Don't Know What to Say

[Catt]

https://www.kplctv.com/2024/05/29/two-people-allegedly-drown-after-fishing-barge-capsizes-toledo-bend/

[rgasr63]

Terrible news. Prayers going out to all the families.

[fin]

A fishing barge is a pontoon boat?

[GRiver]

My condolences to all involved 

[Catt]

31 minutes ago, fin said:

A fishing barge is a pontoon boat?

 

Yes sir 

 

Pontoons despite their size do not handle rough water.

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Yes sir 

 

Pontoons despite their size do not handle rough water.

 

It looks rough in the rescue photo. Last night, I doffed my life vest when I was in six inches of water and about to go ashore. I'm an okay swimmer, but I am sooooo accustomed to wearing my life vest on the water that I felt a little guilty removing it two seconds from the shore. 

[gim]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Pontoons despite their size do not handle rough water.

 

Very true.  Its because there's no "v" in the front.

 

Despite that, its actually very difficult to completely sink a pontoon.  The floats must take on water for it to happen.  I've been on a pontoon dozens of times, of various sizes, where we took water over the front and on to the floor.  Once you start moving again, it flows off.

 

Once the floats start leaking, then you have a problem.

 

They don't call em fishing barges here, they're called party barges.  Very few people fish off of them.

[Bankc]

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Very true.  Its because there's no "v" in the front.

 

Despite that, its actually very difficult to completely sink a pontoon.  The floats must take on water for it to happen.  I've been on a pontoon dozens of times, of various sizes, where we took water over the front and on to the floor.  Once you start moving again, it flows off.

 

Once the floats start leaking, then you have a problem.

 

They don't call em fishing barges here, they're called party barges.  Very few people fish off of them.

I see a lot of elderly people fish from them.  Small bass boats can be hard to stand up in, so a lot of the older guys migrate over to them so they can still get out on the water, and not have to worry about falling over.  This is what my grandfather and father in law did.  Unfortunately, by the time you're to the point where you need a pontoon boat, you're probably not far off from just needing to stay out of boats all together.  Neither of them got more than 3 or 4 years out of the pontoon boat.  Which would have been fine if they had lots of money.  But at the rate they used them, they would have been much better off just renting one, as that's a huge investment for someone living off social security. 

[gim]

7 minutes ago, Bankc said:

I see a lot of elderly people fish from them.  Small bass boats can be hard to stand up in, so a lot of the older guys migrate over to them so they can still get out on the water

 

Ya, I could definitely see it being much easier to get in and out of.

 

Despite that, I almost never seen people fishing from them.  Pontoons are very popular here, but not for fishing purposes.  Most pontoon owners are cabin or lakeshore owners.  They park the toon on their dock and leave it there all season because trailering one is a pain in the rear.

[TOXIC]

They do make pontoons set up for fishing with sit down chairs on the front deck, trolling motors and livewells.  There are guides here in Virginia that run pontoons rigged with outriggers and rod holders trolling for striper.  They also have huge baitwell tanks.  We rent a pontoon in Wisconsin and a couple of my nieces husbands fish off it.  Not me.  I did submarine one once when too many were sitting up front and I crossed a big wake. 😂😎

[fin]

5 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Yes sir 

 

Pontoons despite their size do not handle rough water.

 

I wonder if it just tipped at such an angle that they fell off, or if it went all the way over and upside down.

[Catt]

@fin It's my understanding the wind & waves flipped. 

[Mobasser]

16 minutes ago, Catt said:

@fin It's my understanding the wind & waves flipped. 

Catt, in some ways this reminds me of the duck boat ride on Table Rock here in Missouri. They used to give rides in these old WW2 boats here. They let those people go out there under horrible conditions, and several people died. They should have never been out there to begin with. Very sad thing when these things happen.

[MAN]

Fishing from pontoons is everything now down here in Texas.  A lot of guides use them to make the experience more comfortable, especially for larger groups.  Accidents can happen and mother nature is not always predictable but at some point the guide I believe would have instructed everyone to put their vest on when the waves kicked up.  

[WRB]

Most of the pontoon boats have a canopy to shade the passengers. If the guide had the boat sideways to the wind and waves the pontoon could roll over. 
Why a skilled guide would get sideways and his passengers not wearing PFD’s makes him liable imo.

Tragic accident condolences to the families. 
Tom

[geo g]

Sad to hear whenever these things happen.  The guide I'm sure knew the coming conditions and possible dangers.  Should of had everyone wearing proper wear for the conditions.   A fun day can take a turn quickly.  

[gim]

On 5/29/2024 at 2:46 PM, Mobasser said:

Catt, in some ways this reminds me of the duck boat ride on Table Rock here in Missouri. They used to give rides in these old WW2 boats here. They let those people go out there under horrible conditions, and several people died.

 

I remember that.  A nasty thunderstorm rolled in and created Bering-Sea type conditions on Table Rock.  Those "ride the duck" tours are not built for waves of any kind and it wasn't long before the front of that thing went under.

 

They still have them in Wisconsin Dells on Lake Delton.  You aint gettin' me on one of those death traps.

[Catt]

@WRB What you're missing is boat lanes. You do not have the option of selecting what angle you hit the waves. 

[Bankbeater]

Very sad.

[Sam]

Terrible.

Thanks for sharing.

T&P to their families.