It Happens Every Year--Just Like Clockwork

The "it" I'm referring to, of course, is the gaggle of boaters and families who seemingly come crawling out of the woodwork after the first few warm days of the season. And according to one of my ol' friends, West Neck Marina is loaded with 'em today already.

We all know the crowd I'm talking about. They're the ones who put their boats up for the winter without first doing any maintenance, and now they're left scratching their heads because the battery is dead, the boat's motor won't fire, or it won't keep running. And that says nothing about the growing line of other boaters who, for the most part, probably will experience the same results when they finally get their turn at the ramp. Oh, did I forget to mention that, while these folks are waiting in that line, they're doing absolutely nothing about getting the straps off their boats, attaching launch ropes, or loading the boat with stuff they will need or want to take with them? "We'll just wait to do that at the ramp," is their mindset. "Who cares if everybody else has to wait a little longer?"

Yes, we bass fishermen just love this inconsiderate bunch of... I'll just leave it there and let everyone fill in their own names. If that was the only distraction we had to contend with, it might not be so bad, but there's more. For our own sake, we'd better not overlook those unsupervised youngsters being allowed to fish from the catwalks. Take your eyes off them, and you may end up getting a sinker or fish hook up side your head or some other sensitive location. And if you say anything to one of them, you'd better choose your words carefully, or you're likely to get a healthy dose of tongue-lashing from one of those modern-day parents who believes that you stigmatize kids today if you chastise them. My only comment to that is this: Good thing these parents never ran into my dad, or their kids wouldn't have been the only ones stigmatized.

Anyway, I think you probably understand that what I'm basically referring to here is a "3-ring circus." I'm just letting you know that, based on the account of my reliable ol' friend, that circus just hit town and opened today at West Neck, and it's likely to get a lot worse before it gets better. I'm just tickled pink that I had second thoughts about planning a fishing trip out there today. Did I ever tell you how nice it is to be retired?