Reply With QuoteOops. Wrong link. Will put correct one there if I remember.
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Administrator
I'm am sure many know about the reverse current close to dams.
http://youtu.be/4BfToO1SS8c
Administrator
Oops. Wrong link. Will put correct one there if I remember.
Administrator
Correct link.Originally Posted by peter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1x2c2qR54o&sns=em
Senior Member
Horrible to watch. What on earth were those guys thinking.
Senior Member
I agree that was horrible and sad.
Below is a quote of one of the comments posted below video which helps to explain a little of what they were thinking.
All three volunteered on their day off to recover what they thought was the body of a fellow firefighter who had drowned the day before trying to rescue two stupid young men who took a boat over the dam for a joyride. They couldn't get the large boat in there for the rescue or the recovery because they did not have a proper launch pad for the big boat. That was my father's priority when he became chief a few years later- add more boat launches.
Senior Member
True bravery I feel bad for what I said.....They died hero's
Senior Member
Yes that was hard to watch. My buddy and I had engine trouble below Meldahl dam a few years ago and got caught in a reverse current. I thought for sure we were goners as we were drifting pretty fast toward the white water coming out of one of the gates. The trolling motor was on high but had no impact on our drift. The water was getting very rough the closer we got. I didn't even bother with a life vest because I knew it wouldn't make a difference. So I just sat down and waited for the white water to swamp us. My buddy gets the idea to turn the trolling motor toward the dam. He thinks that we can gain speed and then turn sideways at the last minute to pull us out to some calmer water between the gates. I looked at him and said, "are you crazy! we are going to die and you want to make it happen quicker"! Well he turned the trolling motor toward the dam and we started picking up speed. Just as we were getting close to the white death, he turned the trolling motor toward the middle of the river. Sure enough, we slowly started pulling out of it and eventually made it to the calm water between the gates. We were able to turn the trolling motor down stream and we slowly made progress until we hit swifter water and were able to drift on down river. Very scary.
Senior Member
mean morone
I hope that taught you to never give up ..
Folks here is a few things we can do to help us be a little safer and it may save your life ..
When ever I fish such water I take or make a anchor that will hang up real easy and weighs about 20 pounds with a 100 foot of cheep but heavy rope that will hold . We would tie off the rope to the front of the boat before we got close .
Mean your friend had a good idea never go against the current go side ways of it just like getting hung in a rip current and you should have the both of you in the same end of the boat as the motor the reason is maybe you can get the trolling motor down to the good current and it will help but as for me im tossing out the anchor first just make sure you have more feet of line then there is feet of water ..
But in the end folks its just not worth our life any way and i look back on some of the stuff we done and Im glad Im still hear.
Tight lines and be safe..
Administrator
Fair question I think.
Senior Member
olegreenboat, those are great points. I hate fishing below any dam which results in my buddy going with someone else below Ft. Loudon Dam in TN last week. He had a great time. I think I should clear up some facts about our experience. We were well down stream of the last buoy on the KY side when the motor died. He spent several minutes trying to get the motor going which meant we were drifting pretty fast toward the dam. That current is amazingly strong and is impressive when going toward the dam. The other issue we had was the long distance lead chunckers on the bank. They could nearly reach us but I think they were more annoyed with us than actually worried about us. I turned my back on them and hoped I didn't take a direct hit in the back of the head. We don't purposely go near any dam. Motor trouble can happen any time so I would rather be down stream away from the dam.
Senior Member
Here is a video I came across that while it can get somewhat technical at times I still found interesting explaining dangers of low head dams. I thought others may find it interesting as well.
Low Head Dams - A Dangerous Current (Presentation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsYg...yer_detailpage
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