Thread: Question about boating in unknown waters

Originally Posted by cook

I know you hit smithville a lot...so here is another consideration I have witnessed personally.There is plenty of standing timber still,since the lake isn't that old.Watching some guys running jugs one year,they had an older boat,and were retriving them from a tree line the jugs drifted into.
They bumped into a few trees,low speed,no big deal.Then about a 30' tree decided it had enough and toppled over from a small impact.Scary stuff.Always be careful working/tying off in standing timber.

Funny you said that. I had the same thing happen to me when I was fishing one day. I really didn't even think anything about if a large tree would fall. I was fishing up in the Robert's Branch area when a tree fell in the water. The tree was no larger than 5', but you've got a point if a larger tree does fall, it could do some hurtin'.

Alex, my partner and I fished Truman this past weekend. We got hung up on stumps 3 times and had a hell of a time getting off. Then we went to a cove on the left just before the 7 hiway bridge. I turned the big motor off at the mouth and just trolled into the timber. On the way out, I turned on the big motor just at idle speed and we went over 2 stumps that lifted the boat out of the water slightly. Scared the hell out of me. Once we got to the mouth of the cove on the way out, here comes a Ranger at about 40mph. My buddy and I stood up and started waving our arms for them to slow down, and they looked at us like we were nuts and just kept on going. Fortunately, they did not hit anything, (that we know of), so yeah, be careful!!!

I have a 20' Nitro.
Trim up big motor and idle on through.
if it get bad real bad I pull up the trolling motor and hold it just in the water.

I fish Smithville mainly and Truman 4 to 5 times a year. Lots of trees and lots of stumps. Spent 20 years fishing Reelfoot, its the worse. SLOW DOWN, that is the best policy. Slow down with the troller also, all shafts will bend to the point of no return. Use a little caution and alot of common sense and you should be ok.