Death on the Ouachita

[Arkie John]

I wrote this last evening for members of crappie.com (Arkansas State Forum) and thought I'd share it with my friends here.

aj

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Death on the Ouachita
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I knew better than to go fishing the day after a front moves through. But I went anyway thinking since the water was cooler that the fish might actually bite.

The blue-bird day held true to form. I was out there most of the day and the crappie had absolute lock-jaw. But all of the above was not to matter in a few minutes.

At 6:00pm I heard a siren chirp a couple of times from across the way at the Twin Creeks boat ramp. I just kept fishing until dark. I figured it was a ranger attempting to corral some drunk or something. But when I DID return, there before me was a sight that no one wants to see...or even think about--especially me--a former Corps of Engineers employee.

It seems that a man, fishing alone, had just set out trotlines and was heading back to his campsite at Denby point in his mid-sized flat-bottom, which was powered by a forty-horse Johnson. He was traveling at a fast clip along the north shore just east of Twin Creeks when he hit a large floating log.

The tiller-steered boat had plastic pedestal chairs installed fore and aft and they didn't help matters any. Upon impact, the fisherman was thrown from the boat. The boat went into a powered death spin, hitting the fisherman at least once. I don't know if he died of trauma or drowning, but somebody's grandfather; somebody's father and husband is dead, either way.

The kill switch was not engaged and although there were two personal flotation devices in the boat, neither were being worn. There was no other boat around immediately and people from shore were helpless to assist...until it was too late.

After the sheriff had departed, I asked the fish cops, 'what about his boat?' They weren't too concerned. "If you leave it here, it will be pilfered by the morning, you know. We can't allow that." The young officers looked befuddled. "Tell you what. I'm going to Denby and I'll find Mr. Weston's campsite, drop my boat and trailer and pick his trailer up and will recover his boat myself, if necessary." Off I went. It was now 8:30pm.

It was a process of elimination. I talked to several people and finally found the campsite. The 3500 series Ram truck was open. A checkbook on the front seat verified it to be the correct site. I latched on to the trailer and headed back to Twin Creeks. I handed the trailer off to the fish cops when they finally came up with a plan to store the boat at the Forest Service (protected) lot. Then, it was home, for a very late supper.

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I know you all love fishing or you wouldn't be reading this forum , but I hope you love your family more--enough to employ the safety devices required by law on any Corps Lake.

This old gentleman was a local and had no doubt--fished Ouachita many, many times. It must have been his "home lake" as it is mine. But we cannot get too lax about safety, even on the lake we know so well.

The Corps has built beautiful lakes all over this great country and God has given each of us a noodle and He expects us to USE it. Please be safe when pursuing this wonderful, God-given sport we call fishing.

I hope each of you had a better fishing day than I did. Maybe the fish will bite tomorrow. <><

aj

 

[Ron J]

I have experienced a similar situation. Back in 1990 or so, i had a 21 ft Larson, I/O. I had taken a trip from Beverly Harbor to Boston Harbor, an hour or so ride. I did some sight seeing in Boston,via the harbor. Which by the way is really a beautiful sight from the water view. I had gone way up river, past the Mystic Tobin bridge, almost to the locks. I had turned around, and got up on plane,cruising at a decent speed. Just as i was passing under the bridge, WHACK! That was scary enough, i had no throttle, or steering? As the Boat slowed rather quickly, i turned quickly at the stern. There about 5 to 10 feet away,just floating above the wake, was an old log or telephone sized pier piling, just enough for me to see for a second or two, before it submerged just under the surface again. I ran to the stern, to check out my out drive. It was still there,but hanging by the steering pistons. I was extremely lucky there were no leaks!! The collision had split the Gimble Ring in two! Luckily it didn't rip off the lower unit, cause then there would have been a major problem, water would have leaked into the hull through the boot area and may have sunk. The collision pushed the out drive just out far enough to pull the shaft from the engine, extending the steering pistons. I was lucky! This happened in broad daylight, and you could not have seen that log, floating just under the surface. Needless to say, it was a long day, by the time i got towed through the locks, way up river to a ramp where a friend had brought my trailer to haul me home. A few hundred dollars for the part, and some hard labor, i was back boating within two days. I was lucky, extremely lucky.... Yes as most of know, boating.fishing can be a great sport , but you need to be alert every minute or you can end up like the poor soul Arkie wrote about!

 

[Micheal_R]

It is overworked and trite, .... but he did go doing what he loved.

Sorry tale indeed.

Calm seas

Mikie

 

[Royal]

you didn't have to be the one to tell the family.

I wrote about one time I was in a northern Canadian lake and hit a log. It was a big lake and there was not a house on it, all wilderness for many miles. I hit that sucker broad side and wide open. It kicked the 28 hp Johnston up and it was screaming. Scared the crap out of me. I cut the power and shoved it back in the water, started for shore.

My buddy asked if it hurt anything and I told him that I was not gonna check in the middle of the dang lake! I would check near shore.

The boat had a double hull and I noticed it was slowing quite a bit so it was holed. I ran it up on shore, I was lucky enough to find a bit of sand and got everything out. I pulled the plug between the separating the deck and the hull. Water just poured out. I let it drain and bailed until it was empty enough to pull up and turn over. It was holed, maybe the size of a kids fist.

I always carried a fiberglass repair kit up there and was sure glad I did as it was about eight miles by land to the camp. That made little difference as there was absolutely no roads or trails in the area. There was no way for us to walk out or swim out and we could go days without seeing another boat.

We patched that hole up eventually and got back to camp late that evening. I am sure glad we didn't hurt the motor and I did not have it locked down.

 

[Arkie John]

He had a nice, late model fifth wheel camper that he pulled behind a late model Dodge Ram 3500. His truck was unlocked so I looked inside for any ID. I found his checkbook in the front seat that verified I had the right place.

I dropped Tom's boat and trailer and hooked on to his after attempting to raise someone in the trailer. I could tell just from looking that it was an inactive camp...no fire, no electricity being used, no food cookin' etc.

It was a sad deal.

You had a really NEAR miss, didn't you? I don't remember that story,but it sounds like it is action packed. Tom and I had to do a fiberglas repair at Lake Fork one year about 10-12 years ago. It was in the 50's and the fiberglass would NOT set until I went to a local Dollar Store and bought a hair dryer and taped it in position to go for hours.

It was a ugly repair but we continued to fish for a few days with it. lol

Have a good day.

aj

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can." John Wesley

 

[Arkie John]

Better days ahead for us all, I pray.

aj

 

[Arkie John]

In your area the water temp is critical and hypothermia is an immediate threat. Here, it isn't as critical, as the water temp is now about 72 degrees.

Mr. Weston was in his late 70's and had a handicapped sticker on his truck. He was not in the best of health.

On the contrary, I met another retiree on the lake a month or so ago. It was a warm day and he had his PFD cinched around him even while trolling. It had to be hot on him. But after talking to him for a time I learned that he had had by-pass surgery and he knew that if he were knocked overboard that he would not be good for more than a few swim strokes in the water. He is smart...and still alive.

aj