While fishing a Pro-Am Event last week at Clear Lake I was witness to some of the most outrages actions from a homeowner I have ever seen. Believe me, after fishing Clear Lake for more than thirty years I have been witness to tempers, however this was far and away the worst.

I will not mention names and locations as they are not the intention of this article. This incident, I'm sure, will go to litigation due to damage of person, boat and personnel property.

My Amateur and I pulled into a cove between two docks to fish bedding fish behind some willow trees. As usual with a large tournament there was already a boat tucked halfway behind some trees at the end of a sea wall. This location was directly under a homeowner's kitchen window. The spot was taken, so I moved about sixty feet away to a similar spot. Now the stage was set for the most bizarre incident I have ever witnessed.

We had fished maybe twenty feet when we heard someone screaming, cursing and objects hitting the water. I turned around just in time to see a man standing on his deck directly over a Pro in the bow seat. The man was screaming and cursing at the top of his voice. He had a three by three feet 5mph plywood sign in his hands raised as high as possible and then struck the Pro. He then picked up a four foot piece of steel rebar and flailed away at the Pro, eventually throwing it in the boat. By now it's obvious this man has lost all self control, his voice is in rage and he continues the verbal threats. At this point we are moving our boat toward them, at the same time the Pro in attempting to extract his boat out of the willow tree and away from the dock, while under full attack. The next thing we see thrown into the boat was a large two by twelve missing the Pro and Amateur, landing in the boat, and breaking several rods. Now, the homeowner picks up a four by four about four feet long and heaves it into the boat, at this point the Amateur dives into the water. The next object to come at the boat was a galvanized water pipe about four feet long, fortunately it just bounced of the side of the boat.

By now you would think this guy is running out of items to throw, but this was not the case, the most potentially dangerous item was still to be launched. In a final fit of rage he comes up with what appears to be a large sledge hammer, which actually turned out to be a splitting mall, he mother fu------ them one more time and heaves the mall. The Pro managed to dodge this deadly projectile which landed on the bow deck and lodged under the seats in the center of the boat. At this point the targeted boat was now out of throwing range and I positioned my boat between the man on the dock and the Pro's boat to allow the recovery of his Amateur from the water.

The man is still in a rage, as he continues to rant and rage he invites us all to join him on the dock where he will finish his business. At this point I declined his invitation and asked him to "chill out". He then made a statement that made some sort of sense out of his actions. He pointed to the Amateur and said, "that mother fu------ pissed in front of my wife and daughter". I looked at the Amateur and he nodded "yes" in acknowledgment.

Relieving ones self is a necessity, but it is not necessary to do it under someone's kitchen window. Clear Lake presents a unique problem, it's shoreline is heavily populated and there are no on the water restrooms. However, like it or not we can not continue to offend people who live on the lake front. When nature calls get off shore a reasonable distance. Most homeowners are tolerant, but they are never the ones most vocal.

I am reasonably certain this incident will go to court and possibly trial, the offender was charged with two counts of felony assault. I am also reasonably certain it will make the newspaper. With this will come the complaints of other homeowners who have experienced a similar situation. This in turn may very well generate the demand of restrictions and the incorporation of specific city and/or county ordinances.

Now for the rest of the story. We had to have a local business man arrested, a boat was damaged, rods and reels destroyed and the Pro received physical injury, while the instigator only got wet. All of us have yet to go to court, hire attorneys, tell our stories and suffer the consequences. Sounds like a loose - loose situation to me. This incident will go a long way in destroying black bass anglers and tournament public relations.

Finally, the bizarre twist. As the police were cuffing and stuffing this paragon of morality into the police car, he asked an officer if someone could go lock up is home. When the officer asked why he wanted his home locked, he replied, "because no one is at home!"