High school team missing

Don't sound good https://www.wired2fish.com/news/high-school-anglers-adult-reported-missing-after-tournament/

Terrible news.

Prayers that they are found safe.

Praying for them so sad

That's not good. Prayers for all involved.

Hopefully the broken boat will be found on the shore and they will be found walking out....

Very sad

Pickwick can be a very dangerous place ...especially without the outboard functioning. Prayers for these folks. Hopefully they're on the bank somewhere awaiting help.

Prayers for the boys and father....very sad news

they are all found OK.

prayers for them and their families..

I can;t find anything out that they have found safe..
Great NEWS!

They've found the boat below the Pickwick Dam. None of the three people have been located. I've never been on Pickwick. If the boat is below the Pickwick Dam, does that mean it went over the spillway?

Link?

Prayers for the family. This hs fishing thing has gotten pretty crazy and out of hand.

I think Tbird was saying he was praying they are all found ok.

Never mind. You were praying that they are all found ok.

Yea I get it now.. I am a blonde...Still praying

Boat been located way down stream of the spillway I just saw

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2020/2/24/404609/3-Boaters-Missing-Near-Pickwick-Dam.aspx

Horrible

Prayers sent that they are found safe!

Not necessarily. You can access a dam at both ends of the lake.
I do know that there are buoys and we were told by the tournament directors (as well as some locals) that you do not want to be past those when they started releasing water. It wasn't a worry for us, we never went that far up.

No. Probably caught up in the flood gate / generator waters. I've fished it many, many times over the years. Very dangerous place for those that aren't aware or lose the outboard power. They may have seen what was coming if the outboard quit and abandoned the boat. Hopefully they are on the bank somewhere trying to walk out. Doesn't sound good, though.

Wow, what such sad news. I hope they are all found with minimal issues.

Horrible news. Stunning it took til Sunday evening before anyone knew they were missing?? I sure hope they are found alive and well!

Prayers that everyone is found safe!

prayers

The bad news here is that you know teenagers had cell phones. True, they could have gotten wet and therefore stopped working. But they would have notified someone of their situation if they were still alive and had functioning phones. That gives me reason to suspect the worse ..... unfortunately.

Prayers for all involved

does not look good....the boat was found below the dam and report says it was sucked under the dam....



https://www.wsbtv.com/news/trending...istrict-says/UQ7U6VT4RRE3XHXPPHVEEBLOBA/

Wasn’t reported missing till 9pm next day either. This is very sad deal

Maybe I'm stupid, I've been called worse- but how would something like this happen?

I get it and I do not understand either, but it's a bit soon to start the blame game that comes with asking that question.

Prayers sent to those involved.

Its only speculation but they may have been inexperienced like many of these youth teams are, the tourney director should not have allowed them to fish if the boat was experiencing operational problems but apparently that did not happen, so many things went wrong here.

So sad, cant play the blame game yet folks but I cant imagine what happened that all 3 incapacitated, what a terrible tragedy.

Prayers up

One of the stories I read, the team had pulled the boat from the water, apparently to work on it, and then decided to try to finish the tourney. If the director did not know that they had returned to the water, I don't see how he could be blamed. (actually, I fail to see how he could be at fault either way) . The fact that they weren't reported as missing until 9pm lends itself to the thinking that they put back in w/out the director knowing they were back on the water.
Regardless, as posted earlier, this is not the time to be pointing fingers or making assumptions. It's looking like there could be three lives lost here so what would be needed is added prayers that this hasn't happened.

a few years ago,we had a similar situation in that two duck hunters were swept over the dam and drowned on Lake Seminole...there were three of them in a boat and two got out and were floating on tubes on the grass flats above the dam.....the guy running the boat took off to scout some other areas of the lake and while he was gone,they apparently opened the gates on the dam and created enough current to suck the two guys over the dam....
duck hunting using tubes on the various shallow flats on Seminole is a common practice and there is usually no problem doing it because there is usually little or no current....if memory serves me correct,there was a bunch of rain upriver and they opened the gates to take care of the water headed downstream...
as sad as this situation is,there's going to a lesson learned from it and that is being near these dams can be dangerous if they open up the flood gates and you are in a kayak,canoe,tube or in a boat with an engine that won't crank up and get you away from the spillways...

Locally, we were allowed to trailer anywhere we wanted so they tournament director had no idea who launched and who didn't. I think they should all be launched at one location and just go by boat numbers unless weather dictates otherwise and then they probably shouldn’t be fishing anyways. But, then when you allow anyone with a boat to fish on some pretty small lakes that’s a whole other issue. I’m not judging those involved but maybe we can all learn from the mistakes made by others to prevent future accidents.

Seems that a "check in" policy needs to be in place. Even if done by phone.
Too much time passed before anyone knew they were missing.
This sucks.

Sad to hear. Prayers up.

Hopefully they are ok, but it’s getting along in the time it would take to announce they’re safe. I fear the worst.

They are now asking for volunteers with boats to help look tomorrow morning . Sad deal

https://www.wired2fish.com/news/vol...cSYnPlrnFadEvCfjR0l8vRU40faVAyHJ2zmIge6s

indications are that they got swept over the dam ...is this a area with no cell phone signal and why there was no call for help?

IN my experience it can be spotty depending on the carrier

It's not up to the td to decide if their boat had operational difficulties. It's a captains call. I fear this is gonna turn out badly and it was just a matter of time till something happened like this. It can be dangerous at times and the odds catch up sooner or later.

Prayers for all involved.

Ok, so I’m even dumber. Are they not required to wear life jackets in HS tournaments?

The rules there may be different, thsba is when big engine is running they must have jackets on and be seated.

Yes , at least in most I am familiar with just like Adult trails, hopefully they had them on. To soon the be taking guesses on what happened. Hopefully they will be found soon and start to figure out what went wrong. Prayers for everyone involved.

Prayers for all involved. They found a few hikers out her recently after around a week, so no reason to lose hope yet.

I've captained a boat and will be again soon on a fill in basis, this hits home.

Prayers for a positive outcome.

I’m not going to pass judgement on anyone. If I travel a few miles to go fish and my outboard doesn’t start, I am dropping the trolling motor and going fishing. Will especially do so if I’ve already paid to fish a tourney.

Prayers for all involved.

You ever fished any of the river systems, especially after heavy rains and flood gates are open? We’ve all done stuff that probably wasn’t the best idea but I didn’t get anywhere near the dam on the lake I grew up fishing in Tennessee. The drop off was several hundred feet, maybe 300 or 400.

Praying for victims and family members.

Yep. There will be no survivors of this tragic event. Life jackets or not, hypothermia would have killed them long ago.

I'm wondering how something like this happens. (I've never been on Pickwick and probably haven't been on something even similar, so this is a sincere question.)

Do you get out on a river system, they open the flood gates, your motor goes out and you gradually get carried towards the dam by the resulting current? It seems that if you aren't really close to the dam when the gates are opened, even the trolling motor could get you to the shore where you could call for help. But who knows, maybe they had multiple systems failure and the trolling motor wasn't even an option.

My understanding is that’s exactly what happens and if you’re by the dam where the current is strongest, you are in trouble if you only have a trolling motor. If you try to fight the current by going against it with a trolling motor, you are in trouble if it’s that strong. I would think the best option would be like with an undertow in the ocean. If you get caught in one, you swim sideways to get out of it, not directly back to shore where it’s pulling you.

How's the search going? Prayers for those involved and those on the water looking.

When we were there we never went to the dam but anywhere your at on the lake- you can tell when they are generating/releasing due to the current picking up. I've seen video of them opening gates on the dam while people are fishing near it and it gets real western, really quick.

I read that cameras inside the spillway gates recorded the boat going over the spillway late Saturday. No mention of whether or not the boat was occupied.

They can get a pretty strong current for sure. We kayak down a river in Tennessee below the dam and when they are generating it rises very quickly and you get to moving pretty good several miles down steam and that’s when they aren’t doing much generating. They open the flood gates and it really gets crazy. I’ve been on the Tennessee river but north of where they were, around where I-40 crosses so I’m not that familiar with that area. I grew up more in the eastern half of Tennessee, we didn’t get near the dam when the flood gates were open for this exact reason.

Somebody with some experience on that system help me here....I"ve never been to Lake Pickwick and have no experience with river systems.

From everything I've read, the tournament was on Lake Pickwick. Their boat was found in Savannah, TN. I saw somewhere it said they tournament was held at Pickwick State Park, which is close to the north dam of Lake Pickwick.

What am am I missing? Savannah, TN is NORTH of Lake Pickwick. I know the boat didn't go upriver.

The river flows south to north. Wilson feeds Pickwick so it runs east to west then turns north to the Pickwick dam.

I had no idea. Now it makes sense to me. Thanks.

Someone posted on link on BBC that said it had 3 people onboard when it went over.

I read today that cameras saw the boat as it was going into the dam area. That was between 8:00 and 8:30 Saturday morning. According to another article, the tournament was held out of Pickwick State Park which is right there at the dam. So I would think the current is pretty strong right there at the ramp.

https://www.jacksonsun.com/story/ne...continues-tennessee-students/4865908002/

The dam was letting out 230,000 cfs. That's a ton of water. What a sad deal.

They’ve cut it back to allow boats downstream search the area more easily.

https://www.courieranywhere.com/202...l-fishing-team-still-a-rescue-operation/

If the boat was found 15 miles downstream no telling how far a body would go

My prayers go out to the family and friends. We don't know what happened on that boat and more than likely we never will. I pray that they find them alive and well. The Man upstairs may have decided that these three had earned their wings and it was time to call them home. No one to blame or point fingers at, say a prayer!

Looking at pictures of the dam, is it possible for a boat to go over the dam? I thought i read where the boat was sucked under and passed through the dam?

Videos from the launch looked like current wasnt terrible. Do these lakes sound some type of audible alarm before opening floodgates and catching people by surprise?

Wonder how long it takes to close the flood gates and if dam should ve manned when flood gates are open?

I understand in some cases operator error may put people in danger themselves, but breakdowns can also happen suddenly without warning.

Not placing blame on anyone just thinking how things like this may be prevented, besides boaters making better decisions.

Pictures I seen must have been before gates were fully open. There is just no telling how far downstream those poor people are. Man I hate this for them and their family.

I know the Corp Of Engineers post exact generating times and the level of generation. We look at it when kayaking in Tennessee. I believe they used to sound a horn prior to generating on the lake I grew up fishing in Tennessee. Looking at video posted by the TWRA and local news the current was very strong where they were.

Prayers sent, hard way to lose a child.

Very sad news! Prayers up to the families and friends of the victims. Hope they can get some closer soon! The Lord Jesus Christ has control!

That statement tells me that you have ZERO idea what people in the TVA system have to deal with around these dams. They are DEADLY if you don't know how to handle them. I fished the TVA system for 45 or more years. You either give these places their respect or you pay the price.

Exactly, the dams around here, at least the ones I’ve seen, are completely different than what I experienced in Tennessee.

Just looking at that scares the **** out of me, wouldn't want to be anywhere near that! I can see major problems with a dead motor. Seems like there should be a tire reef or something to keep boats from being sucked over that thing!

They can only do so much. When it floods whatever they had put as the barrier could be washed into/over the dam as well. Anglers will always push the limits. I've seen guys fish near dams and leave their big motors running just in case they had to engage and get away quick. And yes usually alarms/horns are sounded in advance of water being released but in this case they were constantly releasing to prevent more flooding so you already knew the conditions.

I'm still hoping for the best but it's getting to be several days now. And with how far the boat made it before being found doesn't bode well. With the video showing the boat going over could it tell of the anglers were still on board at that time? Wouldn't it have driven someone who saw that footage to contact authorities at that time as well?

Hmmmm, they flow upwards of half a million gallons a second through those areas at times, what kind of "tire reef or something" could hold up to that kind of water flow?

TWRA said all three were in the boat when it went over the spillway. Of course someone would have contacted authorities. But I don't think those cameras are actively monitored 24/7.

You Sir, got it right. Still praying, but no one to point fingers at or blame.

Well, we know that the big motor wasn't working. We know that they went out and tried to fish with only the trolling motor. We know that they launched by the dam where the TVA was releasing 230,000 cfs. We know that the chaperone is on board to operate the boat and insure the safety of their anglers. I'm not assigning blame but I'm sure not going to stick my head in the sand about the obvious.

Same thing coming out of KY/Barkley, those rivers flow north till they hit the Ohio

I'm thinking the same thing.. I understand the thought of teaching them to not give up, but I wouldn't head out without main power because of situations like this.

Has anything new popped up yet? I don't feel like reading through 7 pages

Not yet.

Back in 2017, two boaters died after going through the Pickwick spillway. Sounds like a very dangerous place to be when they are releasing water.

Thanks Fouzman for the clarification. I must have missed that part. I wouldn't want to see that video... :-( :-(

I cant imagine. What a terrible way to go.

I agree, Barrett.

Anyone who has seen these spillways on most TVA dams will understand the dramatic situation that this is. The water churns so quickly and with such force that it can be impossible to get away from the boiling area. I have (back when I was stupid) gotten far too close to the downstream flow and it is unbelievable how fast the water moves and how unpredictable the direction of flow can be as it whirlpools around.

Such a tragic event. Apparently, a reason for the late notification was a miscommunication between the kids. Parents thought the kids were spending the night with the other.
Second video talks about that. I cannot imagine the horror that they went through.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee...ents-chaperone-missing-on-pickwick-lake/

I know from first hand experience the current on the river lakes are deceiving. I was on Guntersville a few years back around mid lake and the gates were open. I was in a shallow area punching mats and had the pp down.
the amount of grass that had piled up on the poles and motor within 5 minutes was unbelievable.

These are the kind of tragic events that are going to make our fishable water even smaller. You have to use common sense. It is terrible for all families involved but you can't help but think this could have been avoided with a little precaution and sensible thinking. Pray for them and their families. It doesn't look good.

Recovery effort, now.

https://wreg.com/news/officials-sea...on-pickwick-lake-now-a-recovery-mission/

I wouldn't have known any better. Super sad. I can see how a dad would want to get out on the water with the kids after being ready for the tournament.

Chris they have been in recovery mode for a lot longer than they announced publicly.

We don't try and call it like it is for a while, for the sake of the friends and family.

Sometimes the sad truth of reality hurts!

Just hard to understand how once the current started pulling them they didn't use the trolling motor to get them to shore or to the lock.

they were releasing @ 230,000 fps

that's a lot of current for a trolling motor

I can definitely understand that, I can't talk without being there. But anytime I have had engine trouble, I try to keep myself from going out and just cut my losses because of the fear of something like this. Whether it be caught in a lightning storm/high winds with no motor or being caught in a good current. I pray to God they find these 3 alive

x2! You'd be suprised even what little current can do to boat.. Fishing down here in the SE Texas bays, if there's a good strong outgoing tide, that current can even stop the boat with outboard at idle. I know that's nowhere near what 230,000fps is, but it's a good scale. That current ain't no joke

I knew that buddy. It was a recovery effort the first day they began looking.

Just reading. Very sad. Prayers for all involved.

Chris, as I have already said ...... People that haven't witnessed TVA discharges just can't imagine the power and force of the current when the gates are open. Even a strong 36v motor would have a very difficult time holding it's own when within 100 yards or so of the gates.

I still have to wonder why they didn't abandon the boat immediately and take their chances swimming at an angle to the flow with the idea of getting to something that would allow them to get a handhold and at least have the possibility of being seen or heard. Their life jackets might have made this a do-able task.

But it's easy to speculate after-the-fact.

A lot of people don’t know to swim at an angle in current that is sweeping you away. A lot of people also panic and don’t think to do what they know is their best option.

Very sad

So terribly sad. I wonder about phone service in the area around the dam? Praying for the families of those missing.

This. In summer of 79 I was working on Inks lake mainly teaching water skiing at a camp there. Lady was pulling her husband on skis with no watcher. She drives over the damn and he releases just as the boat goes over. He's waving, etc... but if he'd have just dropped she'd have naturally swung the boat around to pick him up. Again, hard to think clearly in life and death situations. Probably the most sickening feeling I've ever had the next morning as you can see the boat 50' below smashed on the rocks from the top of the damn. I'm thinking so easily avoided but would I have thought it all through if I'm the husband in that situation? Just pray none of us are ever in a boating situation like that.

There is so much speculation and ideas about what happened and what they should have done. To me it is very apparent that the adult had no clue or lack of knowledge about the current. Did he even know how much water was being released. As far as what they should have done when the current got them. You have an adult and parent of 1 of the boys in the boat and the 2 boys. To me it was sheer panic and fear that probably swept over them. They were inexperienced and had no emergency plan or any knowledge on what to do. It's not something that you practice for. And it could have happened so fast they didnt have time to think. The fear one gets thinking they are about to die causes total panic. From here forward any tournament on this lake should include that this area is off limits due to water release. This info should have been shared at the meeting before the tournament.

How they were allowed to fish within miles of that thing is unreal. You wouldn't catch me anywhere within sight of that sucker and thats with a working big motor, Tm and prob a buddy boat close by. Water is scary.

I have so many questions, because it seemed like there were several ways this could have been avoided. I am not placing blame, I’m just wondering if the obvious was mentioned, like an announcement that they were releasing water and to avoid the area during the tournament meeting. Again, not assigning blame on anyone else, and maybe it was just a poor decision/negligence/mistake on the captain’s part.

I’m thinking the water temperature in a current that fast would be next to freezing. I don’t know what I would do with no visual of the area but I’m not jumping in.

Maybe they thought the dam operator would see them and close the gates or send a rescue boat.

I'm very aware of how strong the current was. It was a tragic cascade of errors.

A lot of assumptions here.

Sure is a bad situation
Prayers to the families of everyone involved

When my kids were in HS, whatever they were passionate about I got involved in. Volleyball for my daughter and ag mechanics and shotgun shooting team for my son. I did not fully understand any of those things until they got involved and then trying to be a good Dad I learned all I could, pitched in where I could, learned to coach shotgun shooting ect.. I was no expert at any of it. When I have been on the water when a HS tourney is going on, this seems to be the case to me more often than not. Good parents trying to support HS kids, go buy a boat, learn what they can, volunteer to captain a team, have very little if any experience fishing or boating, they are just trying to help and support their kids. My pure speculation is this was this parents situation and he just did not fully understand the danger involved. Anyway, I do not judge or blame anyone, I pray to our Father in Heaven for closure for the families and friends of these good people! Tragic!

My condolences to all those effected.

Welll said. I do wonder what the dads experience level was and it could most definitely happen to the very experienced and the inexperienced. Stratos was a very popular boat when I lived in Tennessee growing up and were made close by. Lots of owners still have them and have owned them for years and of course many have been sold time after time. No matter what the experience level was we could all learn from this tragedy and reevaluate our own decisions. I know I’ve pushed my limits on some of the decisions I've made on the water.

I hope the family can find some type of closure soon though I know their life will never be the same. I can’t imagine what they are going through. No doubt, high school fishing will change some, hopefully it’ll be a little safer, and future lives will be saved.

Amen

AMEN!!!!!!

I could not imagine the pain. Probably a dumb question but are the not buoys blocking the dam?

Probably wouldn't work there the water level fluctuates massively