Northwest Fishing Reports

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IF there are small craft warning for the Puget Sound, your boat is not big enough and the fish are not that important. Be safe and wait a day or so. Your important to a very many people.

Great for the Rescue personnel. I wish the article had said what type and size/length of boat was overturned.

Standing from the beach. I was very surprised to see more than a few boats fishing mid channel, in front of Shipwreck. The extreme wind, sideways blowing rain, and waves breaking the shore, made seeing those boats unexpected. Those boats must have seen 6ft wind waves in the middle of the channel! 2 footers were breaking onto the beach.

I was on Roosevelt this weekend when the storm hit. I kicked on the vhf radio to the weather and suddenly they're telling me tof expect gusts to 80mph! It took us a bit to get cleaned up and travel ready. Within a few minutes the wind was constant mid 40's and gusting well over that. My boat is a 23' hard top river jet and can take a beating.....which is good, because we did. We were taking water over the bow and heavy onto the windshield. I was never so glad to have a big boat.

This past Sunday as we were coming into the Shilshole docks an man and his 2 kids were leaving in a plastic inflatable rowboat powered by a small electric motor. The winds were blowing at 20+ knots and I told him there is no way he'll be able to get back once he left the safety of the breakwater. Fortunately for his two kids the wind was blowing from the southwest and they ended up on the beach just as we pulled up to the parking area to tie down the boat. One can only hope this was a learning experience for him.

What'd he say when you told him that?

Something along the lines of, "We'll be OK." He just didn't seem to comprehend that his electric motor and non-keeled boat were no match for the wind.

When he was on the side beach you should have hollered over, "Are you ok now?"

G-Man wrote:This past Sunday as we were coming into the Shilshole docks an man and his 2 kids were leaving in a plastic inflatable rowboat powered by a small electric motor. The winds were blowing at 20+ knots and I told him there is no way he'll be able to get back once he left the safety of the breakwater. Fortunately for his two kids the wind was blowing from the southwest and they ended up on the beach just as we pulled up to the parking area to tie down the boat. One can only hope this was a learning experience for him.

There is no cure for stupid....at least his kids didn't have to pay for his stupidity.

I find it easy(er) to forgive a raw newbie to boats and boating. Most people have no clue about how dangerous the water and weather can be and have no idea about how a boat actually handles or should be handled on the water - especially in wind. Until you have some training and experience, you cant really grasp what its like. Even people who have experience under good conditions have a hard time appreciating how bad it can get with some wind thrown into the mix - until they get a taste of what its like.

I can easily see someone, who might even be a relatively smart person about most things, buying their first boat and getting all excited and going out in risky conditions. They would have no idea about checking for small craft warnings or how rough things can get, or how capable their new toy might be or even how to properly handle it. REAL MEN do that sort of thing all the time ;)

That said, there isnt much excuse for putting your kids at risk. You should do your homework before getting kids out on the water = period.

Hey Guys, great topic! The water should be respected, things can happen so fast even in calm weather.

If you guys noticed in the news article it was a SAFE boat that brought the boater back to the dock. It has a foam collar around the outside of the boat to provide redundant floatation and stability. I represent a company called Life Proof Boats. We build foam collared and foam / air Hybrid boats for the recreational market. We want to provide the general public the safety of foam collared boats. The USCG, military, and gov. municipalities' have shown how much they love foam collared boats by choosing to use them for their smaller platforms.

I know a lot of time people don't fully understand why and how the collar systems work and why they might need it. We are proud to be a new sponsor for NWFR and want to answer any questions you may have.

You wear a life jacket, so wouldn't you want one on your boat.

I'm looking forward to checking these boats out as a product review and later at the Sportsman Show.

I'm on the water five days a week ( marine mechanic) and nothing scares me more than when a customer brings in a boat the sketchy at best, has no clue about the dangers of the sound and are gung-ho to take their tattered tub across the sound with little or no knowledge of how unsafe their boats are. Not to mention the "needed repairs" aren't just me trying to make money, I want my customers to come back with a positive out look on boating on general and come back to me for maintenance. As for the article I've seen first hand boats sinking, on fire and just plain stranded unlucky souls. Boat safe and be smart!