As some of you already know, I had ankle reconstruction surgery 6 weeks back. During this time I have been non-weight bearing and have been using either crutches or a wheel chair, which in itself is a real pain in the backside. During this time, due to getting cabin fever, I made several attempts to try and get some fishing in. I was really surprised to discover just how few wheel chair accessible fishing spots there are here in California. While I did find some ADA, American Disability Act, approved fishing spots it sure seemed to me that the ramps leading down to the actual fishing spots were pretty steep.
Another thing I also found was that some people can be very inconsiderate. I went to this one place that had a dock that was made for handicap people, yes it was clearly marked, and there were people fishing off of it that would not make any room for a person in a wheel chair. As I started down the ramp they continued to have all of their stuff scattered all over the dock and between 3 of them they had 6 rods out, spaced so there was no room for me to even attempt to wet a line. I asked politely if they could free up a little room for me to fish, “We were here first” was their reply. None of these people were in a wheel chair or appeared to be handicap in any way, except maybe mentally. Their statement took me by surprise and really upset me. If I could have stood up I would have thrown each of them off of the dock into the water. At another lake I went to that had a handicap dock and the ramp was not to steep, I had a similar experience.
As of this writing my cast comes off in less than 48 hours and while I’ll be wearing a walking boot for a little while, I wont be wheel chair bound so I should be able to fish again even though I’ll have slight restrictions for awhile.
Anyhow, this non-weight bearing, stuck in a wheel chair thing really got me to thinking that there really needs to be more facilities that are wheel chair friendly that would enable a person who is handicap to be able to not only wet a line but to be able to catch some fish. I realize that the water level fluctuates in a lot of the lakes out here in California so therefore a permanent type dock wouldn’t really work. Now don’t get me wrong, I have no issues with anyone using the dock to fish off of but I do feel that there should be some laws or at least rules in place that if a non handicap person is fishing on a handicap access dock, if a handicap person shows up wanting to fish the non handicap person would be required to free up at least a little room for the handicap person to be able to fish.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
