Reminder about Boating Safety

Hey Mates!
Just wanted to drop a friendly reminder on boating safety with the upcoming holiday weekend.

This last weekend on both Friday and Saturday night I was witness to a couple of incidents that could have ended a lot worse than they did.

Let me start with Friday. While anchored fishing for Catfish, a boat is heading upstream ,it was approximately 11:00pm when we saw them round a corner and start heading up river towards us. We had on our lights while being anchored. They proceeded to speed up and give us a wide berth. We were on an outside bend in deeper water, so they decided to stay close to the other side where there was a sand bar. As they got closer they appeared to speed up….. When all of a sudden we heard a Smack and the motor start revving really loud. They had struck the sand bar at a fair clip. We immediately turn our spotlight on them to see if assistance was necessary. The Captain (if we can call him that)shouted that everything was fine. While some female was Yahooing. It would have appeared that someone had their share of beverages. The most disturbing part of the sequence was that there was a younger kid in the boat. After they got off the bar, their motor did not sound the same as it did prior and they continued up stream. If they had been using a spotlight and traveling at a safe rate of speed the incident probably would have been avoided.

The next incident occurred Saturday evening, It was a minor collision in the middle of the river. One boat was anchored in the main channel with no lights. The other boat was traveling upstream with out using a spot light. It occurred in an area that had bright shore lighting but the boat was parked in the shadows. Luckily the moving boat was going a slower pace. When the anchored boat captain shouted out at the last minute. The driving captain quickly adjusted course but not enough to avoid collision and damaging their boat.

Lets keep safety in the forefront with the end of summer and holiday weekend approaching. There is the potential for lots of people to be on the water, many of whom are not experienced and some will be intoxicated. You can do everything by the book and still get caught in a situation that can turn disastrous.

Thanks for being safe out there.

Good Points Larry!

Makes me rethink my travels on the sippi without my spotlight on.

I was on the Croix a few nights ago. Anchored 15 feet from a nun channel marker on the channel side. I saw this light high in the air..that turned out to be a light on a motor powered sail boat. If I had not turned my spot light on them, I know I would have been hit.

I did have all of my navagation lights on and my red head lamp (that was moving around in my boat). They ended up going between the nun and me. If i would have had a rod out on that side…it would have been snapped off. Glad I was in the no wake zone!

Being legal is not safe enough and more so at night.

Good call Larry. It’s a good thing to throw a reminder out there and plant the seed. Everybody keep your wits about you and pay attention to other people who might not be as “bright”, responsible or careful.

Did I mention that it’s a wise idea to wear your PFD at all times while night fishing…or day fishing for that matter??

Good post Larry. The holidays bring all sorts of people out to the bodys water in this state. And it seems that when the water flows, so dose the booze.
First hand experance, emty life jackets and beer cans flooting down the river is not somthing any one want to see.
Please pratice defenceive boating and be safe out there.

Good thread guys.

I would like to stress the point of the boat lights. Many of us fishermen are guilty of no running the proper lighting all of the time while fishing. In some locations(minnesota river comes to mind), there are lots of boats out there under power not running their lights either… It is a recipe for disaster.

Most boats do not stand out as much as one might think, even when someone is shinig a bright spotlight. If there is no reflective surface, a motoring boat may not see a craft anchored, or traveling in the distance, or even a considerable close range.

The best thing to do is to operate your lights in accordance with the MN boating laws. The rear light on any boat has to be 2′ above the highest point in the boat(which is over a persons head in a small craft), and is supposed to be visable for 2 miles. So all night fishermen are going to abide by this now right? Yeah right. At least have the common sense to turn on your lights if there is another boat in the distance. If you are not concerned about your own safety, at least respect the safety of other boaters.

The *accident* on Saturday night was a Alumacraft Lunker 165 (16′ 6′ boat) with a 40 hp 4 stroke motor(whisper quiet). The other boat was a 12′, overloaded little gamefisher boat(aluminum). The 12′ boat was anchored well into the main channel of the river with no lights on.. not even a headlamp in operation. The 16′ boat was traveling back to the launch at a slow plane(15 mph max). The small craft turned on a light when the larger boat was less than 30′ away and stood up and yelled. The small boat captain was not wearing a PFD.

Nobody was hurt(I have no idea how). Which boat do you think took the damage in the accident? Well.. needless to say, the 12′ gamefisher that probably weighs in at 98 pound without gear.. sustained $0 in damage and barely had a scratch as the 16′ almacraft rode over the corner of the transom. The 16′ alumacraft sustained $4400 worth of damage because the hull was ripped open by the corner of the little boat and would have sunk before it made it to the access if it didnt have a good working bilge pump.

No Alcohol was involved in the accident. The motoring boat had 2 passengers that were awake and sober.. the small boat was invisible before the captain turned on his head lamp.

That morning I happened to run into the captain of the smaller boat that was hit.. He couldnt keep his story strait and kept trying to tell me he wasnt at any fault for the accident… this is after he proceded to tell me that *he knew all he had to do was have that green and red front light on while anchoring*.. well, he didnt even have that light on, and the rear light(flash light style) was not operational.

I dont have much for kind words to say about the operator of the smaller boat.. but if you dont know the laws, and have no common sense for safety, you dont have any business owning a boat, let alone being in one on a river at night jeapordizing other peoples lives, and their own.

Last fall I nearly crashed into a large Lund Pro V in my boat on lake millacs while motoring across the lake. I was doing all my boat can go(about 24 mph).. the Pro V had a dead battery and the lights were not visable for 50′. I stopped and scremed at the boat after a very close call.. they called me every name in the book and threatened my life a few times.. and said they would be done fishing when the fish stopped biting.

I dont care if people are ignorant, naive, or just plain foolish.. its not ok to jeopardize the safety of other people on the water. If you dont have lights, you are at fault in an accident on the water. Even if e have the best lighting in the world, its no guarantee we are going to see another craft before its too late. Mother nature has no mercy. Be safe out there.

To Quote Jesse Ventura:

You can’t legislate stupidity.

Good reminders Mates!

Good post Larry. When you see a boat approching turn your light on as rule. I know that they are blinding at times but it aint worth the out come that could happen. Keep it safe out there guys and girls.