Thread: Prayers lifted up for missing fishermen on Pickwick.

Originally Posted by Alphahawk

I thought long and hard about responding to this. This is a very tragic event and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved. As to taking precautions to keep boats away from the dam. Many of us on crappie.com....and many others elsewhere.....fought very hard to keep our rights to fish at the dams....yes right up next to the dam. The Freedom To Fish Act was passed to continue to allow us to fish around dams in KY and TN in 2013. Several of the dams I fished at were unceremoniously closed to boats....kayaks.....at the whim of one Lt. Colonel. We don’t want that to happen again. As to a boat being able to carry enough explosives to damage one of those dams it is highly unlikely it would make a dent in those structures. An individual tried in the mid 70’s to blow up JPP Dam in Nashville.....see article. Disabled Worker Held In Nashville Dam Blast - The New York Times Getting close to a dam in a boat is the same as a boat locking though.....so if you don’t want boats close to the dam one must assume you would not want them to lock though.....which is part of the dam. As tragic as this is I don’t think the answer is to prevent access to dam fishing to us. It was tried once and I don’t think we want it to happen again.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

So what would be your suggestion on precautions to keep this from ever happening again?


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Nobody can adequately prepare for every tragedy or unforeseen circumstance. In this case maybe better pre trip maintenance on the motor, or at the very least a strong onboard anchor would have been beneficial. We live in a dangerous world and can’t legislate total safety.
My2cents.


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I understand that you can’t prevent every accident, but I do believe that there are things we can do to help in situations like this one. First, and I think is the easiest, is to have a rescue boat available with men on lookout 24/7/366. A multi billion dollar company could afford to pay say $100000 a year to help people that they see are in harms way. Video cameras are available anywhere, and there should be some all over that dam with people manning them. There is a huge difference in a boat going through the lock, and boat with people in it waving and screaming for help. Sometimes it may not be the lack of common sense. Sometimes it can be running out of gas, a boat hitting a log and blowing the lower unit. This isn’t the “taking away our right to fish” theory. If it means not ever having a boat go through the dam again, then I would gladly give up a few fish that are up next to the dam. We only have hundreds of miles of water left to fish.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Originally Posted by Nutbush

So what would be your suggestion on precautions to keep this from ever happening again?


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Make every boat have a 100lb anchor. This is a tragic accident and stuff like this happens. Does this happen very often on this lake? I remember years ago some football players went over the spillway at lake Houston. I don't believe that they change the way you fished around it.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

So sorry for the family and friends of this accident. Father and son and his son's buddy spending quality time together and making memories but excitement and
and adrenalin out weighed good judgement. Can't imagine what the families are going through.The government can't protect me from making a bad decision, no
mater how much they spend.

Originally Posted by 220cst

Make every boat have a 100lb anchor. This is a tragic accident and stuff like this happens. Does this happen very often on this lake? I remember years ago some football players went over the spillway at lake Houston. I don't believe that they change the way you fished around it.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

I believe it happened in either 2015 or 2017


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Originally Posted by stormcloud

So sorry for the family and friends of this accident. Father and son and his son's buddy spending quality time together and making memories but excitement and
and adrenalin out weighed good judgement. Can't imagine what the families are going through.The government can't protect me from making a bad decision, no
mater how much they spend.

You are correct, but in this situation there are things that could/can be done. Can’t shouldn’t even be in the vocabulary with a company that built the lake and the dam.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I too have been thinking about this incident since I heard about it.
Prayers for all involved.
I live on the Ohio River and a similar accident happened here just last summer with a pleasure boat.
Indiana requires each boat to have an anchor on board of sufficient weight for boat size.
However, boats with auxiliary motors, ie, trolling motor are exempt.
An anchor MAY have helped.
Please, every boater out there, put an anchor in your boat.
Again, prayers go out to all involved in this terrible tragedy.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app