[DougMO]

Wish I had a picture but I was at the Marina where it was safe. 25-35 mph wind at Rathbun Lake Iowa. He was trying to back troll for walleye when I imagine a boat wake added to the swells from the wind came over his transom. Twice. He got the boat to shore where the waves filled it up. The boat only has 10 inches of freeboard at the transom. He was so mad at the boat for sinking! What can you say to a guy that puts his stern into the wind in those conditions?

 

[noweil]

His anger should not be with the boat, he should be mad at the operator

 

[oneounceload]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes................

 

[Swampy16]

A lesson hard learned that common sense could have avoided. Back trolling is dangerous enough but add to that high winds, boat wakes, and inexperience on a larger body of water and bad things can happen. I watched a guy on the Delaware River many years ago while they were shad fishing pull in between two other boats and throw his anchor off the transom. The other boaters started yelling but it was too late. The anchor caught and down it went, that quick.

 

[EricB]

Did he lose all his guns?

 

[oldthompson]

It's these dang 500 pound 200hp and up outboard motors. That's the worst place in a boat to stick 500lbs, of course it'll disappear stern first.

Nobody needs more than five horsepower on an inland fishing boat, imo. Anything more is just wasting fuel and showing off.

 

[Swampy16]

Maybe if you have a canoe 5 Hp is all you need. I wanna spend time fishing, not putting along to my next spot. Five Hp probably wouldn’t even hold my boat steady in a 3 knot drift.

 

[oldthompson]

Does not look like an inland fishing boat.

250hp. So that probably burns 20 -25 gallons of gasoline an hour at full throttle. Which is fine if you need to go 40kts to get 80 miles offshore and are pressed for time.

The three lakes I'm on are less than 1,000 acres. My 12' fishing boat has a 3.5hp four stroke. I burn about 3/4 gallon a week and I fish just about every day.

 

[southdakbearfan]

My 115 HP pushes my 19' Sylvan fast enough that if I hit something it would hurt (45 mph). 36v trolling motor moves me in any wind or current I need to or spot lock holds me still.

Low draft boat on big water, backtrolling, yep he played a stupid game.

 

[southdakbearfan]

Maybe if you have a canoe 5 Hp is all you need. I wanna spend time fishing, not putting along to my next spot. Five Hp probably wouldn’t even hold my boat steady in a 3 knot drift. View attachment 51633

Looks like a nice big water rig.

 

[rambo8+]

When you are rich and careless

 

[Swampy16]

A 12’ boat is fine for its intended purpose, just like a 40’ center console, it’s fine for its intended purpose. I was just ribbing you over the “all you need is 5hp” comment. It all depends on what you want to do. That War Eagle never should have sank, it was definitely operator error. As long as a boat doesn’t have a motor bigger than it’s designed for it should never sink, unless you take a wave over the bow of course. A friend saw it happen to a 25’ Steiger Craft pilot house off Long Island. It had a cut transom (which I think are stupid and dangerous) and happened so fast the operator almost didn’t get out of the wheel house before it went under. It took a wake from a party boat over the bow and it was gone, 4 guys went swimming almost instantly. The party boat was nice enough to pick them up however, lol.

 

[DougMO]

Did he lose all his guns?

No guns he was fishing. He is from Minnesota and walleye fished a lot but typically Northern fishing boats are V bottom high transom Lund style boats where you can back troll in rough waters. Anyway I decided to crappie fish around the marina with my boat all weekend (Friday Saturday Sunday Monday) and stay out of the main lake. The wind would not stop. 173 keeper crappie no boat trouble.

 

[Bailey Boat]

Obviously an inexperienced operator, but he's much wiser today....

 

[bosni]

No guns he was fishing. He is from Minnesota and walleye fished a lot but typically Northern fishing boats are V bottom high transom Lund style boats where you can back troll in rough waters. Anyway I decided to crappie fish around the marina with my boat all weekend (Friday Saturday Sunday Monday) and stay out of the main lake. The wind would not stop. 173 keeper crappie no boat trouble.

I think he was referring to the "lost all my guns in a boating accident" meme.

 

[EricB]

I think he was referring to the "lost all my guns in a boating accident" meme.

Nailed it.

 

[LwyrUp]

Yikes! So sorry to hear that. Any chance of an insurance claim?

 

[RPAD]

What can you say to a guy that puts his stern into the wind in those conditions?

"Here's your sign"

 

[338MX]

25-35 mph winds would prompt a small craft advisory (SCA) on many lakes, and even if a SCA isn't issued, the operator has to know his limits and the boat's limits.

I fish Lake Ontario for salmon, trout, walleye and bass, and 15+ mph winds usually makes fishing in my 23ft Crestliner Sabre anything but fun, so those are days that I choose to not go fishing. A 2-4ft wave forecast usually turns out to be much worse, like 4-6ft waves or worse.

Your friend should invest in a kicker motor so he doesn't have to back troll. He could also invest in some Amish Buggy trolling bags that are designed to slow a boat down for trolling. Many of our charter captains use them every day. I have a a pair of them on my boat, and they are a great companion to my 15hp kicker motor if I need to slow down for walleye trolling.

 

[Phage]

Many years ago, a friend and I sunk a 21’ Lund Commander, on the St. Croix River, in Stillwater, MN. My friend was an experienced Lake Superior diver, and the majority of use the boat got was as a dive boat. This was rough service on the big lake, they usually had 20 scuba tanks in the front of the boat, and a weeks worth of supplies everywhere else. It was a balsa core boat, which, is fine until it gets wet, and then it isn’t. The keel opened like a zipper, front to back, leaving the 302 Ford running in water. We had just gotten underway and cracked beers. We beached it on the Wisconsin side of the river, drawing the wrath of the landowner (it was Father’s Day weekend) but, right in Stillwater, there is a salvage operator, who got the boat on a barge that week, and friend negotiated the salvage costs to be exchanged for the 302 and the outdrive.

I owned a runabout, a Larson 196 with a fuel injected Evinrude 150, that we mostly used on Lake Superior around the Apostle Islands, either on extended sailing trips when renting sailboats out of Bayfield (nice to be able to run back to town at about 60mph if you need something while sailing/camping), or, weekend camping trips to the various islands. Running small craft on the big lake is a different dimension of boating, you need to keep your wits about you, lest the lake smite you and, then, disappear your corpse. I might have fished out of the boat once or twice. We tubed, skied, camped, drank beer, anything, to avoid fishing. Sold the boat when we made the call to live on one income and have the wife home with the kid.

Haven’t really looked back.

Phage