This accident is a great reminder of basic boating safety.
For most modern fishing boats, speed is part of the game. On large lakes and reservoirs, one needs to be able to get from one prime spot to the next quickly. It's especially important for tournament anglers who need to cover as much water as quickly as possible.
However, anytime one steps into a high-speed machine, some basic safety rules need to be kept in mind. Because it only takes a split second for an accident to happen, especially when you're flying 50+ miles per hour across the water.
In this video taken on world class bass fishery Table Rock Lake, pro angler Skeet Reese witnesses a bad accident happen as he's jetting across the lake. He quickly abandons his original destination to stop and help one extremely lucky local angler.
Talk about a scary moment at the lake! It only took seconds for that boat to fill up with water and flip once it had wiped out. This is a good reminder to always be wary of any wakes you encounter while boating. Especially on busy lakes where there is a lot of traffic crossing the water to different areas. It only takes one wrong move hitting one of these wakes at the wrong angle to cause an accident.
The video description identifies the angler who was thrown from his boat only as "Jeff." Apparently, the reason he suddenly lost control was because he had just hit a wake. Fortunately, Jeff was both wearing a life vest and he had a kill switch properly attached to stop the engine once the boat had flipped.
There have been some rather bad accidents on lakes in the past that became even more dangerous after the fact because the operator was not using the kill switch and the boat kept running in circles around them once they were in the water.
We feel for this guy losing his boat, but this was the best possible outcome for any boating accident. A boat and gear can be replaced, a life cannot. Good work Skeet on helping this guy out!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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