Alan Burgmuller, Andy Rubic and Bill Stroud recover a capsized clackacraft in the Bitterroot River at Victor, Crossing on April 18, 2011. I came on the scene at about 11:30 am and took my last photo at 1:59 pm. They had been working for a while before I got there. As luck had it, construction on Hwy 93 had the Victor Crossing bridge closed to through traffic that day until 2:00 and it gave them the opportunity to work off the bridge more safely.
I don't know who or how many were in the boat. I was told the accident occurred late in the day on Sunday, April 17 and that they had a life-threatening experience. I do know that when the boat came up, the built in dry-boxes were securely latched and contained life jackets. One life jacket was buckled around one of the seats. Oars and rods were lost. In the dry boxes (which were filled with water) we found a camera, coats (life Jackets like I said earlier), a phone, and a wallet. That is how Alan was able to call the owner, I think. The boat didn't seem too badly damaged. The casting bench or knee bench (I am not sure what it is called) was detached or pulled off the boat on one of the sides. That might have happened when it was being retrieved....not sure.
I am not sure what model the Clackacraft was but it probably weighed between 245 pounds and 270 pounds. Add to that the water and the hydraulics pressure...heavy.
The boat was a fishing boat. The miscellaneous photos are hatches of bugs that fish eat. As the crew worked, there was a lot of time between shots and so...I photographed the "hatches." and a Dipper (bird). What it says, the fishing was good. Too bad we were working instead of fishing!
Be careful out there and if I were you, I would be wearing my life jacket.