It Can Happen To Anybody!!

[nofearengineer]

When I arrived at Dale Hollow yesterday morning, my guide was there at the dock, and he looked a little weary. He said "I've got a story to tell you, but believe me when I say we need to run into town for a bit to get some breakfast."

I played along, and while we drove he explained what had happened to him that morning. It made sense him wanting some hot coffee and food.

He had been warming the boat up for the trip at about 5:00 AM, so he had it nosed into its slip. He put it in neutral, and set the rpms up a bit to 2000. He got off the boat to get some stuff, when he heard a "thunk". It was the boat slipping into reverse all on its own. (He had the lower unit replaced a week ago, so it was probably some small misadjustment in the linkage.)

The boat took off backwards, and he tried to stop it. He grabbed his bow railing but the motor was too much. It pulled him over the dock railing, and into the 49 degree water. He tried to work his way around the boat, but the water was pushing him back towards the bow. The boat was heading across the lake, and started to turn in backwards circles, so he really couldn't let go without the risk of the boat running over him.

It was pitch black and he yelled for help over and over again. He was in the water for a good while until a couple of bass fishermen he knows saw his boat and noticed nobody was in it. Then they heard him yelling. They eventually got next to it and one of them jumped in and shut it off.

Needless to say, my guide was pretty frozen and banged up, but he is lucky to be alive. If the forecast for yesterday had not been so nice, there might not have been any other fisherman there at that time to save his life.

The lesson here is it can happen to anyone, even an experienced professional fisherman. Complacency happens to all of us, especially at 5 in the morning, when we're tired, and we're doing the same thing we've done a thousand times before.

Wear your PFD's and kill switches! Don't fish alone in freezing water!

Since Dave's boat doesn't have a kill switch, I told him about the electronic tethers the saltwater guys use. I hope he gets one. He's a great guy who spends a lot of time on the water, and I'd hate to find out one day he drowned.

Lecture over.