We Survived........

My 14 year old son and I sunk our boat at Crokus Creek on the Cumberland River last Saturday. The amazing thing is that we are both alive to tell this story. God's grace got us to the bank safely (My son with a life jacket and me without). My friends have told me the last 2 to turn their boat over at that spot weren't that lucky.

I'm so grateful that we survived that it is insignificant that the boat, motor and all contents were a total loss. Though it may take some time, all of those items can be replaced.

In trying to move the sunken boat out of the main channel on Saturday, the power head had a hole knocked in it. When I got someone to help me get the boat out on Sunday, we found the damage to the motor. This is an electtric start 40 HP Mercury - 4 stroke (I am being told a Classic 50). Once I have all the motor info, I will see if anyone can use parts from this motor. At least the lower unit appears to be intact.

I did not get back to the spot where we sunk the boat, but other boaters say that it is marked by 3 rods and reels and a yellow deep cycle battery. The rest of the gear was going down the river about 100 miles per hour.

We have survived and, when we can regroup, we will be back on the river. We will be much wiser and much better prepared. There were so many little things that could have gone wrong to make this a tragic story, that I feel like I am the luckiest man (and father) alive.

I am also very grateful to the gentleman that let us come into his home, the Burkesville PD, the wildlife and boating guys and the friends that helped me get the boat out on Sunday. It was nice to have these folks on our side during our crisis. I will never be able to thank them enough.

With such a happy ending to this story, we have been able to joke about a few things. My son caught his first rainbow trout. (1) The wildlife guys told him that when they rolled the boat over on Saturday that it was still in the live well. (2) When that digital camera surfaces there will be a nice picture of him and that trout.(3)The fish have been answering my cell phone.

Please be safe out there, have fun and make sure that you have God with you.

Kevin

Your right about a happy ending. That stuff you lost is just that, stuff. Things like this can give a person a reality check on whats important and whats not. If you can retrieve that trout pic imagine what a story your son will have to tell! How big is the boat and what caused it to sink? Did the water come over the transom? Just curious.

I know the area well...I am curious too as to what caused the boat to sink...Glad to hear there were no fatalities!

I have fished this area several times and we would drag a small mushroom anchor to help slow us down. Never has it even come close to hanging on something.

The problem this time was the water was higher and more swift than I have ever fished. Even with the anchor down, we were moving very fast. With the swift current, when the anchor grabbed something and pulled the boat down and water came over the transom. It all happened so fast that there was no time to cut the rope. My son jumped to the other side of the boat, trying to balance the weight. In real time it took less than 5 seconds for the boat to sink. I think what saved us was that we didn't try to save or stay with the boat.

The boat is a 14' V-bottom. I also think that this contributed to the boat filling up. When we grabbed, it rolled over like it was a barrel.

Please tell everyone, no matter what you have to do to fish an area, don't tie off to anything, don't drag an anchor, and don't try to rest against a tree or log. The current will roll and fill the boat without any chance of recovery.

I'm very glad you and your son are O.K. The good Lord was looking down on you that day. We all do things we regret and look back later to Monday morning quaterback. I'm sure you won't let it happen again and good for you for having your son's life jacket on him, it more than likely saved his life. :-)

Actually, we had just made our first pass by the sand bar and he caught a rainbow. Before we pulled up the anchor and motored back up, I told him the water was really swift and that I wanted him to put his life jacket back on. I wonder what might have happened if I had not done this. I also wonder why I thought he needed his and I didn't need mine?

We discussed what a great day this was going to be and that we were looking forward to catching a limit. We sank the boat on the second pass.

I think I would tie a line to a cleat and add a floatation device to your line. That way you can let the line go and come back for it. It would be a quick release mechanism

Congrats on you and your son getting out of a very dangerous situation with your lives. You have good reason to feel lucky.

Thanks for posting this, it's a scary reminder of how quick things can happen.

Kevin, I think I know exactly where you're talking about. The current (and underwater obstacles) can be a little tricky around Crokus Creek.

Though obviously I am sorry about what happened, maybe a good positive to come out of it will be that your story might serve as a good warning or caution to the rest of us and remind other fishermen and boaters to be wary of things like that.

glad you're ok!

I was afraid at first to post this info. I felt a lot of guilt (stupidity) for allowing us to get in such a dangerous position. All of your positive responses are very kind and have helped me cope with this accident.

In the end, I had to post this message to hopefully warn everyone else of the perils of fishing Cumberland River (or any river). I am living proof that a small lapse in judgement can create a world of danger. I would not want anyone else to go through what we did this weekend.

Hopefully, this will help someone else learn from my mistakes.

Kevin I want to thank you for having the courage to post this. You may save someone else's life who does the same thing you do and does not realize what would happen if an anchor caught.
Years ago I watched while fishing a small creek in Central Kentucky as a canoe went wide into a turn and got caught on a log jam. They had serious trouble with the canoe trying to roll under the log jam, and I am not sure what would have happened had I not been fishing that part of the creek and been able to help them pull out.
Before that I would NEVER have suspected someone could get into trouble on that creek. The turn was deep but the rest of the creek was less than 2 feet deep.
Years later while fishing another stream I avoided the same situation thankfully, and the stream I was on was much deeper and swifter. I often wonder what would have happened if I had not witnessed and helped those guys that day.

To that end I have never told the story of a Fishing Tournament on Dale Hollow lake about 5 years ago. Guys were coming in at the end of the day and 2 boats paralleling each other about 15 yards apart both came down off of plane. One as it came down lost control and swerved at a 90 degree angle and smashed the other boat going all the way across it at full speed. 3 guys ended up in the water, and all made it out though there were injuries. The water temp at the time was in the high 40's. Had these guys not been wearing Personal Floatation devices or started to peel them off as they got to Horse Creek feeling safe at slower speeds the result might have been different. ALWAYS WEAR THAT PFD when you are running and until you get to the dock. IT WILL SAVE your life.
Jim Dicken