I must admit that many times I would be chugging down the river and I will see fisherman up ahead but they have their backs facing me.So from then on I decided to follow the byelaws and if I take anyone's fishing lines I will send them a bill for a lift out and a new cutlass bearing, after all you can not argue with video footage.
So, the only chance they have of seeing me is when it's too late, especially if they have not heard me too.
I think what is lacking in general is a bit of common sense and no matter how much fisherman rant and rave about it, they are obliged to keep the navigation free for boats passing.
If they can't be bothered to move, keep an eye out for boats coming then you can't blame the boaters.
It's a lot easier to spot several tonnes of boat coming than us skippers trying to see a millimetres worth of fishing line.
As boaters we are not obliged to navigate around barely visible fishing lines.
I recall coming out of Stalham once and this dinghy full of fisherman with lines going in all directions refused to make any attempt to move so I crept up as near to the bank as possible and hit the bottom.
So from then on I decided to follow the byelaws and if I take anyone's fishing lines I will send them a bill for a lift out and a new cutlass bearing, after all you can not argue with video footage.