A Terrible Boat Accident
Three people were killed and several injured after a horrific boat collision during a Major League Fishing tournament Wednesday on Lewis Smith Lake in Cullman County when one of the participants in the tournament collided with a guided charter "Stripper" boat with the captain and paying passengers. See more HERE.
I don't know if any of you fish bass tournaments or have ever seen the "start" of one of these bass tourneys where 150+ boats are sitting in the water near a boat launch/marina at an idle awaiting the start. The "go" signal is usually done with the blast of an airhorn, rifle shot, whistle, etc. On whatever signal is used, powerful outboard engines come to life and the water churns and rolls as the boats gain speed and "plane-off". Every fisherman is trying to beat every other fisherman to "the spot" and it is a wild-wild west scenario on the water and it is literally "boat at your own risk" (IMHO). A lot of people use this lake (and I imagine every other lake in the SE U.S.) for a myriad of purposes and interests. In the spirit of "never let a good crisis go to waste", there are those who will use this terrible tragedy to curtail the rights of others and further their ambitions as most on here know, but I detest knee-jerk reactions and .gov overreaches. Hang on bass fishermen.
Shotgun starts have not been a thing in years now. Anglers set of at timed intervals based on a lottery. Precisely because of the known issues with a shotgun start. I keep hearing this shotgun start myth being repeated and it isn't correct. But hey, we need to do something about those 30 magazine clip rifles too!
ReplyDeleteAlso, the accident happened well away from the start, so what has the start got to do with it? Nothing at all. At the end of the day this will come down to going too fast for the conditions, like pretty much every other vehicle accident that doesn't involve a cell phone.
As Abe Lincoln famously said, you can't believe everything you read on the internet.
+1 there was a bad accident in the 70's were someone lost their cowboy hat and turned sideways to the oncoming pack. Every tournament I fished since, salt or freshwater had interval starts.
DeleteI will say some anglers think that being in a tournament gives them favored status on the water. See the video of the greatest charter captain in the world. What an ass!
We have the (supposedly) largest Catfish tournament on the Ohio at Rising Sun, Indiana. The fishing folks are, for the most part, good on the water but a lot of the other craft are going full bore without being very observant. Add to that the ferry crossing and the party boats a Rabbit Hash... I have not seen any bad accidents but a lot of close calls and some fishing lines cut.
ReplyDeleteThe news 'anchors' fake grief was enough to make you cringe.
ReplyDeleteThis probably will not be a popular take, but why does the simple pleasure of Bass fishing require a 350 HP outboard? Why the need to turn a simple individual sport into a timed competition? The pro's even wear NASCAR style jumpsuits filled with sponsor patches. I enjoy hunting and fishing, but I do it for myself, not a cash prize. One of the boat skippers was responsible here. Speed limits and collision avoidance rules are well established and there should be no need to add to them unless this body of water is under managed for speed. I would hate to think somebody died over the time limit in a fishing derby.
ReplyDeleteI like your answer to this so called rsport. I like fishing and hunting but this so called professional sport is ridiculous.
DeleteIf everyone was limited to a 35 mph boat,it would be a fair game.
Delete00:48
ReplyDeleteWhat Morse Code message is she blinking?
Free beer tomorrow
Deleteused to see that every weekend at the lake where we had our houseboat. Unload a bassboat and see how fast you can get down the lake so you can sit for hours. Weird.
ReplyDeleteWe fished the Anderson classic night tournament on Smith Lake for seven or eight years in a row back in the day. They had over seven hundred boats leaving Speegles marina one year and it was a night tournament. At that time, the 90s iirc, nobody had ever been killed but the blast offs were absolutely unbelievable. I wish I had had a GoPro because you had to see it to believe it. I’ve also been on the lake when they were searching for bodies as a result of the same issue. Dumbass bass boat running over another boat. Thank God we always came home in one piece.
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ReplyDelete"Slick Johnson".
Sure.
"It's a bang-bang thang"! LOL
DeleteKinda reminds me of those BMX bike races where over 50 riders all try to get to the first turn as fast as they can.
ReplyDeleteSame madness.
When I saw the title I originally thought it was going to be a story about lost precious metals or guns....
ReplyDeleteIrish, the boat struck was not a Stripper boat, it was a striper boat, set up to troll (usually) for striped bass. Stripers are saltwater striped bass that became trapped in a freshwater lake in South Carolina in 1942 and adapted to the fresh water. It's not unusual for tournament bass boats to run at 60-70mph as the anglers try to reach a "honey hole" first. And they don't have brakes.
ReplyDeleteStripper boat? A phenomenon that I call, "Death by Spellcheck". A bit of linguistic comedy to leaven out the terrible tragedy.
ReplyDeleteThe tournaments out west don't blast off simultaneously. You're issued a number and they space you apart by about a minute. But the blast off had little to do with the wreck. Most Bass Boats run at a pretty solid 70 plus MPH. I think if I'm going through something narrow and blind I'm throttling back. Also I've been airborne in a Bass Boat. Not a fun deal. After you're back in the water you can't steer it. Even if you don't knock your outboard off.
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