I was out fishing Fayette last night. An incredible thunderstorm blew up on us. I can't say it was completely out of the blue, but we definitely stayed a little longer that we should have because the fish were biting. As the line moved through, the wind went from 2-5mph to 40 mph+ in a matter of seconds. As soon as it kicked up we pulled the trolling motor and fired up the big motor to head for cover. The lake went from flat to 2-3 footers in span of maybe a minute or two. (no lightening at this point) As we were exiting taking waves over our own bow we saw a boat that had been blown into the trees and I knew they had about 1 minute to fire up their big motor or they were going to take a pounding. The guys seemed to be struggling to figure out what to do. I debated whether to try and help, but in an 18.5 foot boat, I was worried about our safety. I put the hammer down and headed to safety. Found out later the boat got swamped. B. Dill from the forum picked them up and took them to safety after the storm. I honestly didn't think they were in that much trouble at the time, but I feel bad for not trying to help. What do you guys think? I can tell you one thing, I learned a valuable lesson about flirting with thunderstorms.

I think you should have tried to help, even if it was just getting them in your boat and taking them to safety with you. They got lucky, it could have turned out way worse for them.

To be clear, when we left they weren't taking on water or anything. They were just blown up on trees. I think one guy had his hat blown off and was trying to catch it with his lure. It honestly never occurred to me they might get swamped in that moment. They weren't yelling for help. That would have been different. At the time, I just thought they were fixing to get wet and get a scratched up boat. Thinking back on it, I'm not even sure a rescue at the time was even possible as we were in heavy timber in 40 mph wind and big waves.

At the least, I would have checked with them to see if they needed any help. Though a lot of people these days don't like going out of their way, past dialing 911, for anyone that may need some help.

Ultimately we all make decisions every day and each one of us have to live with those decisions.

Your right Doug, we've all got to live with those calls. I can honestly say I didn't think at the time they were in that much danger as the storm had just kicked up. As I mentioned one of the guys was trying to fish his hat out of the lake, so it's not like they were jumping up and down for help. I guess if I could have played it different, I might have tried to hold the boat in the wind and the waves a little longer to confirm they got out okay. Although lightening started to fire up right around this time. I guess the big lesson for me is that no fish is worth flirting with a Thunderstorm over.

I would not have helped at that point unless I was in a much larger and safer boat. You waited too long, so did he. I did the same thing on the same lake. I had to spear right through a few walls of brown water to get us home. The 175 Merc got us back to the ramp. It was scary and the last time I ever waited too long.

I would have tried to help them out. They were in enough apparent trouble that you thought about it. Fortunate, someone else came along and rescued them. If I couldn't then I'd have dialed 911 to get help started to them

Their boat was either the same size or maybe larger. Also, they made it about a half mile from where we saw them to where the boat wound up. (up wind so they didn't float there). Either they ran and got swamped trying to make it back to the ramp or ran it swamped that far. Might have been a little of both.

Situations always seem more clear in hindsight. It sounds like they didn't appear to be in real danger at the time and they weren't signalling for help so I can't fault you for not risking damage to your boat for a "hey how's it going?" and getting you and your buddy to safety. I probably would have done the exact same thing.

If you even thought they were in trouble, you should have offered help. It is a judgement call and you can not be right all of the time.

I only really thought about it after I heard they got swamped. Again at the time, they weren't signaling any signs of distress. Also they got picked up after the storm which was about an hour later. Calling 911 wasn't really an option. Torrential downpour and 40mph wind. My phone would have been destroyed by water long before I completed a call. Not to mention what would I have reported at that point? Boat in trees, dude fishing hat out of lake, wind and rain picking up somebody should go check on them?

Would depend if I had kids on my boat or not, and if their boat was getting pounding against a bank where they had an option to get out or not too. Property isn't worth a life. If I was alone or had another adult with me (not grandpa) then I would have attempted to help in any way I could... I'm a police officer and its in my blood to help... Glad all turned out okay for everyone involved though.

Yes

You left it for "the other guy" to help. Sorry, but you asked and that's what sounds like happened and so often does. Thankfully for them as so often happens there was "the other guy". Times are changing.... Ultimately it's up to us as to how far we will go for our fellow man. Yes, I know we are "armchair quarterbacking" a situation that we were not at. Always easy to say what we would do after the fact.

Yeah, I suppose I asked for opinions and I'm getting them. I can't stress enough that when we left, we did not think they were in any real danger. And it's not likely somebody strolled by 5 minutes later and rescued them. It was over an hour later over a half mile from where they were, after the storm laid down. I didn't leave people shouting for help getting swamped. I left folks trying to fish a hat out of a lake as a situation was getting dicey. Thinking this through, I didn't do a good job describing the situation well. The second guessing I did only occurred after we heard they were swamped. Prior to that I hadn't even given it a second thought. The reality is I'm beating myself up over something I did not know was going to happen.