Ky. Dam Stupidity

I've been seeing it up here where I live and yes, people take a lot of chances around dams. I watched three or four boats put in on the Ohio River at the McAlpine Locks and Dam and none of them had a life jacket on. The locks were wide open too, creating a massive amount of current and under tow. Most of these people are drift fishing in the current seams for big blue catfish and they don't wear a life jacket, crazy to me. There are plenty of times when I don't wear a jacket either but I'm not fishing in current next to dams either. I'm going to buy a couple of nice jackets that are the slimmer kind that don't constantly get into your way when trying to fish.

Makes me wonder how people like that have survived as long as they have :dono

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Originally Posted by chuckauten

Now that's what I call stupid is stupid. This is what causes closures of areas when people do not use the proper size boat or safety equipment and they drown. What if another gate was opened, they would not have time to get away with a trolling motor.:deadhorse

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Or make use of their brain. Was the serial number Ky? A million sperm and they were the fastest.

You can't pass laws to protect people like this. You can't put up barricades to restrict them from an area. These are the folks who would be cited for fishing there even if the area was closed, they just lack the capacity. I truly have no answer.

I see this all the time in my job.

They need to watch this video. I watched this happen to an old man at Nickajack Lock about 8 years ago. Not a pleasant sight watching someone drown. :(



TVA: Hazardous Waters

That right there is why people are getting killed every year on the lake. Just Plain STUPID.

I remember seeing videos as a kid warning of the dangers of the boils below the turbine discharges. It showed a mannikin in a small jon boat (like the one in the OP) in the boils. It would start to spin slowly then faster until it was sucked down like someone flushed a toilet. That video stuck with me because both of my grandfathers as well as my Dad worked on dams all up and down the valley. My Dad lost 2 friends on Smithland Dam's construction when their tug capsised. One of them was never found , the other one's skull was dredged up 10+ years later from the Ohio.

If folks want to put themselves in harm's way like those 2 mental midgets, that should be their right. In return, they should have no right to expect anyone else to put their butt on the line to save them if SHTF.

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Originally Posted by mrdux

My Dad lost 2 friends on Smithland Dam's construction when their tug capsised. One of them was never found , the other one's skull was dredged up 10+ years later from the Ohio.

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August 26th 1980. My dad was the pilot of that boat, he and a laborer from Illinois drowned. The laborers body was found a few days after the accident. My dads remains were found by one of Ingrams dredging crew close to Lockhart rd. in the Ohio river in July of 2005 and identified by DNA in early 2007.

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Originally Posted by justinp61

August 26th 1980. My dad was the pilot of that boat, he and a laborer from Illinois drowned. The laborers body was found a few days after the accident. My dads remains were found by one of Ingrams dredging crew close to Lockhart rd. in the Ohio river in July of 2005 and identified by DNA in early 2007.

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Justin, I had no idea that was your Father. My Dad has always spoken fondly of him. For that reason, I have never set foot at Smithland Dam. My Dad was seriously injured, should have died, on that project and out of respect to him, I have never fished there.

Wow!