Fishing a lake that drowning victims have yet to be recovered.

[Bird]

Not trying to be insensitive with the topic, feel bad for the family and and friends of the 2 men that capsized and drowned, very sad.

 

My question ❓ is would you fish a 2100 acre lake knowing that bodies are below the surface somewhere.

Myself and my fishing partner were scheduled to fish this lake tomorrow and I simply can't, my mind would be on the victims all day.

It's a very deep lake and very remote.

[gim]

Tell you what, if I did somehow manage to hook one of the bodies, that might bother me.

 

My wife would definitely freak out if she saw a body in the water.

 

Good luck with the decision.

[Susky River Rat]

I hate to say it but, bodies in the susky are kind of regular. I just hope I am never the one to find one. I have found a dead body before it’s not pleasant. 

[Team9nine]

Have fished a time or two over the years on lakes under similar circumstances. From what I recall, they always corded off the section of the lake where the search was being held and where they believe the body(ies) are located, so while a bit eerie, I wasn't too worried about running across one of them. It was a much more common thing to hear of finding a body in our major river flowing through a large metro area, and I was always more concerned about accidentally hooking or finding someone out there than on the lakes. Have had a friend or two that that happened to. Not sure how well I'd handle that 

[A-Jay]

As a man who's job description included searching for, locating and eventually

placing drowning victims and or their remains in large black bags,

it's not something I wanted to do very often, if at all.

Especially in warm conditions when there's been an extend time between the accident and the recovery.  Being out there recreationally afterwards is a personal choice.

The chances of ever 'catching' such a deal while fishing are fairly remote.

However, if one was to recover a victim, besides the nightmares and the PTSD,

you'd be doing the family a service by providing closure.

Never located victims leaves a painful void in an already horrible deal. 

Stay Safe.

A-Jay

[Bird]

Update: 

The bodies were discovered at 6:30 pm Eastern.

Thanks for the outstanding responses.

 

They weren't wearing PFD'S 😔

[Tennessee Boy]

A couple of months ago a guy on spring break fell into the river in downtown Nashville.  There was huge search effort to find him and it took about two weeks.  They found two other bodies before they found the one they were looking for.

[12poundbass]

Back about 25 years ago on the lake my good friend lived on a lady was going the wrong way on a jet ski and was struck by a speed boat as they were both coming around a bend in the lake. There were parts of her that were not found that evening. We went out fishing the next morning. The area was cordoned off and we stayed well away from it. Needless to say I didn’t fish very long. The thought of possibly (although unlikely) of bringing up a body part rather than a fish creeped me out! 

[Catt]

Actually not only did I fish the lake but I found the body.

 

That's an image that is still clear 58 yrs later!

[Bird]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

Actually not only did I fish the lake but I found the body.

 

That's an image that is still clear 58 yrs later!

Wow, 

I've seen a lot at 63 but never that.

[Glenn]

On several occasions, I've been on lakes where a body was found the same day I was fishing, usually during a tournament where there's a bunch of anglers on the lake at dawn.  

 

I've also fished lakes where bodies were found either days before or after the day I fished it.  And just last year somebody died from a heart attack while loading his boat at the launch I frequently use.

 

Fortunately I've never found a human body, but I've come across dead animals before.  Blech

[Log Catcher]

Many years ago my brother and I were coming into the boat ramp and saw a rescue squad boat being load on to the trailer. Found out some college kids were down there and had too much to drink. One tried to swim across the river and couldn't make it and drowned.

 

One time a guy I worked with was going fishing with his dad and young child. As he was getting ready to put the boat in he spotted a body in the river. He got his dad to get the child away so it wouldn't see it and called police. The body had been in the water for some time but the police took him in and treated him like he was guilty of causing the death. Going by that if I found a body I don't know whether I could call the police or not.

[Catt]

It was either 71 or 72 me & friend were running back the camp a little before dark. Ahead of us about 100 yards was another boat. When he made a right turn he was wide & clipped a stump throwing the guy from the boat. This was before mandatory kill switches. The boat circled running over the guy. I took my boat & rammed his bow kocking it into a stump field. Lots stitches later he went home.

[TnRiver46]

I found a guy in the water once, kinda felt like someone would like to have found him so it didn’t bother me 

https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/new-clues-emerge-in-death-of-missouri-man-ep-358565533-356025611.html/

[Swamp Girl]

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I found a guy in the water once, kinda felt like someone would like to have found him so it didn’t bother me 

https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/new-clues-emerge-in-death-of-missouri-man-ep-358565533-356025611.html/

 

You're a good man for seeing it this way. 

[DaubsNU1]

Not a drowning story...but an accident. 

 

The former spouse and I were driving on 2-lane highway in Missouri, she was at the wheel, I was reclined and napping...she slammed on the brakes, and as I awoke she said a car had just been t-boned in front of us by a Mini-van. 

 

We stopped to see if there was anything we could help with. My former spouse was, at the time, a third year medical student. I was a residence hall director on college campus, had some emergency response training. 

 

Carload of teens thought they could make it across the highway...mini-van with mom and three kids t-boned them. 

 

We did what we could, and helped as emergency crews arrived. I remember pulling on the roof as paramedics used the jaws-of-life. We helped load the teens on stretchers, put two on life-flight, others in ambulances. I didn't know the medical side...that was her area of expertise.  

 

The mom and kids walked away unharmed (gotta love air-bags).

 

After all was said and done, we got back in the car...Ex-wife told me two of the teens were not going to make it. Sadness. 

[thediscochef]

Life is extremely fragile

[BigAngus752]

First I want to say that I'm very glad to hear the victims were recovered.  That's a significant blessing for those who were waiting for word.  

 

I completely understand anyone's decision to not be near that lake until there's closure.  Dead bodies are icky.  I'm not using that term to be funny.  I'm an avid reader and I can tell you that there is no writer, living or dead, who can put into words an accurate description of the sight or smell of rotting or burned human flesh.  Being in an enclosed space with remains of someone who has burned to death or with the remains of a human that is in the latter stages of decomposition hits you in a primal, crocodile-brain place and there is no language to convey that.  Anyone who chooses to avoid that is simply acting on our own animal need to survive and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.  

 

I will tell each of you, however, that I have communicated with many of you for years now about all sorts of personal things, to include core beliefs and I have read along thousands of times while you talked with each other.  I know that, while all of you find dead bodies to be "icky" (again, without humor), I also know that if any of you spoke with a loved one of the person that disappeared in that lake another part of your primal instinct would kick in.  To stand with someone who is on the precipice of learning that the most important person in their life is no more, and to listen to them as they verbalize there belief that there is a chance it's not true would change your minds.  If you talked with them for minutes or even hours in their home or on the shore of that water and just nodded your head as they explained all of the ways this could all just be a mistake and told you stories of how their husband or child was somehow lost, or unconscious but safe, or how this could all be explained because the victim's cell phone just went dead and any minute they would call from a gas station twenty miles away....you get the idea.  YOUR crocodile-brain also has a button that overrides the survival instinct and that button is empathy.  We all have a trigger that says, "Help that human". 

 

It may not seem like it these days because so many people just take a video with their phone while someone is dying, but I believe that this is actually a "helping" response from a human that has not been conditioned to deal with such a critical, primal situation.  They've never experienced it or even thought about it so the only thing that kicks in is "I'll point my phone at it".  But we all have that innate urge to help.  Mine was conditioned as such that it screams "GO" in my head.  I left my son's basketball games when he was a kid, I've left on my anniversary, I've left in the middle of the night and not returned for 48 to 72 hours straight.  I've left on Christmas morning.  It's still unbelievable to me that during my career I was called to THREE Xmas morning homicides.  THREE!  I can believe one maybe but three?!  What's up with Christmas morning?  SMH.  

 

The point is, that primal phone rings and says that another human is suffering and your instinct is to help IF you have been conditioned to that.  My wife even has it.  Her trigger is still well past mine, but it's funny that she's been with me enough times when my brain screams "GO" that hers now does also.  When she sees someone in danger I know that her conditioning has overcome her fear for my safety when she says my name.  When something bad is right in front of her and she says "Patrick..." in a certain way I know her trigger has clicked and she's opening the door to let the dogs loose.  

 

My point is, anyone's decision to avoid these sights and sounds are not only acceptable, they are a part of our crocodile brain and a part of our survival, but so is empathy.  I've never met you, but I still know many of you and I know if you saw the living suffering you'd lose some of the "icky" attached to the dead.  A blessing from the Lord that these victims have been found, the living have closure, and the lost are sitting at the right hand of God!  

 

Wow, I just looked back at this post and it's reallly long.  I hope you skipped it, LOL.  Finally a topic I'm an expert at.  Final words, WEAR YOUR PFD... or don't...turtles gotta eat too.  (Callous humor can be a useful coping mechanism but some can find it offensive, sorry).  God bless each of you and yours!

[GaryH]

After 14 yrs. of being a EMT/Paramedic @BigAngus752 your humerus comment isn’t callus or rude. It’s one’s way of dealing with tragic events. I’ve had newbies on scene that it saved them from being too emotional. Thank God we have good people as displayed on this site that puts other’s first.

 

[A-Jay]

Kept one in the 'remains recover kit'.

Bottle always seemed old and no one liked having to use it.

A good dab right up both nostrils helped - at least a little.

I will admit that coming in contact with that smell now 

sends shivers down my spine. 

😑

A-Jay

 

[BigAngus752]

39 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Kept one in the 'remains recover kit'.

Bottle always seemed old and no one liked having to use it.

A good dab right up both nostrils helped - at least a little.

I will admit that coming in contact with that smell now 

sends shivers down my spine. 

😑

A-Jay

 

Exactly!

[TnRiver46]

Unfortunately you would never be able to fish anywhere in this region if you didn’t want to fish where there are bodies. They find them often and there are many they never found. There are also many that nobody even knew was missing until they floated up 

 

it ain’t exactly Mayberry anymore 

[Functional]

I think the phone thing is multifaceted but honestly I feel like it makes it less real for people to video it and watch it through their phone than paying attention to the actual act. If anyone spent any time on social media its like a world of make believe, everyone says stuff they wouldnt be caught dead saying to someones face. The screen takes the humanity out of it. 

 

As for not wearing their PFD I'm honestly shocked more people dont drown than the amount that already do. Among many other things I watched 2 separate paddle boarders go out in 15mph winds on a cloudy storm ready day way out into the middle of the lake crossing boat traffic to islands with waves crashing onto rocks. No PFD, no bright color bathing suit, no whistle. I'll admit i fished a spot way longer than I needed to making sure the young girl got back safe. Not even a parent on the dock she came from watching. 

 

I did dumb stuff when I was young but not like what I see today.