Tennesee’s Wild Side Weekly Article

Brent Callicott on Boat and Water Safety

Since the start of this 2009 year, there seems to have been more loss of life on area lakes, especially from Kentucky Dam to New Johnsonville Tennessee on the Tennessee River System/Kentucky lake.

Some of the these deaths have resulted from drinking while boating or around these waters. I really do not understand why when some folks get close to water, they want to bring alcohol along. These two things DO NOT MIX at all.

Just this past week during the Fourth of July holiday week around the Paris Landing on Kentucky Lake, at least two people lost their lives due to alcohol being involved in some form or another.

Please and I repeat, PLEASE when you decide to take a boat ride out on ANY body of water, make sure you have a person who is driving the boat, sober and experienced behind the wheel of the boat. Water is no different that land, you need to observe rules that will save either your life or someone else's. Water patrol officers such as the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Officers ( TWRA ), Coast Guard, Kentucky Wildlife Officers, Kentucky Boating Patrol just to name a few locally, are there to protect you.

Our tax dollars pay for these folks to be out on the waters to enforce laws while on the water. They are not much different than your local police or sheriff departments. So the next time you see these folks, say hello and thank them for doing the job they do. From time to time, they have to deal with folks who may not co-operate very well with them making their job a little more stressful.

Speed is a main concern while being on a lake like Kentucky or Barkley Lakes more so than a lake like Reelfoot. Now, some of these Bass boats and pleasure boats speed can reach in upwards of 80 mph while on water. There are NO speed limits on water and I personally believe there needs to be something done on some lakes about that. Some of the Bass boats now days have outboard motors that are 300 horsepower. That would push a boat well over 80 mph.

I remember back in the late 1990's, I was fishing a Tennessee State Federation Bass Tournament and drew a partner from East Tennessee that had a Bullet ( brand name of boat I was in ) with a Mercury 225 HP. We were boat 187 out of 200 on the blast off and we went four miles down river to his first fishing spot. We passed 10 other boats that blasted off ahead of us that morning. It just about blew my Scott goggles off my face that morning. I knew we weren't going 50 mph and I ask, fella, how fast were we going. He then replied to me with a grin on his face....87 mph. I couldn't fish the rest of the day dreading the trip back in. I told him to please slow down going in because I wanted to live long enough to tell the story how fast we went.

As you might have guessed, he wasn't the best fisherman, but to him, we had the fastest boat in the 200 boat field that week and that is what counted to him.

The main thing is while boating, no matter where you might be, pay close attention to the others around you just like when you drive a car down the road. Many car accidents are prevented and are not prevented by simply watching out for the other driver. Same thing once you get on the water. There are no lines, no speed limit signs posted, no what is ahead signs etc. Things are usually wide open, things/items floating down the lake just under the water you can't see just to name a few things.

Just be careful. Just last week, a 47 year old mother/wife, from Murfreesboro Tenn lost her life because some other person in another boat wasn't paying attention and was under the influence of alcohol. Then, a man in his late 30's fell off of a dock while working on his boat and drowned. He was also under the influence of alcohol from the report. When you have alcohol or any other substance in your system while operating a boat or vehicle, your response time is slow and add the heat of this time of year to that, makes things a lot worse.

So the next time you venture out onto the water, make sure you have a plan, everyone knows what is going on and the person driving the boat is alcohol free. We all want this to be a time of fellowship, family time and time of relaxation for all. It just takes one second to change your life or someone else's.

I want to say THANK YOU again to the many, many folks who have come up to me in the past few weeks telling me how much they enjoy reading my reports. I do my best trying to share information to pass along to you that can be used in the everyday outdoors.

I would also like to mention that if you have a story or photo for the outdoors page, please e-mail them to me, call me or simply drop by the Union City Messenger located on Jackson Street in Union City. We would LOVE to have you information to share along with our readers.

May GOD Bless

Catch Ya On The Water...

Brent Callicott

Articles