Young boys out in a boat on the Clack.....

[Degner]

I could think of a lot of worse things they could be doing.

[Fisherfield]

c'mon...a tube or raft is different..they can take some abuse for an inexperienced captain.... Maybe I'm super sensative about the kids now that I have one...just want to make good choices for her.

[FastAction]

I use to do the Lower Yakima in inner tubes... young as I can remember.. I know young boys who handle driftboats on the Kalama... Some parents are very comfortable letting the young teens boat rivers, especially if those kids have grown up on those rivers... I grew up on one.. its not so uncommon

[foxer]

I remember floating from Mciver down to Barton in an innertube many times when I was a teenager. Went through the upper rapids too. As long as those kids were wearing PFD's, I dont see a problem if the parents feel the kid is competent.

[CohoClint]

im only 16 ,me and my friends drift the clack often but i live by the sandy so i stick to there but my parents would not let me drift when i was 13 i was only alowed to drift whe i turned 15 so i think 13 is still a little young.

[FISH EYED FOOL]

if these kids are anything like i was at 13 the parents were at work and did not know.

[wetaline]

It all depends on the environment you grow up in, and the river hours you have... I was doing a lot w/ power boats by myself at age 13... Heck the day i got my drivers lic - i pulled the boat to the launch by myself and away i went....

true though - this type of activity would only be for those that grew up w/ hands on experience... and i guess now w/ the new oregon boating laws for power boats - for only those that are at a specific age and have passed the appropriate tests

[Bounty Hunter]

The Oregon Boating card only applies if you are operating 10 hp or more.

Those kids are fine. If they flip the worse that will happen is they will lose the boat and gear. They are young enough to swim to shore or ride the current out. If it was four old, out of shape, beer-gutted ifishers, then I would be worried. :wink:

[Salmon Stryker]

Yes, I agree with Wetaline. It depends on how responsible the kids are. When I was 14 and my cousin 13 my dad pulled our 16ft fiberglass boat with 50hp motor up to Detroit Lake, launched us and went home. My cousin and I spent 3 days camping on the Island, fishing, and waterskiing. That was a blast and made us feel pretty grown up. We were pretty responsible kids though and dad had spent a lot of time teaching me the in and outs of water safety and boat operation as well as maintenance if something went wrong. Now days I think it would be illegal for kids that age to do that kind of stuff.

[Salmon Loser]

I think it all depends on the kid and how responsable they are. Hopefully someone has spent some time with them on water safty. I know I spent alot of time when I was a kid floating the yakima fishing for trout and white fish and some of those days were the best times of my life.

[ 06-05-2003, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Salmon Loser ]

[Grant Scheele]

I was 13 the first time that my dad sent me and a friend down the N. Santiam by myself in a driftboat. Even hooked and lost a summer steelhead.

To be fair. I had many hours on the sticks with my dad in the boat not to mention many days floating the same section in inner tubes and rubber rafts.

Yes, times have changed and I don't think that I will be able to talk my wife into letting my kids do the same things but I sure had a blast doing them.

Those kids were probalby just fine but you(fisherfield) were correct in keeping an eye on them. What is the saying, "It takes a fleet to raise a sailor" something like that. :wink:

[The Overfishin Condition]

At age 16, reeltrouble and I would go out on the Big C by ourselves. I know a kid on the Kalama who is 12 and takes his 11 year old brother around fishing, but again, he grew up on the river, is probably more compotent on it than most others out there. Reeltrouble and I are both 18 now, we still get dirty looks from hogliners thinking we're 'bout to screw something up, maybe cause we're in a ski boat. But we anchor, fish, and catch with the best of them. However, the question was pertaining to kids who didn't know the river obviously and were not practicing safe boating habits, I would discourage this. My uncle saw the 12 year old kalama kid screwing around a little one day and confronted him about it. He asked the kid if he thought he'd be able to swim to shore if he had to, the kid said yes, so Uncle Mo told him to put his arm in the water for a minute, when he pulled it out, he was having some serious problems moving it. If they are catious and aware, they're fine. TOC.

[The Fishing Geek]

The Clackamas river is a rough body of water for even the experienced boater. Having kids out in a metal boat on the Clack, ESPECIALLY this time of year, is irresponsible.

[bob'r down]

Although I did not see this AND the Clack can be a dangerous river, the Carver "Pool" is a pretty tame stretch and the problem they got into was too shallow of water. Probably not smart but heck, I was pulling water skiers in my dads 18' Glastron and driving a 8' Hydroplane when I was 13 on the Willamette.

Grant Scheele said it right. Nowadays probably can't get away with it anymore but didn't we have fun and still live to tell the stories graemlins/dork.gif

Gotta learn sometime

[KingFisher85]

FISH EYED FOOL
Same thing here :grin:

Oh the good ol days, me and my buddies taking off at 6 in the morning, 10 min after Mom leaves the house and we take off on bikes on a 18 mile bike ride one way up into Canyon Creek. Oh yea, that was a smart one.
Then a few years ago, got up and just took off down to the NFL after winter steelhead at about 8:30 at night, no a smart thing to do. Well, hey, sure did good on the fish but that did not float by with Mom very well.
I pulled that one a few times before I really got my *** chewed out!
I have a few more stories but you don't need to know them. :rolleyes:

[ampersat]

let's read the tea leaves:
1. they were young, therefore they lack the wisdom to know that what they were doing was possibly dangerous.
2. it's pretty obvious that no one taught them proper use of a boat because people were actually standing up in that tiny little tin can.
3. they didn't know the water they were in otherwise they wouldn't have been where they were and popped the prop the way they did.

these are the kinds of kids you hear about in the news. they were lucky that things didn't go worse for them. now i know why summer steelheading is a "first light" affair. sure, you can catch fish in midday (believe it or not) but who wants to put up with all the antics?

[wambam]

ah get over it you got to cleanse the gene pool somehow :laugh:

[Flatfish]

I was running a driftboat at 13. Younger than that I was hunting and fishing alone and with my buddies. I suppose we could have got hurt. But I figure it is safer for a kid to hunt and fish than it is to get bored. I got into a lot of trouble when I was bored. I was never bored with a fishing pole in hand.

Mark and the dog.

[Fisherfield]

I floated the Clackamas with a friend on Sunday...from Barton to Riverside. While fishing the Carver area, we noticed a small (12foot aluminum) boat with 4 boys in it...the oldest say 13.... My friend and I were fishing the hole when my friend yells out to these kids "hey..the water is super shallow over there...you might want to get back over to this side of the river.." with that..the engine operator takes a look over and see's just how shallow the water is...then...boom..they stop..prop still in the water. The operator tries and tries to get the prop up..and finally gets it up out of the water. They sat there...stuck for 5 minutes or so. One of the boys jumps out and starts pulling the boat into the middle of the river. The other 3 were STANDING looking over the side...trying to not get wet and at the same time...get the boat free. It finally hapened and they were floating again.... The reason I bring this up?? What the heck were the parents thinking....sure son..you are only 13...but I don't have a problem letting you take your 3 buddies out on the water... Bad judgement on the parents and kids IMHO. There are enough dangers in the world....

[Thumper]

I guess times have changed. We were floating the East Fork Lewis on air mattresses and inner tubes at the age of 9. Nobody much cared.

[greenbuttskunk]

I launched out of clackamette tues eve. around 4:30 and there where 4 grown men who jumped into a
10 semi-vee, very small shallow one. A 2 hp kicker and away then went up river. About 5" of freeboard. One jetboat wake past them and they would be in trouble I thought. I've never seen anything like it! Hope they got back safe and sound, heck maybe they outfished me. :wink:

[ 06-06-2003, 07:48 AM: Message edited by: greenbuttskunk ]

[Fisherfield]

So I guess the moral of the story...BE CAREFULL...No matter how old or experienced you are...

[CATCH AND EAT]

Seen adults do alot worse. For example during flotilla 2.5 on the clack a boat full of "never fished the clack before" men must of heard about the abundant steelhead. They were fishing an older glass tri-hull at carver. Guess the fishing must of been better down stream because off they went. Sheriff pulled them up the ramp at riverside park. Must have had an outdrive problem. :wink: .

Point is young or old used good judgement. If they had PFD's on they may learn the hard way but they will learn. I have ben stuck on the Clack a few times too and I run the thing alot during steelhead season. Everybody makes mistakes. 13 does seem young but it's up to the parents to decide. Glad you were looking out for them. :cheers:

[Chrome Bumper]

The little Brats! They were 'sposed to mow the lawn. Said they worked on the mower all day but couldn't get it running!

Just kidding, hope they had PDFs. Where were the folks, watching from a chase boat I hope.

Hey wait a minute, don't ya gotta be 16 to run a motor boat since Jan 1? Dumb law, my 12 year old is well seasoned and could run rings around and out dock 80% of the operators out there, but I think it is on the books.

(Edit: Under 10 HP doesn't need a boater's card? Guess that puts me in the market for a littler boat.)

[ 06-07-2003, 04:00 AM: Message edited by: Chrome Bumper ]

[ampersat]

from the oregon marine board site:
People 30 and younger now need to carry a boater education card when operating powerboats greater than 10 hp. Youth 12-15 also need a boater education card when operating any size powerboat, even, for example, an electric-powered canoe. <font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">i got my cert card from www.boatsafe.com (http://www.boatsafe.com) in one day. do i remember most of what i was tested on? not anymore. do i remember some of the more important stuff. yes. in fact, i just looked over the course list and i do remember a lot of what i learned. even if you're too old to have to worry about getting certed anytime soon, there's still some good info that'll make it worth your time. it taught me how to parallel park a boat, which i did quite well at garibaldi last year without ever having run an outboard before in my life!