There was another drowning today, a person fell from a boat, just 2 miles up river from where the 19 year old drowned, it was on the news this evening.
J.C. those vest are a wonderful thing for sure and so is inflatible horse shoe types.
Mato, you are very correct. I have seen some scarry things on this. The one guy who came up was extremely fortunate for sure. Point is he was the only one wearing a vest. He was the first boat to get in trouble and he was past the safety bouy's ( a big no no ) to get closer to the dam face. The dam flow was not as bad as it can be at times, and the only reason he came up so soon, or at all.
Where the young boy drowned at the Mc Alpine dam saving the 12 year old, the water goes from very shallow to 6 to 20 foot drops in one step. The 12 year old stepped off one of these, the under currents there are at times very strong and the 19 year old managed to pushed the younger to saftey and in the process pushed himself under from what I heard about the accident. The top current and what is underneath is totally different in these waters and can go in opposite directions.
Mc Alpine dam has claimed many lives, the other one has claimed more than a few lives but is not a real old dam. Both are great fishing for Striper, White Bass and Wipers with a flyrod or any other tackle for every kind of fish in the river. None are worth dying for though, and all 3 of these people died trying to save someone else, so don't risk your life or the one who may try to save you.
You have a good point about going to strange waters like this and one should always error on the sise of safety and obey all warnings and bouys. Never trust what your eye says about what maybe underneath. Always be aware of what your boat is doing, it can drift right into the dam instead of down river. Do not have your life jacket beside you in a boat have it on. Do not trust what you see others doing to be safe either, I seen some doing things that were just plain stupid and tempting fate. There are safe ways to fish these type dams on many days but there are days it is better to just look at it and go home, or to some creek or lake, know the difference.
Just be safe and always come home after fishing, or were ever you venture. the very best to all. Jesse