Texas Transplant
Well-Known Member
We were very close to an 'almost' tragedy on Saturday, during our tournament. Let me set the stage.
Weather was partly cloudy and very nice. Visibility was close to being unlimited. Wind was 3-4 mph at best, so the lake was very stable. We had been fishing up in the South Fork River that feeds the upper end of Lake Wylie - it's the seondary minor river. We had come out of a large cove off the back end of the channel. Coming down the lake (about 3/8 of a mile across), there were probably 6-8 different boats fishing different parts of the area. Near the eastern shore, was a 16 ft white tri-hull, with two men in it catfishing. They had about 12-16 lines out, all with bright yellow rods. Very visible.
We slowed down to go around them (they were 80-100 yards off a point), and went just a little farther down and around the bend from them to fish the next point. Kinda a 'S' bend in the channel. We could clearly see them from our position. About 5 minutes after we started working the point, we heard a loud 'boom/bang'. Looking around, we could see a pretty good wake, two fishermen in the water, and a bass boat returning to the scene.
The other boat was screaming down the lake at an esitmated speed in excess of 50 mph. Luckily, just before they ran over the 16 footer, both fishermen saw the impending disaster and bailed out on the other side. If not, at least one of them would probably have been killed.
We came back to assist, but fortunately, they were both back in the boat, and unhurt. Cold and angry, beats cold and dead any day of the week. We hung around the area for about 45 minutes, just in case we were needed (we weren't), then moved on.
Don't know how those two idiots didn't see them, as they were very visible. The bass boat, reportedly was taking on water and went up in to a cut to put it on the bank. The catfish boat had the trolling motor ripped off along with the handrail on the 'accident' side. Also took out most of the rods, rod holders and misc. stuff. Wound up bouncing off the top of the motor (took a big chunk out of the cowling), but the motor was still in operating condition.
Just as a reminder to everyone - even on a clear day, please pay close attention.
Tex
Weather was partly cloudy and very nice. Visibility was close to being unlimited. Wind was 3-4 mph at best, so the lake was very stable. We had been fishing up in the South Fork River that feeds the upper end of Lake Wylie - it's the seondary minor river. We had come out of a large cove off the back end of the channel. Coming down the lake (about 3/8 of a mile across), there were probably 6-8 different boats fishing different parts of the area. Near the eastern shore, was a 16 ft white tri-hull, with two men in it catfishing. They had about 12-16 lines out, all with bright yellow rods. Very visible.
We slowed down to go around them (they were 80-100 yards off a point), and went just a little farther down and around the bend from them to fish the next point. Kinda a 'S' bend in the channel. We could clearly see them from our position. About 5 minutes after we started working the point, we heard a loud 'boom/bang'. Looking around, we could see a pretty good wake, two fishermen in the water, and a bass boat returning to the scene.
The other boat was screaming down the lake at an esitmated speed in excess of 50 mph. Luckily, just before they ran over the 16 footer, both fishermen saw the impending disaster and bailed out on the other side. If not, at least one of them would probably have been killed.
We came back to assist, but fortunately, they were both back in the boat, and unhurt. Cold and angry, beats cold and dead any day of the week. We hung around the area for about 45 minutes, just in case we were needed (we weren't), then moved on.
Don't know how those two idiots didn't see them, as they were very visible. The bass boat, reportedly was taking on water and went up in to a cut to put it on the bank. The catfish boat had the trolling motor ripped off along with the handrail on the 'accident' side. Also took out most of the rods, rod holders and misc. stuff. Wound up bouncing off the top of the motor (took a big chunk out of the cowling), but the motor was still in operating condition.
Just as a reminder to everyone - even on a clear day, please pay close attention.
Tex
