Got a phone call from a friend last night who was panic stricken because he dumped his boat in the Hoh. All three of them made it to shore safely, which I was glad to hear. Apparently he dumped it somewhere just above the canyon. This guy is a pretty good oarsman too so let this be a warning that things happen quick in a driftboat and even some of the best can get in trouble.

I gave him some phone #'s of people in Forks to help him get the boat out and recover gear. Anybody hear any news on this? Thanks

EDIT: NO, IT WAS NOT RYAN "SPARKEY" PETZOLD!

Ooooohhhh......

Bad spot to try to salvage a drifter...zero road access and precious little to hook the comealong to.....

Another out of town guide boat bites the big one. My guests for today ran across the extremely unhappy clients from this mishap yesterday and I heard about things this morning at breakfast and took the pix below today.

Would have taken some more, but I forgot to charge the camera while I was off the past few days it took some severe heating of my battery to eek these pics out.

Prospects for getting the boat out aren't good, a tremendous amount of water flowing into it and getting on a boweye will be very difficult. I saw one guide rig and the victim's rig at the bottom this afternoon, so I assume they were trying to get it out.

We found their lunch sack from the deal ... good candy bars

I won't point any fingers, but awfully coincidental to also find some egg containers washed up in the eddys below !!!!

This is the second out of town guide boat to go down in recent days on the Forks-area rivers. Remember, getting down the river safely is the #1 priority, and going with fellas that don't fish these rivers at all levels gets kinda risky as we can all see. Put your saefty first and book your trip with someone (there are lots of us to choose from) that knows the path ... frankly, as good as he may have been on the oars, the boat should not have been in the path it was on in the first place at the low flows.

If I hear more, I'll post more when I hear it

Bob is that your boat in the picture?The one thats still on top of the water.
I would swear I saw it on I-5 in the Longview area the other day.

OUCH!!!

By the looks of it that might be a permanant fixture on the Hoh for a while...

TM

I just got in from the Hoh. My partner and I helped Rick and Joe pull the boat out. Took about 3 1/2 hours. Beat it up pretty good. I shot a whole roll of film and will post pictures tomorrow when I get them developed. While pulling it out the boat rolled and everything that was left was gone. Front seat ripped out and rod holders tore loose. Both sides were damaged and there was a hole in one side. But everyone was safe. It could have been worse.

I've seen that "Wild Hair" boat twice. Who's is it?

Hmmm...why do I think that little comment was not the doing of Kid Sauk but of Bob??...

IMHO, a bitterly honest opinion at that...if they are fishing no-bait waters and using a $20 take as much slime off the fish as possible net in wild steelhead release waters...then they deserve to have the **** scared out of them! DONT GO WHERE YOU DONT BELONG!!

...and if the shotty oarsman is reading this "Neiner, neiner...I can row that AND YOU CANT!!!"

...no I should be making fun of what happened but because nobody got hurt, I feel I should get my shot in at these poachers!

The one in the pic is mine ... there are several that look like it floating around.

When Mike (owner) was still building them (we're hoping his health will allow a return this winter some time), I got a new boat every year and he sold the used ones ... so there were several around that looked pretty similar

Actually, they're my decoy boats so people don't really know where I'm going :p

Not me Ryan ... I was there, so I couldn't edit

But now, now ... no one saw them using bait. Just a really strange coincidence that we found containers with eggs washed up in the same area as other debris.

Someone smokes really terrible cigarettes too

I just saw the "Edited by Bob" in Kid Sauk's post plus the "Edit" before the comment so I figured you decided to make light of my adventures on the Hoh...

Ya gotta meet her first

One thing I have seen some people do is to float a section of a river with both "artificial lure" and "bait" sections and they carry bait for the bait section. This is illegal but I have talked to a few who think it is legal.

I've seen worse water....that water looks rather easy to navigate.

Bob, Can you tell what line he had and why he drowned it out?

You can't see upriver from the pictures, I dont see alot of bubbles or foam or anything that might indicate a fall.

Bad times

Gee, Sparkey, lighten up will ya It wasn't Bob who put the EDIT in the post...it was that damn Saddam Hussein again! Rat Basterd!

I was just trying to add a little humor to a subject that is of a serious nature and definately no laughing matter. The gentleman who had the drift boat accident is a very nice guy and bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people...yadda, yadda, yadda

As far as the egg containers and the net, hmmmm I dunno about that one, but I do know that when you travel all the way to the O.P. in search of BIG fish, you don't always plan on fishing the bait ban waters of the Hoh above 101. I'll find out what was really going on and rip him a new one if he deserves as much. Right now, I'm just glad to hear that they made it out of the water without drowning and apparently the boat is out now too.

I still don't know how this happened, but I do know that in a driftboat you don't have time to zig when you should zag, push when you should pull, etc. etc.

Bob is right when he says that safety is numero uno on the rivers and no fish is worth an accident.

In drift boating remember this...

Confidence will save your life...cockiness will get you killed.

Peace

The guy who owns this boat has no business being up there, He is not a good oarsman and all he did was endanger himself and whoever would be sent to save his ass. and I do believe he was probably fishing bait up there.
Also nice Quality C&R net Huh. Hey Justin why don't you educate this chump some.
Peace Superfly

Superfly,
With all due respect, I think Justin was trying to educate any who would listen when he said:

"Confidence will save your life...cockiness will get you killed."

It's always easier to kick someone when they're down than it is to lift them up and get them on the right path. Accidents do happen and I pray it won't happen to you.

Peace,
Mooch

Well said Mooch!

Bob,the boat I saw was identical right down to the name.Didnt figue you would letb somebody keep the name on the boat.
It was also in top shape.looked pretty well taken care of .