Almost sank my boat last night - had my becker survival rig with me though

D

diced

Joined
Sep 26, 2012
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So after the daughters 1 st B-day party a friend and I decided to head out bow fishing for some of the invasive asian carp. Wind was pretty stiff when we left got to the river and it was a bit stronger. Decided to go ahead and launch my 15' Jon boat anyway and try to find some protected coves and islands for some night time bowfishing with bow lights. The wind was pushing us up river but it didn't seem too bad. Made it about a mile up stream before the SHTF. Wind instantly picked up to a steady 25 with 35-40mph gusts. Wind was blowing us sideways into a shallow flat full of downed trees (easily could have flipped the boat). Trolling motor could not beat the wind, fired up the outboard and bouncing off logs etc attempted to navigate back to the channel. Not sure if it was due to the waves coming from deeper to shallow water or what but started getting 3-4' rollers with whitecaps. Waves were breaking over the bow of the boat. Finally made it back to the channel and slowly down stream into the wind, it was a bumpy wet ride with several inches of water sloshing around on the bottom of the boat. I thought we were going to end up ditching and living Gilligan style on an island with my BK9/24 rig. It was scary, about the second most scary experience I have had in a boat.
 
It was a windy mother here last night. Glad you made it out okay.
 
Sounds like you experienced a real close one........ Glad you made it ok.....It would have been a high pucker factor evening for me, for sure......Drowning in a shivering hypothermic fit ain't my idea of a good time!!!.....I repeat....Glad you made it !!!?....

Ethan
 
There's still a wind advisory here until 8 tonight. 25-35 mph winds, with gusts up to 45.
 
Boat is back in the garage as of 15 minutes ago, and will likely stay there for a few weeks. I have spent a considerable amount of time on the water much of it on rivers. I have never seen waves as big as last night on a river. I have been in sketchy situations on big lakes when storms pop up and generate big waves, and have been on rivers in worse weather (storms etc) than last night but for some reason the waves were just nasty and coming in set after set. There was certainly a pucker factor, we were both happy to get the boat back on the trailer and get in the truck by midnight (got on the water at 10). We were in shallow enough water that we could have walked to an island when we were in real danger of going down, but would have lost several grand in gear. It will certainly have a lasting place in the memory vault under don't do that again.
 
Glad you're alright... sounds like a real scary time. We had asuper bad thunderstorm here last night, and now it is sleeting... hooray for the upper midwest.
 
You know, I can swim like a fish, nothing about water, scares me one bit, except after dark. Idk what it is man, but if its dark, and the boat rocks even one little bit, I'm scared completely to death!!
I'm glad you made it to land safely bro, I'm sure you were scared crapless.
 
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When I think back to some of the chances I took with the canoe on larger lakes when I was younger I shudder. They are chances (stupid ones) that I will never do again. Again they had to do with winds that got too much to handle, in the off season early in the spring after breakup and in the late fall as well.
 
The Warrior said:
There's still a wind advisory here until 8 tonight. 25-35 mph winds, with gusts up to 45.
Click to expand...

I was going to go shooting at a friend's farm but decided I didn't want to be running down range to prop up targets every 2 rounds. Pretty wild that it's coming out of the south this strong.
 
Good ol' Illinois weather. 69° right now, with winds at 29mph. Supposed to start thunderstorming and raining, turning to snow tonight, with a low of 31°. Then tomorrow's high is 42°.
 
Happy to hear everyone made it ok. Did you make sure to properly secure the cooler lid and have ample flotation strapped to it?
 
My cooler in the Jon boat could double as a life boat, nearly 2' wide 4' long and 2' tall. No beer in it though last night, usually never when bow fishing. Night time on the river is usually a sober affair for me. Barges can be very sneaky at night.
 
Man glad you made it ok! sounds like an interesting time to say the least.

I use to fish off the coast of florida when i was younger all the time with my father. One day when i was 17 a friend took his fathers little john boat and we made plans to fish off of the small islands a nice distance off the coast. We fit as much beer as we could a bottle of cheap black velvet whiskey and then 5 of us got in this little boat made for 2, ready for our trip out. right before we made it to the islands a guy stands up trying to get a beer out the cooler and tipped the boat, and the motor that wasnt mounted down fell to the bottom. we swimmed, pulling the boat with us to this to this island, maybe an acre in size. we had a few old cheap knives so we made a couple crappy paddles and 2 guys paddled back to get someone to come pick us up. they were gone for hours. until after dark. my lighter finally dried out and we made a fire. the guys that went for help forgot which island we were on because there is alot of them. if it wasnt for the fire they might not of seen us and without fresh water we were looking bad. most of the tackle had sinked but we had a few fishing poles and managed to catch a few fish. The very next day after getting an ear full from my father i went and got my first magnesium fire starter and an old timer fixed blade knife. from that day on i never feel comfortable without a firesteel and knife.

Had you been stranded, atleast you had a nice rig with you. a 9 and 24 could have you livin the good island life :)

Thanks for sharing. These are the reasons we prepare. its fun to talk about zombies sometimes but the real emergencies and disasters happen all the time and life and death can be as simple as having a knife and firestarter or NOT.
 
Man, I'd be pissing my pants. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at swimming. Hell, I made it to the National Winter trials in high school. But, swimming in a pool and swimming in waves are two different things. Thank God you're doing fine.
 
Toughest spot I was ever in, we sank a skiff out past the Mississippi Sound,night fishing. I didn't even have a knife.

We managed to get to the islands, get a roaring fire going ( road flare) and spent most of the night, retrieving the boat.

Glad you made it through in one piece, going into rough water at night, is some scary stuff.

Moose
 
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