PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (WSVN) — A young Florida man is speaking out about a day out on the water that took an unsettling turn when a boat’s captain threatened him, an incident that was caught on camera and went viral on social media.
Gage Towles has his fishing routine down pat: cast a line, catch the fish and reel it in.
“It’s what I live for. Every bad day that I have, you go fishing, and you don’t remember the bad days. It’s more of a good day,” he said.
Towles first picked up fishing with his dad when he was about 5, and he’s been hooked ever since.
Now at 22, he’s out on the water every single day. But what started as a normal day on a river near Tampa quickly turned into one he’ll never forget — for all the wrong reasons.
While Towles was fishing alone on April 1, Captain Brock Horner of Tarpon Coast Fishing began threatening him.
The situation escalated so much that Horner even boarded Towles’ boat.
“Ultimately, he did slowly inch his boat up to me and, yeah, when he jumped on my boat, that’s when it went from, you know, me just brushing this guy off to now fearing that I was going to die,” said Towles.
Towles said he witnessed Horner’s aggressive behavior about three days before recording the now-viral video.
Towles recalls Horner speeding past him and a friend around 5 a.m. that morning before things went left.
“He stopped and immediately starts cursing at us and calling us all types of names and ‘stupid’ because we didn’t have our lights on,” he said, “but we both did have our lights on, and I just think maybe he wasn’t paying attention, which, it happens, you know.”
The whole situation shook Towles to his core, but he said it won’t shake his love for reeling in the perfect catch.
“I’ll still be chasing the fish every single day,” he said. “I love to fish. It’s my passion. It’s everything. It’s what motivates me to get through life.”
In a statement released by his attorney was released, Horner offered an apology. Police have filed a report, and an investigation is underway.