Almost Chris No More (long)

Was very excited to get to actually fish on Saturday after these last couple
of weeks of work. It was very nice out, maybe a little chilly, but great to
just be out.

Well I decided to go in and fish some largemouth's in a large channel system
I have fished about 1000 times before. I had just entered the channel, I'd
say I was about 30 yards off the lake and into the channel by this time.

I want to say before I type this, this all happened within a fraction of a
second. I started moving up to a dock , to fish it had my jig rod in hand,
when all of a sudden I hear a pop, so I look up to where the pop came from
to see birds scatter, and then a whizzing sound, and then leaves rustling on
the other side of the channel. I then turned back to where the pop came
from, and here is a handle cranking the window closed on a house, no more
than 30 feet away from the center of the channel where I am. Again, this
all happened in the fraction of a second, yet I can still see , feel, and
hear it all as if it is in slow motion and happening right now.

Well, needless to say, I can put two and two together, and as I stood there
stunned for what seemed like eternity, I finally snapped out of it, threw my
rod down, and jump on the outboard and got the hell out of there, and out
into the main lake to gather myself, and strap everything. I then decided
to run around the point to see if I could see this houses address, but It
was too far away. Mind you , this channel system is VERY residential,
houses lining both sides, and very nice houses. I was still in shock after
I went around the point, and just kind of motored around aimlessly till I
finally decided to just leave and pull my boat out. I had my cell in my
pocket, and had about 4 numbers dialed before I would just close it and say
forget it. I just couldn't believe that this really happened.

I ended up at home, and actually slept great Saturday night, I kind of wrote
it off as a kid with a BB gun. I then talked to some friends who hunt a lot
, on Sunday. I told them step by step what happened, and my feeling of what
had happened. They proceeded to inform me that the loudness of the pop led
them to believe it was either a high powered pellet rifle or a 22.
Especially with the whizzing sound coming and going. I have friends who
were in the first Gulf War that tell me that Bullets make a very distinct
whizzing as they go past. It all happened so fast. And as fast as the
"person" cranked that window closed told me the story. How close would it
have to be for me to hear it!

I won't go into all the emotions I have been going through over the last few
days, but Sunday night I had nightmares , pretty much my mind going through
every possible scenario on the negative side. Getting hit in the head at 35
feet with a 22, or in the eye, or in the chest and falling overboard, and
drowning, or in the head and getting knocked overboard, but being able to
grab my boat, but I bleed to death because nobody can help me in time.

So this continued on Monday night, so Tuesday I said screw it, I am going to
call the cops. I called the county sheriffs department. They sent out an
officer to my place of employment and we talked about what happened. He
proceeded to inform me, that outside of this guy coming out and admitting
that he took a shot at me , there was "NOTHING" he could do to this
"person". Which, not only ****ed me off, it sent me into an even worse
spiral. So now, it is alright to take a shot at a fisherman, with a weapon
that could very well be lethal at 35' , and as long as I do not have a
witness and as long as they are on their property, there is nothing you can
do????? I know that it is easy to say, "at least you are all right
(physically), and that "they are not stalking you, so get over it", or "time
will heal". It doesn't excuse the fact that there is no consequence for a
situation like this! That kills me, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my
wife, friends, and family. Especially not because some idiot thought it
would be cool to see how close he could get to a fisherman.

I apologize for such a long post, I haven't slept more than 2 hours since
Sunday, I don't know what to do. I really am lost.

take care guys,

Chris