Olcott Sunday 6-19-13, Good fishing, Almost Sank

[Tim Bromund]

Dad, Chad and I decided to do some Derby fishing this morning.

The Good:

For mid June, we had pretty good action, had 5 kings, 3 or 4 nice coho and 2 lakers.4 of the kings were nice mid teens and 1 was a good mature 23.4 lb (currently in 2nd in the king division).  Coho and lakers took a variety of baits, mostly yellow NBK stingrays.  All 5 of  the kings came on a green nuclear SD/Hammer Fly combo.  After the 4th fish on that combo on the 80' rigger, I put another one down on a diver back 300 and it wasn't down more than 5 minutes before it fires with the big one.  While Chad was fighting that, the rigger fired again but that one shook off after a short fight.



The Bad:

The boat almost sank today.  I have the Flo Max Ball Scuppers on my transom which usually do a pretty good job of keeping most of the water out of the boat, considering my floor is right at the waterline and when anyone steps in the back corners, it pushes the scupper below the waterline.  So, I was surprised to see a lot of water coming in the boat every time I was in the starboard corner and washing down under the motor box, but the bilge pump appeared to be keeping up with it so we didn't think much about it.

Shortly after landing the big king I noticed that something didn't sound right coming from the motor box, so when I lifted it and we found it and the bilge filled to the top and the belts spraying water all over the place, we knew that the water was coming much faster than could be addressed by the bilge pump and we were very close to going down, so we put our life jackets on and made the mayday call to the Coast Guard.

Luckily the engine kept running, so we were able to creep back in to Port.  Before long we were being escorted by the Olcott Fire and Rescue boat, 1 or 2 Niagara Co Sheriff boats and the Coast Guard that ran all the way down from the Niagara Station at the Fort.  Capt. Don Harris of Reel Pleasure Charters also pulled lines and came to our position and shadowed us until the rescue boats arrived on the scene, as did Capt Tom Kilmer of TomKatt Sportfishing, Thank you very much guys.

Chad spent a lot of time on his hands and knees bailing water out as best he could while dad drove the boat and I stayed in contact with the Coast Guard.

Luckily my trailer was still at the Boat Doctor's yard in Olcott, so I called Jim to see if he could get it to the marina in case we made it all the way back in to port. He didn't have anyway to get it there, but Fred Lockwood from the Yankee Pride Boat here in Olcott was there at the Boat Doctors, so he hitched up my trailer and had it waiting in the water at the launch ramp.  Huge Thank You to Fred.

Somehow the engine stayed running all the way in and we managed to make it all the way back to port and get it on the trailer and back to the Boat Doctors.

Turns out, that somehow the Flo Max Scupper and check ball on the starboard side was gone leaving a 2" diameter hole in the transom of the boat right at the water line that was pouring in way more water than the bilge pump could keep up with.  There had to be hundreds of gallons of water in the boat when we finally got it out of the water.

Cant say enough good things about the Emergency Response Personnel out there, in particular the Olcott Fire and Rescue team was outstanding, they got one of their crew onto the boat with a gas powered pump and started pumping the water out as we were coming through the pier heads (he also took turns bailing) and they followed us in the whole way, shadowing the boat just off our port beam.

We got very lucky, today could have ended very badly and this should serve as a reminder to all of us.  Things can go south on us very quickly out there and we have to be prepared for the worst.  Make sure you have all of the required safety equipment and that your life jackets are easily accessible.

Here's a short video I took with my phone of the full motor box and bailing operation.

Tim Edited June 17, 2013 by Tim Bromund

[times two]

Wow...glad it all worked out!

 

John

[Mortigan]

Sorry for the trouble, Tim.  Glad you all didn't wind up treading water...

[blingbones]

glad to see u guys r ok.

[ChocolateLab]

Wow, Thats a crazy story and great reminder. Glad everything worked out.

[Hooked on Kings]

Wow!!!!! that's a little scary thinking you could sink her. Glade you made it in..... nice fish and report...... going out of fair haven today, will report later.......

Edited June 17, 2013 by Hooked on Kings

[Gill-T]

Lesson learned is MAKE SURE THERE ARE MULTIPLE bailing buckets of various sizes in your boat...it could save your boat and your life. Thanks for the adventure Tim....you sure know how to show a guy a good time! Same time next week?

[vogel451]

Holy Crap!  That was a close one!

[Fishtails]

Whew....close call Tim.  Glad all ended well

[Adk1]

So there is no automatic bilge pump on the boat? Glad to hear everything worked out ok..

[King Slammin]

I heard about that while at baseball practice yesterday morning. I'm glad you guys were prepared and made it back safely. Nice job on the kings and hopefully you'll be back at it without too many repairs. The kings are back in olcott

[mudman]

Tim,

 

Glad to hear that you are all safe!

 

Mitch

[G-Daddy]

Tim,

Sorry you had the trouble, but glad you kept her afloat.  Bad things can happen quickly and you have to be prepared to react quickly.  Good luck on the rest of your season.

[Legacy]

WOW! 

[gokudl3]

WOW! Thank god you all are ok and you still have your boat! Hearing stories like that will hopefully help me be prepared in case I ever have a emergency.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app....Doug

[spoonfed-1]

Glad everything worked out and everyone is safe Tim.

Congrats on the big fish.

[on the lam]

Happy your all safe Tim... scary.. you never know.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Tim Bromund]

So there is no automatic bilge pump on the boat? Glad to hear everything worked out ok..

 

Yes there is, it just couldn't keep up with the volume of water coming in.  The boat really should have more than one bilge pump (thanks Thompson, nice place to cheap out) and I will be adding at least one more.

 

Tim

[FX]

Glad you made it in safely! Also good to hear of all the response help! As previously said, a good reminder for us all to check and re-check things. Beautiful king there too!

Shawn

[momay4000]

Wow Tim - we are all glad you and the crew are safe. Your video is unbelievable!! That's a hell of an engine man.

 

Chris

[Gill-T]

If anyone would like to add to their exercise regiment....P90-x ain't got nothing on bailing water for 1 hour. Today, I feel muscles in my thighs and back that I did not know I had.

[Tim Bromund]

If anyone would like to add to their exercise regiment....P90-x ain't got nothing on bailing water for 1 hour. Today, I feel muscles in my thighs and back that I did not know I had.

but at least your king is still holding in 2nd place on the leader board

[Sk8man]

Hey Tim one of the things I've done since having my little whaler (which didn't have a bilge pump) is I rigged up a portable bilge pump with clip  battery connectors for the battery and a  section of garden hose with a hose clamp attached to it to allow water to be pumped over the side or transom. I've never needed it thus far as I have one on this boat already but it is an added security "blanket" and something I can throw to somebody who may need it as well.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Sk8man

[J.D.]

This article on bilge pumps and boat saftey  is worth a second look... I made some changes on my rig after reading this.

 

http://www.docksidereports.com/small_boat_safety_at_sea.htm

[reeldilemma33]

wow crazy... lucky to have guys that are willing to help. You know normally it's a secret on lures, colors, depths. But it's great to see guys who will do what it tajes to help another fisherman, when it comes down to it. Hats off to the charter Captain,fire and rescue, and the coast guard.