Lets discuss tail water safety

I just got back from a 10 night trip to Lake Cumberland, we stayed at the campground below the Wolf Creek dam. Had so much fun, we were supposed to leave after 7 nights and decided to stay an extra 3. Because...why not?

I had a great time fishing for trout in the Wolf Creek Dam tail waters. Caught a bunch of nice 1.5 - 2lb rainbows, some browns, and even a striper.

However, there was a guy I kept seeing who REALLY bothered me.

Here he and his wife are:


The first time I saw them, they didn't even have life jackets. They got ticketed, and I actually ran into them at the bait shop while they were buying jackets. Then you could hear him complaining about it the entire time, he was so loud I could hear him all up and down the river.

He'd get RIGHT up near the generator output in a tiny aluminum boat that just wasn't designed for those kinds of waters.

So. Be CAREFUL people. I don't want to see you be a statistic.

2 weeks ago, a guy died in that exact spot from doing that exact same stupid stuff. No jacket, too small of boat.

... and this year's Darwin Award goes to ...

Sometimes you just have to wonder how some people make it as far as they do. I am surprised they don't have a barrier up to keep people away but, it may be because it would not hold up to the water pressure when they open the dam up.

When I was a kid we sometimes went with neighbors fishing on the Mississippi. We often fished below lock and dam #4, particularly near the lock entrance/exit. The turbulence created at the downstream end of the lock was good for fishing but could get very squirrely very quickly when the lock was emptying. Moving away for a few minutes generally took care of the safety concern but once the anchor caught in the rocks. The water came out so quickly that the front of the boat was actually being pulled down from the stuck anchor. Luckily there was a pocket knife handy to cut the rope. You could argue that as kids we might not have known better. The adult neighbors however should have. Scared the hell out of me and scares me still more than 50 years later. Rivers can be dangerous, particularly so in locations like below dams where currents can be strong.

The dam close to me has a marker/imaginary line that you are not supposed to cross to fish close to the dam. If you do you will be ticketed. You can power up to the dam but can not anchor close to it. There is a lock you can use so you can power up to it obviously.

you couldnt pay me enough to get that close in a boat. everywhere around here has buoys around the tail water.

Our local dam has signage, warning lights and sirens. Still people tie off to the spill way. One aluminum was crushed, and there were fatalities among the passengers. The wrecked hull was made into part of the new warning sign. Still people tie off to the spillway. :roll:

surfman said:

Sometimes you just have to wonder how some people make it as far as they do. I am surprised they don't have a barrier up to keep people away but, it may be because it would not hold up to the water pressure when they open the dam up.

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Very simple to have a floating boom which gets pulled in before they release. If you are on the other side of the boom you get a ticket.

There are plenty of places to fish. Why risk injury, death, or even loss of boat. I would rather be skunked than dunked!

Yup see it all the time here.

There is a process called "natural selection". Rids the world of ignorance, if you let it run it's course.

turbotodd said:

Yup see it all the time here.

There is a process called "natural selection". Rids the world of ignorance, if you let it run it's course.

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Very true!

I live in Somerset, KY and frequent Lake Cumberland multiple times per week. What you are seeing is nothing out of the ordinary this time of year. I know a big group of guys who hit up the tail waters in kayaks but are always careful to check with the schedule at the dam before leaving town.

My imagination is too active to be hanging around in a place like that in the OP's photo.

One of the lakes I frequent has one of these as an overflow. During the drought it was well up out of the water. This year it is operating again. Can't get near it because of a floating barrier but it still freaks me out when I am trolling around anywhere near the dam where I can see this thing.

LDUBS said:

My imagination is too active to be hanging around in a place like that in the OP's photo.

One of the lakes I frequent has one of these as an overflow. During the drought it was well up out of the water. This year it is operating again. Can't get near it because of a floating barrier but it still freaks me out when I am trolling around anywhere near the dam where I can see this thing.

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That thing would scare the cr@p out of me!! It's like the funnel of death!

edwonbass said:

LDUBS said:

My imagination is too active to be hanging around in a place like that in the OP's photo.

One of the lakes I frequent has one of these as an overflow. During the drought it was well up out of the water. This year it is operating again. Can't get near it because of a floating barrier but it still freaks me out when I am trolling around anywhere near the dam where I can see this thing.

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That thing would scare the cr@p out of me!! It's like the funnel of death!

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I agree. It gives me the creeps. It is about 70' across. Last Thursday it was slightly above the water level. The boom and warning buoys are pretty far away and someone would have to be pretty dumb to get anywhere near it. This thing hasn't had to deal with any overflow for years. The photo I sent was from Feb of this year.