Prayer sent. Anyone heard what happen. This is all the info I’ve seen?
https://www.facebook.com/share/18n65XPpTk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

We were talking about this. Do these guys have to have an adult on board? I think around here they do

I know the Stanley boy. Pretty sure he graduated high school last year.

Just got off the phone with Robert's granddad. Let's just say that Robert is pretty lucky, all things considering.

I'm not going to list his injuries here, as it's not my place. He is conscious, off the breathing tube, and able to eat soft foods.

At this point, it appears that a hydraulic steering line ruptured, and caused the boat to hook.

Also not my place to comment on the two boys in the boat with him, but it sounds like Robert got the worst end of the deal.

So when hydraulic steering on a bot fails, is it typically instant and with no warning? That seems like a really dangerous design flaw if so….

Prayers for them. I know a guy that about got killed from a hydraulic line busting, back about 5 years ago.

Most failures I've seen are because the seals have been leaking and not maintained. It lets air in the system and causes the motor to flop around. However, just a straight up rupture, no. It would be hard to know it was going to happen.

Dang. I have honestly never heard of this happening

Bad news. Being on or in the water is dangerous. I don’t think fishing should be a high school “sport”. They’ve lost 3 when a boat went over the dam last year or the year before. That was horrible to read about.

My wife is good friends and works with the mom of one of the boys... she's on the phone now with someone talking about it

It's amazing kids don't die yearly in highschool bass fishing. I can't think of anything much more dangerous. I get asked often to boat captain and I just say no. No way I am having someone else's child in a boat with me with 300 other boats I know nothing about running 70 all around me. Glad everyone is gonna pull through and hopefully no other injuries this yr!

Dangerous having tournaments at various lakes all over the state that anglers don’t know well. Knowing most are going to be wide open when the tournament starts either way. Got a buddy that captains for his son that destroyed 2 props in 2024 fishing lakes he didn’t know well.

Seen some of the college guys running wide open over bars 1 to 2 foot deep in spots that frequently change due to current and wind etc. They had no idea the sand bars were there. Saw one dude run wide open through a stump flat that he obviously wasn't aware of all the stumps just under the water. Held my breath and luckily did not see anyone hurt. Those dudes were running wide open everywhere they went. Friggin total chaos. Glad I wasn't part of it.

I saw this too on Pickwick. I was waving both arms to get the guy to come off pad. I dont think he realized what he did. Good lord was looking after him is all I know. I told my buddy in the back to get his life jacket on were about to have to pull them out of the water. I still dont know how they made it.

well, if you're gonna run through a "stump flat", there's only 2 ways to do it......idling, or WAO where the prop is barely in the water and hope for the best.

In all seriousness, one of my crappie holes on Lake Tuscaloosa is near a sandbar that is usually only about a foot deep and regularly gets exposed in the summer. I can't count the number of times I've seen boats (bass boats, and even rec boats pulling kids on tubes) fly through there completely oblivious. I hold my breath when someone pulls a tube through that area because if the kids come off at speed, they're probably hitting the bottom. That spot even has a few buoys but folks seem to ignore them

it isn't just when the tournament starts, it's the practice time too. Those folks are moving on Lake Martin, now Martin does do a pretty good job of marking buoys, but you better have good eyesight to see them running as fast as those guys run.

All of the rules of speed near docks, etc. are out the window with those guys/gals, they may ease through a slough fishing, once they are ready to roll, they will blow up a slough/swim area with the best of NASCAR.

Send me a pin of that spot you’re talking about so I’ll know to look out for that sandbar….😁

Oh I could send you a few pins, but they'd all be lies!

Soon as I read this i thought about this video I saw years ago. Apparently their hydraulic steering failed too. Bad stuff for sure.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Akgj...ZSBiYXNzIGJvYXQgc3RlZXJpbmcgZ29lcyBvdXQg