M
marko
beginning of june 2012
Have 30 years behind the oars on my drift boat----Just bought a new 8 HP Yamaha from Joe Koffler. Maiden voyage on the middle fork. Put in at Jasper and had 2 take downs by the time I reached midway to clearwater. My brother-in-law was wearing his life jack and my life jacket was at my feet. Not feeling comfortable with operating this boat with the motor but getting better as the day goes on.
We came around a fairly wide left bend in the river and the water shallows a bit so I shut the motor off and pull the motor up out of the water..we will drift through this and be set up for a long salmon hole. NOT TO BE! Before I know it we are heading sideways into a long tree and my oars are not in the oar locks...no time...Up goes the bow and down goes the stern-----we flip. I grab onto a tree branch only to taken under water so I let go and pop right up. I can see my brother-in-law is free from the boat and floating down river---the boat sinks quickly. I see my life jacket but can not reach it. I get caught up in a swirl and get sucked down for only a few seconds---when I pop back up ---there is my life jacket being sent to me from the swirl. Good thing to because my legs were feeling like flat noodles. I grab it and float down around a corner and finally reach the shore.
We both end up on the far side of the river so decide to hike towards Jasper. Long hike when wet and cold. My brother-in-law asks me to add up the losses, but I could only say that "we are walking". He agreed.
I hired Bruce Koffler to search for the boat and he went two times trying to find it but then got a call from someone who said the boat had been taken out of the water as it had semi surfaced 3 days after it went down. I sure do appreciate the efforts of my fellow fisherman----I do not know his name yet. I know he got a small finders fee from Bruce but I would like to personally thank him for his efforts. The boat sustained some damage but really not bad at all. I lost 3 brand new fishing rods made by Shane Groshong and all my reels and gear. But we walked away from that incident-----thank god!
Please be careful on the river---do not get complacent as I had---a very nice day can get very ugly very quickly . I needed a wake up call and got one. I think I will look into purchasing one of those life jackets that inflate when they hit the water. I understand that you can not even tell when it is on. I rarely post on the forum---I have a renewed respect for the river-----this incident scared the #%^ out of me-------hope you all are careful. Marko
Have 30 years behind the oars on my drift boat----Just bought a new 8 HP Yamaha from Joe Koffler. Maiden voyage on the middle fork. Put in at Jasper and had 2 take downs by the time I reached midway to clearwater. My brother-in-law was wearing his life jack and my life jacket was at my feet. Not feeling comfortable with operating this boat with the motor but getting better as the day goes on.
We came around a fairly wide left bend in the river and the water shallows a bit so I shut the motor off and pull the motor up out of the water..we will drift through this and be set up for a long salmon hole. NOT TO BE! Before I know it we are heading sideways into a long tree and my oars are not in the oar locks...no time...Up goes the bow and down goes the stern-----we flip. I grab onto a tree branch only to taken under water so I let go and pop right up. I can see my brother-in-law is free from the boat and floating down river---the boat sinks quickly. I see my life jacket but can not reach it. I get caught up in a swirl and get sucked down for only a few seconds---when I pop back up ---there is my life jacket being sent to me from the swirl. Good thing to because my legs were feeling like flat noodles. I grab it and float down around a corner and finally reach the shore.
We both end up on the far side of the river so decide to hike towards Jasper. Long hike when wet and cold. My brother-in-law asks me to add up the losses, but I could only say that "we are walking". He agreed.
I hired Bruce Koffler to search for the boat and he went two times trying to find it but then got a call from someone who said the boat had been taken out of the water as it had semi surfaced 3 days after it went down. I sure do appreciate the efforts of my fellow fisherman----I do not know his name yet. I know he got a small finders fee from Bruce but I would like to personally thank him for his efforts. The boat sustained some damage but really not bad at all. I lost 3 brand new fishing rods made by Shane Groshong and all my reels and gear. But we walked away from that incident-----thank god!
Please be careful on the river---do not get complacent as I had---a very nice day can get very ugly very quickly . I needed a wake up call and got one. I think I will look into purchasing one of those life jackets that inflate when they hit the water. I understand that you can not even tell when it is on. I rarely post on the forum---I have a renewed respect for the river-----this incident scared the #%^ out of me-------hope you all are careful. Marko
