Towing people off the river stories

OK, I’ll start with a couple of my favorites.

1) I’m anchored up on a wingdam on Pool 2, not having much action. I look up river and a couple of hundred yards above me I see a guy swinging his landing net around. I think “Good for him, he got one”. A while later I look up there and he has the landing net out again. I thought this guy knows something I don’t. 15 minutes later I still haven’t had a touch and I see this guy has the net out again. “He must be in the right spot, wow.” And then I realized he was using his landing net as a Paddle! Something let go in his engine and he was dead in the water. A paddle….

2) Again on Pool 2, anchored up and doing some pitching. A guy and his wife launch their boat and make it into the channel before the engine dies. I could hear him turn it over, it would catch and run for a few seconds, and then die again. I looked over his way and held the palms of my hands up, he nodded his head and waved me over. I putted slowly up to his boat and when I was all of 5 feet away, his wife suddenly noticed me and said “Oh hey, could you help us out?”. The guy rolled his eyes so far back in his head I thought he was going to fall over the transom. She honestly thought I just happened to be there, 5 feet away from their boat in the middle of the river.

3) My favorite East Metro Bass lake, 3AM. I have a leash tied to the front of my old F7 Alumacraft and I give it a mighty shove off the trailer. And while I stand there with a slack rope in my hands I watch the boat slowly float out into the middle of the lake. Marvelous. I don’t swim, certainly not well enough to chase that boat across the lake. So I sat on a rock and waited for the next guy to show up. Suddenly two guys in a truck come FLYING around the corner, back down the ramp like maniacs, and frantically start launching their boat. I asked them what was going on and they told me they saw an empty boat just floating around out there, the poor guy must have fallen in the lake and is in trouble! I said “either that or the dumb *&R%$%$ shoved his boat off the trailer and didn’t have hold of it”. Sigh. They took me out my boat, all was well. And ever since then I give the rope the “yank test” before the boat leaves the trailer!

4) Many years ago, Cedar lake over by Star Prairie, WI. I was in my trusty old F7 Alumcraft powered by a might 5hp Sea King. Top speed was probably 7 miles an hour. There was a young guy in Mastercraft ski boat tearing up the lake, he roared past me and laughed. The three young bikinis on board thought it was funny too. Then BANG! he blew his engine. Smoke, fire, the whole nine yards. Middle of the lake, and some weather coming in. So I putted over and asked him if he wanted a tow back to shore. He sneered and said “With that little boat?”. I pointed out it might be small and slow and crusty….but my boat still worked and his didn’t. Yes, I was enjoying myself immensely. The tow took about 10 minutes and he never said a word. But the young ladies all said “thank You”.

S.R.

a couple weeks ago……high, fast current and as we are coming down thru the bottom of a back channel, entering an even faster secondary channel, we encounter an old and too narrow for me, aluminum boat with two young 20+ yr olds. Maybe 14′ boat at most.

One young man was in the front, facing the rear and rowing his arse off upstream, almost.

The second young man was seated at the rear bench and facing upstream.

Wife and I drift past them and I holler out…… “One of you fellas either lost a bet? ……are on a date? ……or you’re in trouble?”

The wife and I laughed real hard as they asked for a tow. We knew they’d never being rowing in that current and realistically get anywhere good. Their motor was not running and was raised out of the water.

Wife threw them a rope and we crawled back up the secondary channel to the back channel and got them safely home.

I watched a guy launch his fishing boat at the public landing (pool 4 public launch). Phone in one hand, the whole time. As he took his sweet time & finally shoved his boat off of his roller trailer, we noticed it wasn’t tied to a rope. Wasn’t stopping at the dock & Didn’t have a trolling motor either. We figured it served him right, so we left. We had already pulled our boat out. I’m sure someone helped the guy, or he went for a swim in the harbor?

Deleted wrote:

I watched a guy launch his fishing boat at the public landing (pool 4 public launch). Phone in one hand, the whole time. As he took his sweet time & finally shoved his boat off of his roller trailer, we noticed it wasn’t tied to a rope. Wasn’t stopping at the dock & Didn’t have a trolling motor either. We figured it served him right, so we left. We had already pulled our boat out. I’m sure someone helped the guy, or he went for a swim in the harbor?

Good stories guys but seriously? You just left them? We should always help a fellow hunter or fisherman in need…thought I read something like that when I got my firearms certificate…LOL

Catfish Bar in the evening, two hours before dark. Wake boat launches from Windmill Marine and heads down stream only to have his lower end catch on the chain that holds the first nav marker. It wrapped around their prop.

I was too early to expect a bite so it was immensely fun to watch them try to get that chain off their prop. Just as the Windmill security guard motored out to them, the chain fell off somehow. They loaded their boat and I’m assuming went to the bar.

Fishing near Prescot I decided to head down stream and fish a day marker. It was just before 10 pm and there was lightning to the West so I didn’t want to go too far.

Pleasure craft was waving a flashlight around so I thought I would swing over. The operator asked me if I had a pliers and a screw driver on board. I do I said, whatcha need it for? I hit a stump and need to straighten my prop.

After I towed him, his two under 10 year old kids and wife back to Prescott and on the drive to Hasting were I finally figured out he launched from, I asked him about the stump as there aren’t any in the area. Turns out that he didn’t know what a channel marker was. Just thought there was a rock under each one. So I explained to him what a wing dam was.

Then I came to find out that he bought his boat last Friday, went to a lake of Saturday and found that lakes are too small for his boat that goes 70 mph. Sunday he went to the St Croix and found he couldn’t get up to “cruising speed” because of all of the wakes so that day, Monday he went to the Mississippi (and found out what a wing dam was.

After we pulled his boat out and looked at the wrecked lower end and prop, I said “well at least insurance will pay for this”. I got this sickening look. You don’t have insurance do you? Nope.

I went home after that wondering why salespeople don’t talk to their customers more about water safety. When I bought my Solera from Skeeter Boat Boat Center, it came with a CD on boating safety. But I spose if a person doesn’t watch it, it doesn’t do any good.

Then there was the time at the Last Resort when a fella walked into the bait shop, said HI! then said his truck is in the river. His friend was in the boat as they just launched it and the back glass of the NEW Suburban was floating down stream like a giant pike cork. They tied a rope around the trailer as I heading to get my boat into the water. When I got back all that a person could see was a tight rope on a tree that went into the water.

Three hours later the rig was pulled out by a tow truck and loaded on a flatbed. Boat stayed on the dock for several days.

The truck was in park when pulled from the river.

Lesson here? Never trust PARK alone and always use your parking brake!

Bob, there was one year that darn near everytime out with a client there was someone flagging me down.

So much so that I started my trips telling my clients that if we come across a stranded boater we’ll check them out. If they are in danger we’ll help them (like infants on board). If they are just broke down, it’s their call to help them or not (tow). I’ll tell them to get out of the Nav Channel and anchor, I’ll call for help on the radio or cell phone but if they decide that we should help them, it’s going to be cutting into their fishing trip. Emergencies are on me and we’ll reschedule if needed.

I’ve been towed by a fancy Ranger in my old Sea-Doo after rolling it…Goes to show that not all fishermen completely hate Jet-Skiers, at least not enough to leave them stranded.

Last duck season, motor out into the main channel around 3AM. See a boat slowly drifting down. Offer a tow to the landing, they accept.

Get to the landing and under the lights…Turns out to be old friends of mine and neither of us knew it. When it’s dark and everyone’s wearing headlamps, you can’t see faces. Offered to stuff them into our boat and hunt together, they declined. Fast forward two weeks…I see them loading the boat back up at the same landing around 4am…He bought a new motor shortly after.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

So much so that I started my trips telling my clients that if we come across a stranded boater we’ll check them out. If they are in danger we’ll help them (like infants on board). If they are just broke down, it’s their call to help them or not (tow). I’ll tell them to get out of the Nav Channel and anchor, I’ll call for help on the radio or cell phone but if they decide that we should help them, it’s going to be cutting into their fishing trip. Emergencies are on me and we’ll reschedule if needed.

404 ERROR wrote:

Goes to show that not all fishermen completely hate Jet-Skiers, at least not enough to leave them stranded.

For sure.

I towed in a sinking jet ski a little over a week ago.

Young guy, New ski, new truck. Even helped him load. Least appreciating tow I’ve ever given. Storm rolling in also!

ClownColor wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Thomas Nichols wrote:</div>
I watched a guy launch his fishing boat at the public landing (pool 4 public launch). Phone in one hand, the whole time. As he took his sweet time & finally shoved his boat off of his roller trailer, we noticed it wasn’t tied to a rope. Wasn’t stopping at the dock & Didn’t have a trolling motor either. We figured it served him right, so we left. We had already pulled our boat out. I’m sure someone helped the guy, or he went for a swim in the harbor?

Good stories guys but seriously? You just left them? We should always help a fellow hunter or fisherman in need…thought I read something like that when I got my firearms certificate…LOL

Add “responsible” to Hunter/fisherman and I agree that’s what I remember…… Dildos are used to struggling in life. Sometimes it’s best to let them figure things out. If you can’t put the cell phone down & swim for the boat that got away from you, I say oh well…….If it were a true emergency I definitely will always help but on a calm day, in a harbor w/ no iminent peril is in play.

I once saw a large man swim after his boat on the St. Croix in late November, I think water temp was in the 40s or 50s?

Or maybe I fished with that guy later in the night, I can’t remember.

I had to be towed like 5 miles up to lion’s park on P2 one day when my motor stopped working. Really appreciated it, a nice older couple out cruising helped us out after about a dozen boats just drove right by us.

We offered to pay them like $60 or something for their time/gas but they graciously declined it. Hopefully I can return the favor someday if I ever buy a boat.

philtickelson wrote:

I once saw a large man swim after his boat on the St. Croix in late November, I think water temp was in the 40s or 50s?

Or maybe I fished with that guy later in the night, I can’t remember.

Early October, 50’s.
It was the sheriff’s who watched me undress and go for a swim. Lol

But you did jump in at 1030 and fished with me until 6 am you goofball!

Last summer my family rented a cabin at a lake near Brainerd. I of course took my boat and my Dad and I were out trying to find crappie one evening in my little ole 16 foot tiller with a 40hp Merc. All of a sudden about a mile away we see this huge pontoon with a giant motor come roaring away from a dock toward the middle of the lake. We both were like, wow, that’s one big expensive way to burn gas. Anyway, the pontoon goes about a half mile and then just stops. We didn’t think much of it but as we trolled closer noticed a big oil slick in the water. They waved us over so we went over and asked if they needed help. Turns out they had just bought the pontoon and – apparently – someone didn’t put a plug in or something and all the oil drained out. Ooops.

Towed them back to their dock, which was comical given the big pontoon fully loaded with folks and my little ole boat. But made it back.

I think this picture speaks for itself. I am sure most of you can tell which ramp this was at.

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The scariest one was watching a boat dead in the main channel. About a 20 foot IO with the rear lid lifted and one guy leaning his head in there trying to fix something. Wife and kid just sitting there.

As Im watching an empty barge is coming downstream at a pretty good clip. 3 long and 2 wide. Of course completely silent. Boat still on drift dead center main channel.

About then I pull anchor and schooch over to see what is going on. Barge closing in fast. I’m like, “You need a tow!” Guy says something like “I got this…” Look over an we got 20-30 seconds! I’m like “GRAB THE F-ING ROPE WE GOTA MOVE!!!!”

Again, this was a 20 foot glass boat and I’m in a little jon boat. Toss the end of the anchor rope over and hit the gas. Just barely get out of the way. Adrenaline pumping, heart racing. WOW!!! Guy had no idea how close that one was….

Another time I come across a guy and his son in a fishing boat dead in the water about 6 miles from the ramp. Get tied off and start the long trip back. My GPS shows an ETA of about 1 hour at the speed we were going. As fast as safely possible without overheating the motor.

About 10 minutes in, I can hear the guy blurting out something. I slow down, look back and the guy stand up and yells “Hey man, can you hurry it up ?” I think he was expecting we were just going to jump up on plane and run full speed back in. Dumbazz! If there were no kid in the boat, the guy would be back to drifting.

-J.

slawrenz wrote:

I think this picture speaks for itself. I am sure most of you can tell which ramp this was at.

that sure looks like Hok-si-la………but where is the dock? looks like summer so I am guessing wrong ramp or this poor SOB ran over it? i believe that is lake city FD on site. what exactly happened slaw?

Mid September 2016. Yes it is Hok-si-la dock must have already been out. I was coming in from a day of fishing with my BIL and noticed a boat with its front end buried in the water and the motor up in the air. It took a few minutes to sink in but the boat was still attached to the trailer. when we pulled up I could see the trailer and the F150. I jumped out and had my BIL drive the boat to the landing south of the marina, by the time we got back to Hok-si-la this was the scene. Did not really have the heart to ask the guy how it happened.

Back in the early 90’s…just got my new 17′ Sylvan with a 135 Evinrude…after a few hours of fishing went to start the motor and heard a pop…engine started smoking…a few flames coming out of motor and battery compartment. We bailed out of the boat…flames subsided…smoke went away…boat dead. Not sure how I got back to the dock (foggy memory) but I did realize that if you bail out of the boat you can’t reach the fire extinguisher that is in the boat!!

When I delivered the boat to the shop they determined that the power pack malfunctioned and it melted all the wires including those to the remote throttle.

Thanks for sharing the stories…it reminds me that if you are out there enough it can happen to you, or definitely to those around you. Keep helping each other out (someday I might be the one who needs it!)