights then you have a 100% legitimate gripe.

I don't fish light out if a boat very much but one night last summer me and 3 buddies trolled out about midnight to fish .. (Been drinking and having good time )

About the 3rd set we started hitting them good and the people on wharf were not catching like us so we trolled over and gave them some light jig heads and baits
They started catching real good .

We trolled over two wharfs down just to try those lights and soon as we made one cast the guy starts yelling that we can't fish his lights
Buddy says turn em off then , guy said we are fishing ,this is my "Dads " lights and our fish

Knew we had a frat boy ... Cranked up and plowed the bottom in front of "his dad's wharf" till it was soild mud

Then said real nice !! Might be your lights but this is my garden and I wanted to plow it


Trolled back over to other set and started catching with other people who gave us more beer


Never talk crap to the guy in the boat who can fish other spots and can make yours go from great to finished in matter of minutes

I worked on an inland barge this summer in Timbalier Bay. It moved about every two weeks. Tugs with barges in and out all night, crew boats, noise, six foot swells, you name it. Once the tide started moving they came to the light like children of the corn. TTF Little Speck killers has no equal when it comes to catching trout under the lights.

:rotfl:

Lmao

Figure 8 that bish! !

It was probably best thing I saw all year !

We were in my buddies boat with a 250 and his prop was eating nothing but oysters lmao

Never saw so much mud and rock fly !!!

Stainless Steal props are the **** !!


Those dudes were speechless and just watched !! If any fish were left it was because they were dead

Too much booze is all. I was 100+ yards from the dock he was shooting from. Couldn't cast to "his fish" if I wanted to.

Hard to imagine him coming out unarmed-but definately good for you. About how old was he?

My 12 yr old son asked me the other day If "Im packin heat every place I go?" and I told him YES EVERYPLACE, and its for this stupid reason right there! who would think out on the lake you need to protect yourself. on the boat my gun is in the glove box, don't want it falling over board as Im scooping up a fish.

My son is my fishin buddy, and if that happen to me with my son, that would be one dead SOB.

glad your ok!! Whew! "Im packing everyplace" its the world we live in.............

That's why I pack when I'm in the Yak!!

Yak'n & Pak'n.......... Sounds like something you'd see next to a Salt Life sticker on the back glass of a jacked up truck at Academy! :rotfl:

LOL, good one.

Or a pornographic movie

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Yeah I was a tad bit worried that I made a BIG mistake waiting outside that door. I was going to hit him hard no matter armed or not. I had no choice at that point. He was 60. But after getting shot at 5 times I would have knocked him out if he was 80.

His fish? too funny


agreed if theres someone fishing on that dock, stay the hell away............

Guess hes never been to Toledo bend and that's 1/2 your fishing, going form dock to dock. If theres peps fishing, I just make a wide birth around (as to not disturb their fishing) wave and go on, hell a few times Ive been offered a beer, one time some BBQ!! I took em up on that!!

Yea I guess you really gotta commit at that point. At least it wasn't an 80 year old lady.

He wasn't 80 but if it had been a woman threatening my life I would have taken her out too. If I had my pistol onboard then there would have been a funeral for him!

I am sick and freaking tired of people making the plunge into "DumbA@@ mode" and not being held responsible for their actions! I will not stand for it ever again even if I have to beat someone's A@@ or shoot someone that is shooting at me!!! Had I NOT gone back to find out WHO the DumbA@@ was... I would have never received the money from him through to court system to fix my boat that HE caused the damage to! Some would have engaged their trolling motor and cried all the way to the boat launch!! Not this transplanted Texan!!!

That should warrant some kind of Salty Cajun T-shirt in a Large size perhaps....

I mean.... I came..... I saw.... I kicked A@@....
I got this T-shirt!!

It would have to say salt life somewhere on the shirt though!