Most horrifying boat trip ever

[The Rooster]

Yesterday, after the rain, it looked like it was going to clear up. I checked the radar on the internet to be sure and it looked fairly clear, didn't see anything that would be a threat. So we left and took the boat to the Ohio river to launch at the Little Sandy river ramp. Was about to put it in and Barb (my wife) cuts the wheel on the SUV to back it down the ramp and her cell phone that I'd laid up on the boat dash goes flying off the boat and smacks the concrete and comes apart in 3 pieces. The case is cracked up too.

Well, we put the trailer and boat down into the water beside another guy also launching his boat. It starts to sprinkle rain. I said maybe we better leave but he says he's staying and it might not last long. Barb said that too, so we went. We idled out passed a couple of bridges and hid under one for a minute until the rain quit. Then I took off across the river to the other side, guessing about 300 yards away. I didn't have much gas but knew I wouldn't need anymore cause that's as far as I was going to go and would use the trolling motor to fish with only.

Well before I had made 4 casts it starts to rain again, and this time it looked like it might be bad. The sky was beginning to cloud up pretty dark. Heard thunder and saw lightning also. So I said it was time to head in.

But the motor wouldn't start.

Apparently having a little over 1 gallon of gas in the tank isn't enough to let it have suction to maintain fuel pressure in the line. So I had to use the trolling motor on high speed to cross the open water of the Ohio river at least 300 yards before getting to the inlet of the Little Sandy again. Just as I was making it across, 15 minutes later or more, it starts to rain pretty good and we hid under a bridge again, but this time the wind was blowing really strongly so the rain was coming in sideways. We were getting wet and I was unable to hold onto the bridge piling with that much wind, so I had to use the trolling motor to pull us out and head for the ramp still 100 yards away or more.

But unfortunately I had never been to this spot and didn't know how deep the water was. My depthfinder showed 16 feet where I was but it quickly went to 6 feet, then 3, then 2 and finally 0. This was in a matter of seconds. There must just be a narrow channel that's deep and the rest is super shallow. The water is so muddy you cannot tell no matter where you are. We were beached solid out in the middle of that bay, it was raining hard, we were soaked to the skin, wind blowing still, there was loud thunder and bolt lightning flashing all around. I was having to yell for Barb to hear what I was saying just 2 feet away.

We raised the rear outboard motor and got unstuck and I raised the trolling motor to where it was just barely in the water. I managed to troll across a section that read 2 feet deep on average and get to the ramp and jump out knee deep in water to hold the boat while Barb got the SUV and backed the trailer in. We put the boat on and headed for home. My tackle, fishing rods, boat carpet, everything including us, got completely soaked and rode home in the pouring driving rain getting further soaked the whole way home.

All this happened in the space of about a hour and 15 minutes. I was never so mad in my life. Got home and online to check the radar again and now it shows there's a massive wall of rain stretching from Tennessee to Ohio, completely across Kentucky, and almost all of it is severe. It was nowhere to be seen when we left. That storm system must have just developed out of nowhere. I'm clueless to how that happened. Could I have missed seeing that when I looked before leaving?? I don't really think so.

And as bad as this all is, it only ranks second on the list of the most disasterous outdoors trips I've ever been on.

[fishfordollars]

Glad ya'll survived. Lighnening is nothing to mess with.

[The Rooster]

I'll have to say thank goodness I had a good trolling motor. Minnkota Powerdrive 55PD. It showed I used 25% battery life to cross that river and then to go up the Little Sandy against the wind after we made it acrossed.  With the wind it felt like I was running it on 1/2 it's capable speed even though it was maxxed out on 10. A lesser motor might not have made it in that length of time and I needed to get off the water in a hurry!!

[Big-O]

Be glad its a memory, cause we can learn from it. A few close calls is part of fishin' but too many close calls is called ignorance and I've had to brand myself with that one a time or two. Glad you made it safely thru.

Big O

[rondef]

Glad to hear you made it back safe.  We also had a storm sneak up on us and soak us pretty good on one fishing trip.  I fired up the gas motor and ran full speed back to the dock on a lake that is no wake with the rain pouring down hard.  We were completely soaked as was all of our gear and the boat, luckily we did not have to deal with lightning.  The weather forecast is just that a forecast.  I now keep an emergency radio set on the weather channel and pay close attention.  If it reports a storm on the way we get out of the water immediately.

[fisher of bass]

glad you are ok and nobody got hurt, reminds me of last year, my buddy from mass and his wife came up to nh. we decided to take my 16' boat out, the weather channel said chance of rain 30%, yeah right we thought, we went out, not a cloud in the sky 45 minutes later we start catching fish after fish, then the heavens open up, the winds picking up we hurried to a cove and tied off to a tree and waited the storm out good thing there was no lightning,one of the scariest thing i ever saw.  

[fishinfiend]

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you will have better luck next time. Now I don't feel so bad about falling out of the boat on Friday.

[ba7ss3in]

Glad to know you and your wife made it out. Those radar channels can be unpredictable. I try to check a few different stations and online before I go fishing but sometimes it still don't work.

[J_Zink]

I would never venture out onto a larger lake with so little gas in the boat.  As you just experienced, things can get nasty quickly.  Think about how that scenario would've played out differently had you had enough gas in the tank to fire up the big motor and get back to the ramp area before the heavy rain and winds set in.  

[Sam]

Roostertails, did you all catch anything?  ;D   ;D   ;D

Man, what a story.  So glad you and your wife are OK along with the boat, motor, trailer and SUV.

I have been caught in storms and they are no fun, especially if you have white caps due to the wind.

So glad you are safe and can relate the story to us.

Now, what did you all catch again?????