re: Boat wreck at Smith Lake today - UPDATE three confirmed deaths

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70 or 80 mph like some claim then they aren't watching their electronics. No gps/bottom reader is accurate at those speeds.

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GPS is absolutely accurate at those speeds. Tons of pilots use it to track their airplanes in real time navigation.

It's true that bottom machines don't work at those speeds. But he could have been watching his chartplotter map and it would have been accurate

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Running in fog with radar is no picnic either

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This is so true. I don't care what new tech there is that claims to "change the game"...But when it comes to driving, whether it be on the road, on the water, or in the air, I am going take as much caution as possible and trust my eyes. If that means I can't see 10 feet ahead of me, well, I'm going very slow to make sure I can react to what I see.

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bullshite, not even close to the same thing

You are responsible for your boat and it's wake. People can legally fish wherever they want to, it is your legal obligation to not hit them. The people fishing have the same rights as the a-hole bass guys hauling arse whether its on a straight away or a curve. Hopefully the basshole catches charges and jail time to think about his actions and won't drive like an a-hole if he's ever on the water again.

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So one is not supposed to fish bends in rivers on the off chance that someone comes around the bend at a rate of speed that makes it impossible for them to avoid hitting the fisherman? Thats fricking insane. First off bends of rivers is where the fish are. The outside of a bend is slower and deeper and is liable to hold all sorts of structure. Second of all, and folks from Louisiana know this as much as anyone, if you are looking for a straight stretch of water on a river in most of the south good luck....most of them do anything but flow in a straight line....most of them look like a drunk 5 year old drew them on a map....a rived that covers 100 miles in a straight line will be 400 miles long....I don't think anyone would conclude its a bad idea to fish a bend in a river while most people would certainly contend it is a bad idea to go hell bent for leather around a blind bend in a river cause its a fricking blind bend...no telling what might be in the water....

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NO... but it sounds like he could have used better judgement and maybe delayed the trip an hour or two until visibility was better.

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Very well could have started before fog set in....I have done it many times, especially striper fishing on large COE lakes...making bait before daylight and setting up to fish and around sunrise fog will roll in for a short period of time....it can't be helped, fog happens. What can be helped is speeding in fog.....boats will idle as well as run on a plane.....

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You can see his trolling motor in the water.

Its fairly crazy that he was hit under those conditions. Its also crazy that there is a camera on damn near everything these days.

I wouldn't doubt the bass fisherman was on his phone while driving. Probably not paying attention, or putting in coordinates or something. Its an inexcusable tragedy.

Given those conditions i'm also honestly shocked all 3 men passed. I'd have thought they would have seen and heard the boat coming and at least one of them could have jumped out of the way. Terrible.

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Bass boat driver must have been asleep. Thats a heaping pile of water on either side of the dam CC.....judging from the map you could probably be on a plane a couple of feet off the point all the way over to the other side of the lake....the center console is what, 30 feet long, while the navigable width of water at that point. according to Navionics, is almost 2000 feet across LOL. He literally had 1970 feet of water he could have occupied and not hit anyone. Maybe 1800 depending on the lake level but still there is PLENTY of lake there to avoid another boat, especially in the conditions in that video....no excuse, dude was asleep or doing something other than paying attention to where he was going.....

After watching the video my thoughts

Very possible the tourney kid was glancing down at the screen back and forth with looking up at the water ahead. Right where the striper boat is sitting there are white cabins/docks in the background. Running at speed and trying to cut that corner it is very likely the tourney angler looking ahead missed seeing the boat as it partially blended with the docks/cabins in the background.

Mind you this is strictly my personal assumption and in no way relieves the moving boat operator from not picking out the striper boat from the background while running at speed. As a boat operator it is your duty to be alert to any and all potential situations which can occur on the water and be ready to react accordingly. Having your eyes going back and forth between the GPS lake map and the water ahead needs to weigh more towards the water ahead w/o a doubt.

Just my dos centavos

Been away from the computer pretty much all weekend and had some time to think about the accident and also have seen some new details.
Here is what I'm thinking:
1. It is looking more and more like fog wasn't a factor like originally thought.

2. If that is the case then I'm wondering if there was a steering issue or if like some have said, maybe his screens created a blind spot.

3. I also wonder if another boat besides the two involved could have played a role, I.E. coming from the other direction and one was avoiding the other. Still so many unknowns.

4.Pics of Davis' boat show a GoPro stick on the back so I'm guessing if the GoPro wasn't lost there will be a POV video and eventually the people who need to know will know what happened. Not that the public should ever see it.

5. Nitro's used to be notorious for "Sliding" when trying to steer hard at a high speed. Part of me wonders if that could have caused the issue, tried to overcorrect and lost control.... although I will say the hull damage that you could see from the news footage looked to be more of a direct hit.

6. Most importantly, the whole situation is bad. Lives were lost, a young man will have to live with this for the rest of his life, and could possibly face jail time for what happened.

And this will affect future tournaments also.
Prayers for the families for all involved.

And for the bass guys, we have to be better. I've been there, you get locked in to the next bite or the next spot and in a split second your whole life can change. Bad, Bad deal all the way around.

It is interesting to go back and read this from the beginning.

Who and how did the “thick fog” and “blind curve” rumors start?

One rule that could be implemented that would increase safety would be to make it a tournament rule that electronics can only be used at idle speed/no wake or when the big motor is off.. That would keep guys from running 80 mph with their heads buried in their chart plotter, oblivious to what is around and in front of them. Need to use your GPS to navigate? Cool, you can. At idle speed. But at 75 mph you move over 100’ per second. If you look down at the screen for three seconds you have travelled a football field. If visibility is so bad you have to rely on your chart plotter you need to slow down. If you are so unfamiliar with a body of water you have to rely on your chart plotter you need to slow down.

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Although, I have been told I can be DWI eligible while trolling with the main engine off and the key not even in the boat, so I guess that applies in louisiana as well.

BUT, it doesn't matter in this case. Vessel maneverability matters and a center console under trolling motor power only would always be the stand on vessel when the other is under outboard power.

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This is how they told me LOL...I was spot locked and slip bobber fishing a brush pile and drinking a beer when they checked licenses and told me, in passing, that drinking while operating a boat was illegal - they weren't ugly about it, more or less like a PSA....and then he told me that if the trolling motor was on I was underway and someone had better be operating the boat LOL. They were very friendly about it - not intending to write me a ticket or anything, just reminding me that someone else might take a dimmer view.