Major Boat Fail By A Pro (Aaron Britt)- video back up

[Tennessee Boy]

This further proves that just because you’re a pro angler and have a $100K boat does not mean you are smart enough or skilled enough to drive the boat.   Tournaments should have speed limits.  Their should not be situations were an angler gets the spot because he was willing to take the risk necessary to get there first.

[the reel ess]

On 3/11/2021 at 8:17 PM, NorcalBassin said:

Just wow. So much fail here and something I'd expect to be from a person who just bought their first boat, not an experienced pro. Glad he's okay... fortunate he didn't kill himself or someone else as he tried to take that inside corner to pass when there could have easily been a boat coming the other direction.

 

I used to hear bass boats running high speed in fog so thick we needed a compass to get across the lake. Very irresponsible. But people have a tendency to push the envelope after the do something and don't get hurt, like so many reckless motorcyclists or street racers.

[slonezp]

15 hours ago, TOXIC said:

He’s what we call a “point and shoot” driver.  Roughest ride I ever had was with a PWT (Professional Walleye Tour) pro who offered to take me out on Lake Michigan to run some planer boards and drag some crawler harnesses.  We had about a 30 mile run to where he was fishing.  This was in a Ranger 621 Fisherman.  He pulled the waypoints up on his graph hammered down and never turned the wheel one time.  Wind was blowing 10-15 and there was 3 foot rollers.  I literally had blisters on my back from bouncing in the seat.  I have been going to St Clair for 17 years, I have run some rough water but that was the worst ride I ever had and it was in a boat designed for it.

 

 Side note, the guy in the video totaled that Ranger and there’s some serious discussion as to whether or not he had his kill switch attached.

I beg to differ. The Great Lakes are their own entity. The bottom is littered with shipwrecks much larger than a Ranger 621

 

You have to be smart no matter what body of water your on. I know a guy that trolls for salmon on Lake Michigan outside of Chicago and Indiana, and for walleye out of Big and Little Bay De Noc in Michigan with a 16' Lund Mr. Pike tiller with a 40 and a 9.9 on the back. More power to him, it's not for me.

[TOXIC]

1 minute ago, slonezp said:

I beg to differ. The Great Lakes are their own entity. The bottom is littered with shipwrecks much larger than a Ranger 621

 

You have to be smart no matter what body of water your on. I know a guy that trolls for salmon on Lake Michigan outside of Chicago and Indiana, and for walleye out of Big and Little Bay De Noc in Michigan with a 16' Lund Mr. Pike tiller with a 40 and a 9.9 on the back. More power to him, it's not for me.

While I agree, 3 foot rollers on Lake Michigan are pretty common and not in the extreme at all and a 621 Ranger Fisherman is designed to run rough water.  My point was what you said, that a bad driver can make a bad day worse.  I’ll never forget a day on St Clair in the same conditions when I would have doubted my own ability, I went out with someone who was born and raised on that type of water and 3 footers were like going over boat wakes for him and that was in a 20 foot bass boat.  The difference between the two was that my friend DROVE his boat, his hands never stopped moving the steering wheel and he was always making corrections.  

[Vilas15]

4 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

This further proves that just because you’re a pro angler and have a $100K boat does not mean you are smart enough or skilled enough to drive the boat.   Tournaments should have speed limits.  Their should not be situations were an angler gets the spot because he was willing to take the risk necessary to get there first.

Wouldn't it be extremely easy to create a smartphone app that uses GPS to track speed? That seems like it'd be a simple way to enforce said limits that wouldn't really cost anything and could be applied to small tournaments. And if you turn it off and back on when you're on the other side of the lake there would be a penalty.

 

It's one thing if you drive reckless when you're on your own time, but a tournament rewards those who push the limits and incentivizes driving as fast as possible.

[Log Catcher]

12 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

This further proves that just because you’re a pro angler and have a $100K boat does not mean you are smart enough or skilled enough to drive the boat.   Tournaments should have speed limits.  Their should not be situations were an angler gets the spot because he was willing to take the risk necessary to get there first.

If I remember right many years ago they were limited to 150HP on there boats. Maybe they need to limit the HP agin.

[Logan S]

Disagree on speed limits...

 

Going fast isn't reckless, being reckless is reckless.  Both of those boats in the video were going the same speed...Only one was being unsafe.  

[TnRiver46]

I think this was the attempted maneuver 

[Teal]

If mr. Brittt had only done this one time, I'd give him a do over, but seeing as how there are at least 2 videos of him drv in ngf recklessly, if I was Tournment director, I'd have to have a talk to him.  I'd much rather suspend him from competing than to put other boaters in harm's way or himself in danger.  I know these guys ride fast, but at the same time, you gotta use common sense.  Then the audacity to upload it and not expect backlash.  He's an idiot.  Yup I said it.

[haggard]

Do stupid things, and stupid things are going to happen.

 

[jbsoonerfan]

I am not a good person to deal with when someone else puts my life in danger. If he were to drive like that with me in the boat, we would have a little talk about it and see where it goes from there. I have rode in a vehicle with people who I have had to tell that I didn't appreciate their driving. In fact, I walked about 4 miles one night because I told the guy to just let me out. A person should always think about the people riding with them when operating a vehicle or boat. There is no pressure like driving a bus full of 50 kids who's parents expect them to be with someone who will take care of them.

[J Francho]

On 3/12/2021 at 7:23 PM, TOXIC said:

there’s some serious discussion as to whether or not he had his kill switch attached.

It's pretty clear that it was NOT attached to him.

[Mshutta]

Seeing as how this is bound to go viral, I really think MLF should put out a public statement about it; things like this are what give a competitive bass fishing a bad reputation with the public all over the country. Anyone could have been around that blind corner and been hit, he doesn't appear to be connected to kill switch, and you could argue he was in a narrow channel and should have been to the right of center.. Even if it's not going to go viral MLF owes it to themselves, and the rest of us, to acknowledge that the driver made some bad decisions, some laws may have been broken, and they're (at least) looking into disciplinary action. (They do specify anyone involved in an accident during a tournament may be required to re-take a boater safety course).

Am I overreacting? Thoughts?

[Bluebasser86]

Good thing there wasn't anyone bank fishing with that house right there. Cutting corners is a big no-no in my book but I don't tournament fish often and I'm never in a big enough hurry to try to kill myself or someone else over winning the ones I do fish.

[jbsoonerfan]

I used to fish tournaments with a guy who was the boater. We were a team so we fished every tournament together. His boat would run 40 mph tops. We would draw for take off position every tournament. Of course if we were one of the first boats drawn we would get passed by every single boat and it would make him furious because some of them would get close enough to actually spray us as they passed. He told me to tell them that we would just wait and leave last from now on because he was going to fight someone the next time he got sprayed. I told the director and he kind of laughed, I told him if he didn't want to see someone get hurt, he should probably just agree. We left last from then on.

[NHBull]

I slipped a disc just watching it. ?

 

 

[Logan S]

On 3/16/2021 at 1:00 AM, jbsoonerfan said:

Of course if we were one of the first boats drawn we would get passed by every single boat and it would make him furious because some of them would get close enough to actually spray us as they passed.

I don't know what it is about some people, but they are just drawn to pass you close...Even after blast off.  I cruise at 40 to 50mph a lot in the middle of the day (tournament or not) and occasionally a boat will blow by me at close distances with zero reason for doing so.  

 

It's one of the most infuriating things about some bass fisherman and one of the most unsafe...I always make sure to check behind me when changing directions to make sure one of those knuckleheads isn't coming up.

 

Thankfully most people operate normally, but you never know when that guy is coming up behind you.  

[BassNJake]

There's one of these idiots at every tourney. 

Another of the many reasons being a co angler can suck. 

 

I've had to ride with a few of these morons and they have to run 100 times more than anybody else because usually their fishing skills suck worse than their driving.

 

[Glenn]

1 hour ago, BassNJake said:

There's one of these idiots at every tourney. 

 

Yup. I fished a tourney where a guy passed me, then cut in front and washed me with his rooster tail.  I filed a formal complaint to the TD, who only mentioned the incident as an anonymous "safety announcement" the next morning at launch.  I watched the guy literally laughing when it was announced.

[Guitarfish]

Glenn, that laugh would've pushed me over the edge.  I'm old and mature now (sorta) but I had a guy launch his boat once, on top of my little BassHunter as I was walking back to my truck.  He tied off his boat and stayed there loading his gear, all the while blocking the ramp.  There were 5 other lanes and no other boats.  I asked him if he could move and he laughed.  My edge just went over.

 

After he left I pulled out my boat, I politely and carefully spread catfish bait butter on every jack handle, door handle and hatch handle on his truck and trailer.  Immature huh?  I was riled enough to waste the bait, which was a special hand made,  eye watering, avoid skin contact secret blend.  I'm sure it had cats*** in it.  But it caught fish every single time.  Hated to waste it.  I did chuckle on the way home.

[evo2s197]

54 minutes ago, Guitarfish said:

Glenn, that laugh would've pushed me over the edge.  I'm old and mature now (sorta) but I had a guy launch his boat once, on top of my little BassHunter as I was walking back to my truck.  He tied off his boat and stayed there loading his gear, all the while blocking the ramp.  There were 5 other lanes and no other boats.  I asked him if he could move and he laughed.  My edge just went over.

 

After he left I pulled out my boat, I politely and carefully spread catfish bait butter on every jack handle, door handle and hatch handle on his truck and trailer.  Immature huh?  I was riled enough to waste the bait, which was a special hand made,  eye watering, avoid skin contact secret blend.  I'm sure it had cats*** in it.  But it caught fish every single time.  Hated to waste it.  I did chuckle on the way home.

Two wrongs don't make a right is what I've always been told, but sometimes it's necessary, I've played the role of "Karma" a few times when someone had it coming.

 

And to Glenn, that guy that hosed you with his rooster tail, he'll get whats coming one way or another, jerks like that always have to pay sooner or later, that's just not cool.

[schplurg]

Lakes have speed limits, are they enforced during a tourney, and does the tour tell the boaters to obey that speed limit? Letting these guys run that fast is insane.

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

6 hours ago, schplurg said:

Lakes have speed limits, are they enforced during a tourney, and does the tour tell the boaters to obey that speed limit? Letting these guys run that fast is insane.

 

 

Very few lakes I've ever been on have speed limits, at least ones big enough to have tournaments on. Those guys don't put those big motors on their boats just to run 30mph. 

 

I got paired with a guy that had a Javelin on Table Rock once. I saw the gauge hit 82 and it was still picking up speed when I had to close my eyes and hold my breath and just hope we made it through the day in one piece. 

[TnRiver46]

12 hours ago, schplurg said:

Lakes have speed limits, are they enforced during a tourney, and does the tour tell the boaters to obey that speed limit? Letting these guys run that fast is insane.

 

 

I’ve never seen a lake or river with a speed limit 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve never seen a lake or river with a speed limit 

We've got a number of them here. Minnetonka has limits based on time of day and distance from shore.

 

"Speed limits:40 mph during the daytime, 20 mph at night, and under 5 mph in Quiet Water Areas and within 150 feet of shorelines, beaches, docks, anchored boats and swimmers."

 

https://gis.hennepin.us/PublicMaps/34-406-07-16_LakeMinnetonka_Map.pdf

 

Of course hardly anyone obeys the rules - can't tell you how many times I've been 'buzzed' by wakeboats when anchored.