Arguments on the water

[Patrick Krueger, Jr.]

I've had tons of 'em with other anglers.

Misidentifying a species is a pet peeve of mine. Sometimes it's forgivable, such as with sunfish, other times it could get people into trouble. That's when I become irate. I once had a guy call the DNR on his cellphone claiming I was poaching trout. First off, I wasn't keeping any fish and all I was getting was northern pike. I taunted that old fool everyday after that, until he quit coming back. Another time, this idiot was loading a bucket with 12 inch smallies and thought they were rock bass.

Once there was a guy, who had his two kids with him, brought a boat down to a pond that is off limits for boats. An old trout fisherman and I warned the dude that the DNR love to take the equipment of law-breakers around there and seem to pop up out of nowhere. He says "I didn't see any sign," even though there's two posted on the only road coming into the area, simple signs with a picture of a boat with an x on it. Sure enough the DNR was waiting for him when he came in. He didn't even have a fishing liscense. He started flipping out at the amounts of the tickets and accused the old man and me of calling the DNR. The DNR agent kept cool until the guy got in his face and then informed him that he no longer owned a boat. Then the guy really freaked. I thought the big DNR agent might have to kick his a$$ in front of his kids, but thankfully that didn't happen.

Please tell me your stories of an occasion when it was hard to keep from beating the sense into someone who tried ruining your good time.