"Matches" That Certainly Weren't Made in Heaven

And just to set the record straight here in the beginning, I'm not talking about marriage matches. I'm instead talking about the kind of "shouting matches" (and worse) that often transpire when lakeside property owners and anglers who like to fish docks collide over each other's rights.

Read about this guy who was fishing a remote area of the North Fork on the American River for smallies. He had spent a good hour watching dozens of smallies in pools but wasn't able to hook a single one. Frustrated, he waded out in the middle of the river, casting behind rocks.

"All of a sudden, this crazy-looking guy emerges from the bushes," he said, "and starts brandishing a pistol and yelling, 'I'm Ted, and this is my river, and you're invading my home!'

"This is just great!" thought the angler to himself. "I'm not that good of a wader to start with, and I'm up to my chest in pretty fast water, and Ted's apparently identified me as a 'home invader.'

"Hey, Ted, you doing OK? I asked. Just checking on you dude."

However, Ted didn't respond, opting instead to just stare, as though he was trying to remember the angler, who, in the process, slowly waded out of the river...while keeping his eyes glued on Ted. The angler hadn't taken but two steps backward (while watching Teddy boy ever so carefully) until he was buzzed by a fat rattlesnake coiled and ready on the rocks. He subsequently fell into the water, went swimming, and didn't get out again until he was a few yards downstream.

By now, all the angler wanted was just to get out of there, but within another two minutes, he was buzzed yet again by a second rattlesnake in a tree hollow...maybe 5 feet away. He then started walking and happened across a third Diamondback half-covered in dust that he nearly stepped on.

"My car never looked so good," he remarked, as he drove away from the scene.

Also came across the story of a kayaker who was fishing along some docks on the Intracoastal Waterway. He was just off the docks, fishing the pilings, when a lady ran out, telling him that he couldn't fish there.

"Those are my fish," she complained.

In the middle of her rant, the fella caught a large sheepshead, which made her livid. While she called the cops, he kept fishing.

When the cops showed, they took statements from both parties. They also informed the lady that, as long as the fisherman didn't tie a rope to her dock, he was within his right to fish there. At this point, she went off on the cops, telling them that she had paid for that dock, that he was taking her fish, and she started throwing things in the water to scare the fish away.

One of the cops subsequently went over to the angler and asked if there was anything more he could help with.

"As a matter of fact, there is," he said.

He then pulled his phone out and cited the law that stated it's illegal to interfere with any person legally fishing. In the end, the lady got a ticket, and the angler got a fun story he could share with all his buddies.