So my buddy and i drifted the nooch today on our pontoons and we had stopped just before the conversion damn. I had seen this drift boat early and could tell that the guy didnt have the best skills. So we saw that they had switched rowers and the guy was letting his buddy give it a shot behind the stix in the slow spot above the conversion damn(very bad idea). We're watching them and we are cracking up because the guy had no clue how to row. Then it dawned on us; this was going to be very bad.
The guy that knew how to row was in the front frantically pointing where to go as they got into some faster water. He barely dodged the first stump he went by then the current pushed them strate into a tree that was hanging 2ft high over half the river. The boat nearly flips, one guy (this guy is over 60 years old) hangs on to a limb of the tree and is up to his neck in the rushing water. His buddy who dosnt know how to row manages to stay in the drift boat then ends up pulling it over to the shore.
As this is going on my buddy and I are frantically cutting our anchor ropes and splicing them together. We tie the rope to our life vests and go in for the rescue. We threw the make shift life ring and dragged him to shore.
Other than that the day was slow went 1 for 1 on a nice 12lb chrome hen.

Wow. Glad nobody died. A swiftwater rescue course is worth its weight in gold!
I know it's tempting to do anything to save somebody, but there can be serious consequences to tying a rope to a lifejacket. (the class IV rescue jkts have releasable belts that rescuers are connected to) Good effort in the rescue!!!

If you had not been there it could have been real bad...

...And ya caught fish!!

You guys went 2 for 2, one hen and one old guy that you kept. Nice job!

Hohbomb, please tell us about the life jacket and rope thing. I know you have stuff to share. Like how to approach a log when your wearing a life jacket.


Vince

BTW Jason, I've got a seat for you. Gimme a ring.

This is the reson I'm the unpaid guild who gets to fish maybe a cast or two
the whole day.Safer than sorry that guy was so lucky you two came along.

When in doubt, get out an walk it.

Self rescue is from people on scene. You guys did the right thing, and saved that guys life. You should be proud. I am an advanced swift water rescue expert, and I understand what Hoh is saying. You have to be careful tying off a life jacket, and getting in swift water. Easy for the guy to get pulled under water and the guys on the bank dont let go. What you did is called "live Bait", and is very dangerous. All of our PFDs have a release to get free. A guy on scene has to decide what level of invovlement he wants, but you dont want to become part of the problem. Just my two cents

This is the second boat this week on the nooch, there was a hyde driftboat that rolled on the upper river on Wednesday. Thank god you guys were there, I just get concerned with the low prices of driftboats and that anyone can buy them and just go float a river. If your not sure of what your doing either ask or follow or just be careful. The river is no where to find out to late that you dont know what your doing..

I was on the upper nooch yesterday and saw a white hye tied off to some trees with no one around, is this the boat that flipped? if so they were not very far into the drift when disaster struck and it is a long hump out from where this boat was at. Do they need someone to row it out?
Let me know.

Peace
Fly

Good for you on saving that guy's life. I think part of the problem is people who are new to driftboating ask someone about the skill level needed to row a particular river and the answer is often, "no problem, real easy". I have heard that about the Wynoochie before. I have only been down it a couple of times with a guide buddy of mine and even though it is not class
IV water, you can certainly kill yourself on it.

Hey Joe it was B. Whitehouse and I that saved those guys yesterday. You remember Whitehouse don't you? We have fished together a few times. Last time we saw you was on the Hump at the put in at 101 a few years back. We have a question about the nooch. PM sent your way. Thanks Joe

Great job on the rescue. When I first saw the post I thought for sure it was a green boat that I had seen numerous times during the float today. He started off his morninb by pulling in right below me and plugging the tail out of the hole I was plugging. I yelled at the guys and they just kept rowing with my gators ten feet from the back os his boat. Everytime I saw them they were corking someone or rowing sideways.

By the way, went 1 for 3 with a nice nate hen.

Absolutely awesome saving the man. You should be proud and you will have a great story to tell now and probably a couple of very good friends you didn;t have yesterday.

Where did this happen? We thought we were the first boat through yesterday and saw all you pontooners all below the diversion. There was a sled anchored 100yds. below the diversion and the only potential obstical is the little Isl. just below where they were anchored. There is a half assed sweeper just below the warning cable above the diversion but unless they were total idiots, I can't believe they got into trouble there. We were at the diversion by 1100. If they were below us we never saw them the rest of the way. I guess they could have been below us, had trouble and boogied out. Was that the case?

If anyone knows about the Hyde up above and need help, feel free to give me a shout.

Peace
Fly

RUNnGUN it was the sweeper below the waning cable. Were you guys the one that let us use your net at the rock quarry?

ok.......i have a question. is the nooch that hard of a river to float? i have been contiplanting doing a mid-week float up there, but every week i hear of boats down. is it just people who cannot row or is that navigatable of a water system. my main concern is that i would be running this system blind the first time?

hybridcx, The thing I think that is difficult about the nooch is that it just kind of lulls you to sleep on the sticks. Your going along thinking this is nothing and then all in the sudden you are coming up to a big root ball fast. The nooch is more wood and root balls than rocks, boulders and fast water chutes. Just stay alert and you should be fine. I will be going down on Wednesday so shoot me a PM if you need more info.

CM

Fished the Nooch yesterday. A couple guys were floating the Hyde out. They said they were the recovery crew. Boat looked like it fared ok. No major damage other then full of sand and gravel. New looking boat.
Fishing was slow. Just a couple darkies

I saved a couple of numbskulls a couple of weeks ago on the nooch also. Never rowed before, didn't know the river, lost an oar lock(no pins),didn't think to use the rope they had for an oar lock and didn,t know there was a diverson dam. when we found them they had missed the crossover where there truck was and where both in the rowers seat rowing the boat like a canoe and getting close to the dam. Also no lifejackets. After all that we explained how much trouble there were in, the owner of the "new" boat still played bravado with us. I can't believe the survival of the fittest hadn't weeded them out before.

It was an old green fiberglass, not much. I wonder if it was the boat mentioned above? A couple of crackers, green boat, green oars and on the nooch, sounds like them

A couple years ago I got a late start and just floated from White bridge to Crossover, there was only 1 other boat on the river and it was a couple guys that were on there 1st trip in a DB and it was pretty obvious. We got to the take out around 2:00 and as we were loading the boat, here comes the other guys, I thought they were pulling out there but they informed us they were going down to Black Creek, this was in December and there was about 2.5 hours of daylight left, they assured us they would be fine and they had flashlights if it got dark. I'm assuming they made it.