Sink the drift boat. If you've not been there .. you will.

[fredaevans]

Mayfly Spinners, Organza Wing Spinners, Beulah Tonic Spey Lines, Simms Anglers Sunscreen, The Perils of Winter Steelheading

 

[mcnerney]

Fred: Wow, that was a close call that all three guys survived, they are very lucky.

A couple things come to mind after reading that article, that guy at the oars had no business trying to handle that boat in those conditions. Beginner rowers need to learn on rivers that have little danger of capsizing a boat. The other thing is that to be able to handle a boat safely, you have to keep your eyes on what is coming up "down river", the guy in the back shouldn't have to yell "Pull back Hard Right, now". That tells me that the guy at the oars wasn't looking down river to see what was coming and/or he didn't have any idea on how to position and maneuver a boat in a hard 90 degree turn with fast current. You need to realize when rowing a drift boat that water wants to go straight, when it hits a turn it will drive into the outside bank and only then start to make the turn, so if you are in the middle of the stream and do nothing, the force of the water will drive you into that outside bank, so you have to maneuver the boat to prevent that happening. To counteract that force you point the bow at the outside corner and row backwards, if you see it coming early enough maneuver to the inside of the corner to minimize the force of the water.

 

[fyshstykr]

Frightening read, they're lucky to be alive.

Not that they're a guarantee to save your life, especially under those conditions(perhaps a hindrance if they hang up on a submerged branch), but he never mentions any of them wearing their life jacket. Any water can kill you, especially big, fast, heavy moving water. Some water I'll chance not wearing mine....but never, absolutely never will I not wear mine, nor will anyone else in my boat when drifting in such conditions.

Lucky, lucky men!

 

[Ard]

I'm with Larry on all counts! They are a lucky bunch for sure. I've been through a number of white water disasters and survived. I've had canoes pinned beneath huge downed Hemlock trees, been swamped by hay stacks the size of a 2 car garage and on and on. Now I want nothing to do with anything that even seems a little dangerous.

Here at this time low water is becoming more and more a threat. My jet boat will run over very shallow water but every week there are more and more huge boulders sticking their ugly heads right up to the surface. My worry isn't drowning although that could always be the way I end up, it's disabling or sinking my boat 90 miles from anywhere. Even running on my local river I am more paranoid every trip upstream because the water is so low I cannot let off the throttle or I'll be on the rocks in a second. The only thing that keeps the bottom off the rocks is speed and speed can be as much the enemy as anything else when you start running out of water.

I know what the guy means when he said "we don't look at the river the same way". I've had run ins with 3 large rocks now in 3 different years. Prior to hitting solid stuff I felt pretty sure of myself. After the second one which occurred last August I was pretty shaken but this year I cracked another and my nerves are blown. Lighting, glare, obstructions, or just a simple mistake can send your heart into your throat in an instant. Anyone who thinks it'll never happen to them just hasn't driven enough miles yet..............

At least they all lived,

Ard

 

[wjl]

Sweet dreams turned to nightmares, shouldn't have read before bed.
Don't turn your back on nature.
I am a nervous wreck every time I do a new stretch of river but it is never the same twice.
Lucky they got to write the story.

 

[blackbugger]

One of the reasons I prefer a raft to a driftboat is they are more forgiving though certainly not a smoother craft to row.
In this case it sounds like a raft wouldn't have made any difference if you were going to plow into a sweeper and the sweepers on the Hoh are HUGE.
It makes me cringe just reading that given how choked with wood the Hoh is especially the upper river where they were and we're talking two hundred foot trees with massive rootballs.

One example.


One of the things I've found surprising about the OP is how few rafts I see out there. The guys in the PNW seem to prefer big high sided aluminum drift boats. I'm assuming this is to run bigger water, maybe also to use a motor every now and then?
Anyone know why they seem to prefer those boats out there? Fred?

I would imagine they are better for gear fishing in general, certainly better for pulling plugs (which has always struck me as one of THE dullest ways of fishing).
Probably better for fishing for a variety of salmon runs with gear as well.
And it is certainly harder to row back up and side drift a run again in a raft.
Maybe I've answered my own question..

Here in the northern Rockies low-pro fiberglass boats are the norm and it's not like we don't have fast, technical water. You typically don't see driftboats on our more difficult water even though you could probably get one down most of it. It just wouldn't be what I would call fun though with a raft the technical rivers are a joy to run.

The rivers on the OP can be pretty technical, the Sol Duc and Calawah especially so. I wouldn't want to run a driftboat down either of those, period. But I see many, many, big aluminum boats on them and I always think to myself that it looks really sketchy and not fun but nerve wracking.

 

[wjl]

Wow that is a huge tree and root ball. (above picture)
Can't imagine if the river was running high and one was not paying attention.

 

[fredaevans]

Fred: Wow, that was a close call that all three guys survived, they are very lucky.

A couple things come to mind after reading that article, that guy at the oars had no business trying to handle that boat in those conditions. Beginner rowers need to learn on rivers that have little danger of capsizing a boat. The other thing is that to be able to handle a boat safely, you have to keep your eyes on what is coming up "down river", the guy in the back shouldn't have to yell "Pull back Hard Right, now". That tells me that the guy at the oars wasn't looking down river to see what was coming and/or he didn't have any idea on how to position and maneuver a boat in a hard 90 degree turn with fast current. You need to realize when rowing a drift boat that water wants to go straight, when it hits a turn it will drive into the outside bank and only then start to make the turn, so if you are in the middle of the stream and do nothing, the force of the water will drive you into that outside bank, so you have to maneuver the boat to prevent that happening. To counteract that force you point the bow at the outside corner and row backwards, if you see it coming early enough maneuver to the inside of the corner to minimize the force of the water.

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES AND MORE 'YES's.' First trip to a new river I hired a Guide, write notes with a map in your lap. They will ask but looking for 'walk in access.' All rivers,some far worse than others, have places that will 'bite your butt;' as the Boy Scouts would say "Be Prepared."

Drift boat is behind the side yard gate and hasn't seen water for close to a year. Time to suck up (health has been swimming in 'shxt creek' since last December), grab JD and 'I want to give this a try' come September when there are fish moving in the river.

fae

---------- Post added at 02:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 PM ----------

One of the reasons I prefer a raft to a driftboat is they are more forgiving though certainly not a smoother craft to row.

Count me in there; haven't launched the DB in over a year. Two guys, one car/roof rack for trans port and good to go.'

In this case it sounds like a raft wouldn't have made any difference if you were going to plow into a sweeper and the sweepers on the Hoh are HUGE.
It makes me cringe just reading that given how choked with wood the Hoh is especially the upper river where they were and we're talking two hundred foot trees with massive rootballs.

I'm lucky, dead falls are few and far between. Internet and 'x river from here to there, any new surprises?' Rare but a few new fallen trees, come into that angled wrong, did that once!! and there was 'hell to pay' to get out of that.

One example.


One of the things I've found surprising about the OP is how few rafts I see out there. The guys in the PNW seem to prefer big high sided aluminum drift boats. I'm assuming this is to run bigger water, maybe also to use a motor every now and then?
Anyone know why they seem to prefer those boats out there? Fred?

I would imagine they are better for gear fishing in general, certainly better for pulling plugs (which has always struck me as one of THE dullest ways of fishing).
Probably better for fishing for a variety of salmon runs with gear as well.
And it is certainly harder to row back up and side drift a run again in a raft.
Maybe I've answered my own question..

Here in the northern Rockies low-pro fiberglass boats are the norm and it's not like we don't have fast, technical water. You typically don't see driftboats on our more difficult water even though you could probably get one down most of it. It just wouldn't be what I would call fun though with a raft the technical rivers are a joy to run.

The rivers on the OP can be pretty technical, the Sol Duc and Calawah especially so. I wouldn't want to run a driftboat down either of those, period. But I see many, many, big aluminum boats on them and I always think to myself that it looks really sketchy and not fun but nerve wracking.

Guys in Allie boats know the river and are 'prepared;' that include every one getting out and 'roping the boat' through that bit of water. Hard lesson, just once,' flipped the boat with three of us in same. Great laughs later in front of the fire sipping single malts ... that aside, we all knew, we all knew.

fae

 

[fq13]

I'm with Larry on all counts! They are a lucky bunch for sure. I've been through a number of white water disasters and survived. I've had canoes pinned beneath huge downed Hemlock trees, been swamped by hay stacks the size of a 2 car garage and on and on. Now I want nothing to do with anything that even seems a little dangerous.

Here at this time low water is becoming more and more a threat. My jet boat will run over very shallow water but every week there are more and more huge boulders sticking their ugly heads right up to the surface. My worry isn't drowning although that could always be the way I end up, it's disabling or sinking my boat 90 miles from anywhere. Even running on my local river I am more paranoid every trip upstream because the water is so low I cannot let off the throttle or I'll be on the rocks in a second. The only thing that keeps the bottom off the rocks is speed and speed can be as much the enemy as anything else when you start running out of water.

I know what the guy means when he said "we don't look at the river the same way". I've had run ins with 3 large rocks now in 3 different years. Prior to hitting solid stuff I felt pretty sure of myself. After the second one which occurred last August I was pretty shaken but this year I cracked another and my nerves are blown. Lighting, glare, obstructions, or just a simple mistake can send your heart into your throat in an instant. Anyone who thinks it'll never happen to them just hasn't driven enough miles yet..............

At least they all lived,

Ard

It can be like that down here in the Glades. At low tide you are either on a plane or aground. And if the wind is up and the water is a uniform brown? Well hitting an oyster bar at 25mph is no ones idea of a good time, and if you walk away from that you are still thirty miles in the back country in some no name bay or creek that looks just like the ten next to it, so good luck getting help in a timely manner. My old man is hard core and will run full throttle in water not even knee deep, but I am more cautious and choose to take the long way if it means deeper water. Stuff can get reasl western real quick, and taking an extra half hour to get your spot seems like time well spent.

 

[blackbugger]

Wow that is a huge tree and root ball. (above picture)
Can't imagine if the river was running high and one was not paying attention.

It's such a cool place, too bad the fisheries are collapsing.

That picture is from the Queets about 40-50 miles south of the Hoh on the coast. It's very much like the Hoh.
I've got some pictures around here of the crazy log jams on the Hoh. If I get around to it I'll post some up.

One of the amazing things about that region is how big the rivers get during winter storms. The Queets will go from 4-5000cfs to 80-90,000cfs, even higher in bad storms, in 24 hours when it rains hard.
To put that in perspective the Yellowstone in Livingston at peak runoff will hit around 20,000cfs and the Yellowstone is a big river by anyone's estimation.

It's just mind blowing how big and how fast it happens out there on the rain coast. And that big water then moves all the huge snags and jams around and carves new channels (especially the upper Hoh).
When you float and look around at all that wood debris and imagine it when the water is huge, well, it's hard to imagine.

I've never been there when it's big like that, it would be a waste of time and money. The fishing would, of course, suck.

 

[mcnerney]

The Queets will go from 4-5000cfs to 80-90,000cfs, even higher in bad storms, in 24 hours when it rains hard.

Wow, that is just amazing, hard to imagine what that looks like, but I sure wouldn't want to be on the water when it happened.

 

[honyuk96]

One of the reasons I prefer a raft to a driftboat is they are more forgiving though certainly not a smoother craft to row.
In this case it sounds like a raft wouldn't have made any difference if you were going to plow into a sweeper and the sweepers on the Hoh are HUGE.
It makes me cringe just reading that given how choked with wood the Hoh is especially the upper river where they were and we're talking two hundred foot trees with massive rootballs.

One example.


One of the things I've found surprising about the OP is how few rafts I see out there. The guys in the PNW seem to prefer big high sided aluminum drift boats. I'm assuming this is to run bigger water, maybe also to use a motor every now and then?
Anyone know why they seem to prefer those boats out there? Fred?

I would imagine they are better for gear fishing in general, certainly better for pulling plugs (which has always struck me as one of THE dullest ways of fishing).
Probably better for fishing for a variety of salmon runs with gear as well.
And it is certainly harder to row back up and side drift a run again in a raft.
Maybe I've answered my own question..

Here in the northern Rockies low-pro fiberglass boats are the norm and it's not like we don't have fast, technical water. You typically don't see driftboats on our more difficult water even though you could probably get one down most of it. It just wouldn't be what I would call fun though with a raft the technical rivers are a joy to run.

The rivers on the OP can be pretty technical, the Sol Duc and Calawah especially so. I wouldn't want to run a driftboat down either of those, period. But I see many, many, big aluminum boats on them and I always think to myself that it looks really sketchy and not fun but nerve wracking.

Interesting photo for this thread. These guys certainly are not in good shape approaching that mess below. I was part of a scary incident a few years back. Me and a buddy ran a SW Colorado River at peak run off, for the thrill more than anything, although we did bring fishing gear. My buddy was a 14 yr local and guide and knew the river extremely well. I was very green to this watershed so I let him lead. He flipped his raft on about a 3' spillover, all of this taking place right in front of me. I luckily had a clean run that day and managed to track down one of his gear bags that came undone w the flip. It can happen to anyone. Looking back on that day and the photos I took, I would never do that again, better ways to get a thrill. Always wear a life jacket and I'm surprised no ones mentioned it, but I always carry a knife clipped to my jacket. Swift water rescue courses are a godsend and carry everything you need to rig a z drag in the event of an accident.

 

[jsxtreme]

This is my first year owning a drift boat, and this kind of stuff scares the s*** out of me.

Thankfully our rivers here in Michigan are nothing like the rivers out West. When the Huron River gets over 1000 CFS I consider that "blown out" and I won't even mess with it.

I've obsessed over consuming and reading as much as I can about rowing and piloting a drift boat. But there really is no replacement for seat time and experience. Learning from a few good guides has helped.

Good read, and a good reminder to never let your guard down on any river.

---------- Post added at 08:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 AM ----------

It might be a good idea to have a drift boat sub forum here were we can share knowledge and learning materials.

 

[fyshstykr]

It might be a good idea to have a drift boat sub forum here were we can share knowledge and learning materials.

I think that's a great idea. What do you think, Larry?

 

[fredaevans]

Interesting photo for this thread. These guys certainly are not in good shape approaching that mess below. I was part of a scary incident a few years back. Me and a buddy ran a SW Colorado River at peak run off, for the thrill more than anything, although we did bring fishing gear. My buddy was a 14 yr local and guide and knew the river extremely well. I was very green to this watershed so I let him lead. He flipped his raft on about a 3' spillover, all of this taking place right in front of me. I luckily had a clean run that day and managed to track down one of his gear bags that came undone w the flip. It can happen to anyone. Looking back on that day and the photos I took, I would never do that again, better ways to get a thrill. Always wear a life jacket and I'm surprised no ones mentioned it, but I always carry a knife clipped to my jacket. Swift water rescue courses are a godsend and carry everything you need to rig a z drag in the event of an accident.

Yes, yes and YES!!:wiggle: High Five 96, High Five. Amazing how fast an 'Ah Shxt' can happen.

 

[mcnerney]

I think that's a great idea. What do you think, Larry?

The new sub-forum has been created and I have moved this thread into that new area. Thanks Jsxtreme for the great idea! I'll look around to see if I can find some other drift boat discussions to move into this new sub-forum.

 

[fredaevans]

The new sub-forum has been created and I have moved this thread into that new area. Thanks Jsxtreme for the great idea! I'll look around to see if I can find some other drift boat discussions to move into this new sub-forum.

New guy, new drift boat and take him down to a local lake. Have him row; make up seriousness .... LEFT OAR! PULL! PULL, God damn it PULL!! Back on the right etc. You, he, boat about 800 pounds all in?

'That was hard!' 'Just wait till you get on the river, harder yet.'

fae

 

[jsxtreme]

The new sub-forum has been created and I have moved this thread into that new area. Thanks Jsxtreme for the great idea! I'll look around to see if I can find some other drift boat discussions to move into this new sub-forum.

Awesome. I'll see what I can dig up to contribute to it.

 

[fredaevans]

Originally Posted by blackbugger View Post
"The Queets will go from 4-5000cfs to 80-90,000cfs, even higher in bad storms, in 24 hours when it rains hard."

"Wow, that is just amazing, hard to imagine what that looks like, but I sure wouldn't want to be on the water when it happened."

Ah yes .... the Olympic RAIN Forest, West Coast of Washington State. 150 inches of rain during the year would be a 'dry one.'

 

[alpobodog]

Interesting photo for this thread. These guys certainly are not in good shape approaching that mess below. I was part of a scary incident a few years back. Me and a buddy ran a SW Colorado River at peak run off, for the thrill more than anything, although we did bring fishing gear. My buddy was a 14 yr local and guide and knew the river extremely well. I was very green to this watershed so I let him lead. He flipped his raft on about a 3' spillover, all of this taking place right in front of me. I luckily had a clean run that day and managed to track down one of his gear bags that came undone w the flip. It can happen to anyone. Looking back on that day and the photos I took, I would never do that again, better ways to get a thrill. Always wear a life jacket and I'm surprised no ones mentioned it, but I always carry a knife clipped to my jacket. Swift water rescue courses are a godsend and carry everything you need to rig a z drag in the event of an accident.

Was it the Rio Grande ?