Another FLW boat crash

[moguy1973]

1 hour ago, MOPanfisher said:

To be the devils advocate, what could FLW do to make the boat operators safer?

Lower the HP back to 150.  They don't need to be doing 70+ mph out there through reed channels on the Big-O.  MLF only uses 150hp engines on the boats the anglers use in those events.

[fishinwrench]

There is a very important element of the sport that gets very little attention given to it.   There are scads of articles and instructional videos about rods, reels, lures, lines, sonar, ect.  But when was the last time you heard a "pro" discuss proper trim angle and/or throttle control when crossing rough water?   When have you ever drove 2-3 hours to sit through a seminar about safe and responsible boat handling?  Oh hell no....but you'd drive 700 miles to hear KVD discuss his hook choice for square bill cranks.   Ever heard or read anything about the differences between running with full fuel tanks and full livewells vs. running light?  Of course you haven't.  There are tons of fishermen out there with hydraulic steering that don't realize that they can't feel steering torque.... therefore they don't know that the alignment of motor and hull is not conducive for safe right hand turns.  It ain't a car you're driving, right hand turns are way more clumsy than left hand turns, and the faster you're going the clumsier and more out of control they get if the trim angle is off just a bit. Hardly anybody that is a hot stick Bassin' man even acknowledges that. 

Everyone's head is full to the brim about how to fish a chatterbait over grass, how to punch matted hydrilla, how to choose the best sunglasses, and how to set up your sonar for optimal target separation. But they haven't a clue about how to read channel bouys in a big river, how to read a squall line, or how to spot differences in the distance between white caps to avoid a shallow bar or hump.  Maybe there needs to be more articles, videos and seminars on stuff like that.

A bunch of people with D's and F's in basic math are sitting in the algebraic geometry class.  The teachers don't care as long as they continue to get paid.

[Basfis]

Report system for offenders.

Hazard communication before takeoff and at registration. 

Suspension plan and requalification process wreckless boater. 

Bump up the top insurance requirement 

Add a driver qualification process (boater license)

Survey current and former co-anglers (survey monkey deal) to create a panel to review. Pick the likes and hates to find common ground  

there is is no guarantee any of the above would result in no accidents.  If the actions they take reduce incidents and increase awareness for their competitors and other organizations it benefits all. 

I feel sorry for the co-anglers. If I toured and my son fished the co-angler side, the increased frequency would have me pushing. 

8 hours ago, MOPanfisher said:

To be the devils advocate, what could FLW do to make the boat operators safer?

 

[Quillback]

Not bad ideas, Basfis.  Suspension and requalification would get their attention.  And there have been other accidents where no one was hurt that didn't receive nearly as much attention.  I remember a few years ago where Ike ran his boat up a 3 foot bank.  Miraculously neither he or his marshal were hurt. 

[Ham]

17 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Not bad ideas, Basfis.  Suspension and requalification would get their attention.  And there have been other accidents where no one was hurt that didn't receive nearly as much attention.  I remember a few years ago where Ike ran his boat up a 3 foot bank.  Miraculously neither he or his marshal were hurt. 

Gee Whiz Jeff did you see the area they were fishing when Ike had his accident? Narrow canals that have fallen logs in them under the water’s surface. All the competitors ran miles and miles to get to better fishing.

it was VERY lucky that Ike and his guy weren’t hurt, but it was an accident, and most likely an unavoidable accident IF you tried to run that canal that had an under water log in just the wrong spot.

I used to run that kinda stuff all the time, but our boats were much smaller and our motors only pushed us at 30 MPH. I don’t think I could run that stuff in my BassCat.

[Quillback]

Yeah Ham, I saw it, my answer would be if you're going to run a log filled canal, you should do it at a safe speed.  Absolutely avoidable, there's really no such thing as an unavoidable accident, except in the case of a meteor falling from the sky or something like that.

To me, this is just about as bad as running full speed down the lake in heavy fog and using the excuse that you have to do that to get to better fishing.  

[Ham]

15 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Yeah Ham, I saw it, my answer would be if you're going to run a log filled canal, you should do it at a safe speed.  Absolutely avoidable, there's really no such thing as an unavoidable accident, except in the case of a meteor falling from the sky or something like that.

To me, this is just about as bad as running full speed down the lake in heavy fog and using the excuse that you have to do that to get to better fishing.  

There is no safe speed. You either run the canals or you don’t. I thought it was a dumb place to hold a tournament, but they don’t ask me. I don’t think Ike was any less safe than the other guys. I think he rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. 

I saw lots of guys doing truly ignorant and unsafe things on the Red River tournaments and lots of them tore up hulls and lower units as a result. There are areas where there are long slow idles through stump fields to get to back water areas. You can’t run that stuff very long without tearing your stuff up, but they tried. It was crazy.

[snagged in outlet 3]

11 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

There is a very important element of the sport that gets very little attention given to it.   There are scads of articles and instructional videos about rods, reels, lures, lines, sonar, ect.  But when was the last time you heard a "pro" discuss proper trim angle and/or throttle control when crossing rough water?   When have you ever drove 2-3 hours to sit through a seminar about safe and responsible boat handling?  Oh hell no....but you'd drive 700 miles to hear KVD discuss his hook choice for square bill cranks.   Ever heard or read anything about the differences between running with full fuel tanks and full livewells vs. running light?  Of course you haven't.  There are tons of fishermen out there with hydraulic steering that don't realize that they can't feel steering torque.... therefore they don't know that the alignment of motor and hull is not conducive for safe right hand turns.  It ain't a car you're driving, right hand turns are way more clumsy than left hand turns, and the faster you're going the clumsier and more out of control they get if the trim angle is off just a bit. Hardly anybody that is a hot stick Bassin' man even acknowledges that. 

Everyone's head is full to the brim about how to fish a chatterbait over grass, how to punch matted hydrilla, how to choose the best sunglasses, and how to set up your sonar for optimal target separation. But they haven't a clue about how to read channel bouys in a big river, how to read a squall line, or how to spot differences in the distance between white caps to avoid a shallow bar or hump.  Maybe there needs to be more articles, videos and seminars on stuff like that.

A bunch of people with D's and F's in basic math are sitting in the algebraic geometry class.  The teachers don't care as long as they continue to get paid.

I was surprised how little info there is on the web for jet boating.  I thought You tube would be full of helpful videos on boat operation but there's not much.

[Fish24/7]

with today's tech why we still look for bodies for days,weeks,months when somebody falls out of a boat or is ejected is just dumb.  An inexpensive mini tile or cube style gps tracking device implanted in a life vest could save peoples lives and/or speed up the recovery time. I have one in mine. was less than $25. My family has theirs, and the app on their phones,and so do a few people I fish with. 

[MOPanfisher]

The majority of the ones I have been involved in a search or recovery it wouldn't have mattered, the life jacket wasnt worn.  On a large body of water, river, or ocean it would be a fabulous idea.