Thread: More Deaths On Lake Hamilton

Sad,prayers sent to all involved.

Was this the traderbills thursday night tournament?

Originally Posted by bigfishn

Was this the traderbills thursday night tournament?

I believe it was.

I agree is a tragedy and it could happen to just about anyone at points when your on the water. I just question why they keep saying its a "informal gathering" of friends. It's a well know tournament and it's like they are trying to hide that fact. They talk about the up coming thursday night tournaments and the tournaments results on the radio in Hot springs on fridays.
It just seems like traderbills is trying very hard to distant themselves from there own tournament. Do you agree???

It may not have been the Trader Bill's tournement. This article mentions the "Ozark Bass Club"

"BY MARK GREGORY
Associate editor
Two Hot Springs men who fished
competitively for years were killed
Thursday night in a nearly head-on
boat collision during a local bass
tournament on Lake Hamilton.
Perry Kilby, 47, and Dewey Allen
Tosh, 54, both of Hot Springs, died
when a Ranger R93 operated by
Terry Johnson, of Hot Springs, hit
the left front of their TR-21 Triton,
became airborne and came back
down on top of their boat, shearing
off its motor before re-entering the
water.
"It was just nearly a head-on, but
not quite," said Lt. Rodney Neighbors
of the Garland County Sheriff's
Department, adding that the direction
of travel of the boats was not
yet known. Both boats were under
power at the time of the accident.
Johnson and his passenger, the
Ranger's owner, off-duty Arkansas
Game and Fish Commission officer
Tod Johnson, were ejected into the
water by the impact, but were able
to get back into their boat, which
had stopped because the motor's
kill switch was activated, Neighbors
said.Neighbors said all four were participating
in a tournament that has
been held every other Thursday
night on Lake Hamilton for the last
eight years. The accident was re-
2 killed when




ported at 10:04 p.m. Thursday
and occurred just west of the
5000 block of Central Avenue,
in the main channel.
Terry Johnson, who was
not injured, was taken to a
local hospital to have blood
drawn for testing; Neighbors
said it was standard procedure
in a fatality accident, not
an indication that alcohol is
suspected as a factor.
"Alcohol is not suspected as
a cause in this, from what we
have at this time," Neighbors
said. The bodies of Kilby and
Tosh were sent to the state
crime lab for an autopsy to
determine the cause of death.
Tod Johnson was transported
to a local hospital with a
leg injury, Neighbors said.
Neighbors said both boats
had running lights turned on.
"On Lake Hamilton, there
are so many dock lights, and
shore lights, and stuff like that,
that if you're going down the
lake sometimes it gets confusing
on depth perception, as
far as where something is,"
Neighbors said.
"It's hard to see on that
lake. You've got too much
lights and stuff – shore lights
and reflections of a light off
the bank onto the water and
stuff," he said.
Garland County Sheriff 's
Marine Patrol and AGFC officers
later took both boats
to Grant Garrett Excavating
behind Cornerstone Marketplace
on Friday and used a
crane to suspend the Ranger
boat above the Triton in an
attempt to recreate the accident.
Kilby and Tosh were a
unique pair, said longtime acquaintance
Philip Kastner.
Kilby, who "absolutely
loves to go fishing," was legally
blind and Tosh was a
"good-hearted man" who
helped Kilby with the few
things he couldn't do, according
to Kastner.
"That's why Perry was his
partner. Because Allen took
care of him," he said.
"You don't have to help
Perry do anything once he
gets in the boat. Perry's an
excellent fisherman. He was
an excellent tournament fisherman,
and if you didn't watch
out, he'd kick your butt out of
the back of the boat," Kastner
said.
"He and I were fishing a
tournament up on Ouachita
about 15 years ago, and
that's exactly what he did. He
smoked me bigger than day,
out of the back of my own
boat," he said.
"Allen was such a big-hearted
man, that he really didn't
care. They were friends, and ...
whether he (Kilby) could see
or couldn't see was irrelevant.
He was going to go fishing
with Perry," Kastner said.
Both had been members of
the Ozark Bass Club since the
mid-1980s, said Kastner, who
fished club tournaments with
them once a month on area
lakes, went on road trips with
them out of town and out of
state to Texas and Missouri.
"Salt-of-the-earth kind of
people," Kastner said. Anytime
a club member fell on
hard times, Tosh was the "very
first one" who would start
donating prizes for a benefit
tournament.
"I can't tell you how many
times I have donated things
to club functions for benefits"
that Tosh had organized, he
said."

Originally Posted by bigfishn

I agree is a tragedy and it could happen to just about anyone at points when your on the water. I just question why they keep saying its a "informal gathering" of friends. It's a well know tournament and it's like they are trying to hide that fact. They talk about the up coming thursday night tournaments and the tournaments results on the radio in Hot springs on fridays.
It just seems like traderbills is trying very hard to distant themselves from there own tournament. Do you agree???

That is a quote of Lt. Rodney Neighbors of the Garland Co. Sheriff Dept. not Traderbills.They opened and closed the fishing report with thoughts and prays on the radio show friday.

You know guys, hind sight being 20-20, the majority of these accidents could have been prevented with the operators using some common sense and judgment. Operating a boat at night requires an extra effort on every operator.

No one is talking about boat speed in this accident, but I can assure you that if each boat had been driving in a cautious manner, there is no way either boat could have gone airborn.

I was fishing out of Spillway (on Ouachita) with my sweet wife last evening. The moon was late rising. Trolling as usual, about 10:00pm I watched a boat approach me from the north like he was hell-bent for leather. Now it's a little hard for me to change directions immediately with four rods out, bandits 100' back. I thought he'd at least be sporting--at least in the name of safety--and slow down a bit. I flicked my lights and finally spotlighted him ever-so-briefly to get his attention and he didn't EVEN let up, crossing my bow in his 20-foot 200hp-plus rig, by not even 40 feet at (at least) 3/4 throttle.

There's just no need for that kind of behavior--ever. And he wasn't even tournament fishing! Well, it is not likely that I will get my wife to go with me nightstalking any time in the future. She stated that from this time on she will be a daytime fishermom-wife. It's probably a God-send that my little 25 horse Johnson could not give chase. There might have been another headline in the paper.

Tournament or no, we damn-sure need to slow down at night or we'll be reading about more nighttime boating accidents--like how two boats collide, one going airborn, or bass boats careening through anchored pontoon boats etc., etc., etc. and fathers and husbands being killed. (sigh)

So, who's goin' fishin' next week?

aj