"I've called the cops before when a surfer harassed me and a client."
The long-simmering blood feud between surfers and fisherpeople has taken a dangerous turn after footage was leaked online showing a violent confrontation featuring two younger anglers and one older logger.
The tableau unfolded in sunny-ish Southern California where the aforementioned younger anglers were on the beach tossing line into water when, as they recount in video, “surfers showed up and things got heated fast.”
A surfer “surfs into the line” then charges to shore where either he or fisher accuses the other of “not living here” and “being here first.” The surfer continues to berate them for not having a fishing license then taunts the camera, declaring, “Whoever is watching this, you guys are (expletive deleted) kooks.” It is unclear if the smear is directed at me, the viewer, or the fishermen.
In any case, the surfer paddles back out, allegedly surfs into the line again and the anglers decide to leave so as not to escalate the situation.
Opinion online was decidedly pro-fisher. A sampling:
Getting mad over knee high waves at the learners break what a barney.
I’ve surfed for 22 years. That guy has 0 clue what he’s doing in the water. Find his instagram and tag him.
I’ve called the cops before when a surfer harassed me and a client. We were actually already packing up to leave before he came up to us. He didn’t realized I had a GoPro on (dead battery). He went on and on until then and said are you recording me? Cops were there in 10 minutes. The surfer was warned about his behavior and the cop told him he will be arrested the next time an incident would happen. The surfer kept saying I wasn’t from here. I lived down the street from the beach. Don’t hesitate to get the law involved the next time. It is illegal to harass a fisherman. I’m all for sharing the water and will fish and cast around surfers. No reason to be agro about sharing the same water.
Harassment of a fisherman when actively engaged in legal fishing is illegal in California this guy is lost!!
Call dfg, harassing a fisherman is illegal.
My takeaway is that I had zero idea that harassing a fisherman is illegal. Is it more illegal than harassing a sunbather or dog walker?
Currently more questions than answers.