I hope the Manatee have a great lawyer!!  

The plaintiff in this case is local to me and several of my close friends know the family quite well. I’ve heard stories about what occurred but have no way of knowing fact from fiction. 
 

However if you watch MLF or BASS live you see anglers running on plane messing with their graphs at speed. My speculation is the boater wasn’t looking at the water in front of him whether it be by distraction or blindly following direction of the on screen GPS to navigate through the area.

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

^ Then just a bit slower so that those 'hiccups' don't put you over the limit....easy enough.

 No one hits the brakes in their car the second they go .1 mph over the speed limit or drive 2-3 mph under just so they do not go over.  You will literally have nobody making it to Sunday unless they go 5 under all the time.  They would be fixated on watching their speed the whole time instead of whats ahead.
 

 

2 hours ago, Bazoo said:

It's a horrible tragedy, but it was most likely an accident. Accidents happen, it's part of life. The lawsuit is not about making a change so everyone else is safer from now on, it's about money. The people that lost loved ones see their chance to never have to work again, and their lawyers are going to do the best they can to make it happen.

Willful negligence is not an accident.  

@A-Jay The pro V has good visibility but does the Capt. have any boating experience. 😂😂😂

 

15 minutes ago, GaryH said:

@A-Jay The pro V has good visibility but does the Capt. have any boating experience. 😂😂😂

 

Operationally I averaged between 800 - 2300 hours a year,

depending on my assignment.

And it was flat, calm, sunny, and warm every time we left the dock  . . . . 

A-Jay

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I hope the Manatee have a great lawyer!!  

They do, the State of Florida 

Good one! And the rest of us Floridians are their security detail! 😅 🤣

My setup is similar to the one @A-Jay posted.  Flush mounted right into the console.

 

I think posting 2 or 3 ginormous screens in front of your face causes serious sight line issues while operating a boat.  Then multiply that risk by going 60 or 70 mph.

 

You wouldn't mount screens in front of your face driving in a car, so why are they mounted like that in a boat?

Heck, I have wondered if they could see anything with the screens there as it appears to be obscuring their view.

4 hours ago, gim said:

My setup is similar to the one @A-Jay posted.  Flush mounted right into the console.

 

I think posting 2 or 3 ginormous screens in front of your face causes serious sight line issues while operating a boat.  Then multiply that risk by going 60 or 70 mph.

 

You wouldn't mount screens in front of your face driving in a car, so why are they mounted like that in a boat?

I absolutely HATE driving my partner’s boat with a single 10 mounted at the top of the console. I am always straining to one side trying to get a better view. I wouldn’t want to try and deal with multiples.

5 hours ago, volzfan59 said:

They do, the State of Florida 

Will they sue themselves?

While watercraft collisions have historically been a top threat, mass starvation due to pollution-fueled seagrass loss and exposure to toxic red tide algae have caused significant, sometimes record-breaking, die-offs in recent years

. 

Boaters (watercraft collisions)

Collisions with boats are one of the leading human-caused threats to manatees, accounting for 17% of all manatee deaths in 2024. A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) study found that 20%–25% of annual manatee deaths were from watercraft collisions over a 10-year period.
 

Red Algae

 

UME

 

Boating is considered a persistent threat to manatees. 
 

However look at the numbers on the number of deaths to the manatee by Red Death.

 

Look at the numbers on starvation=UME

 

The information and the numbers are plentiful on search along with every Florida agency, Several Newspapers reporting the deaths and numbers but it’s not boaters that are killing them solely. 
 

Bassmaster Elite series are not coming to Florida next year. Opens I believe will fish Okeechobee in February 26

 

I don't believe it’s the Elites or MLF that is killing the manatees but the pollution and local boaters. In other more plain language Floridians..

 

I'm out. 

Stay on topic fellas or start another thread all together. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 My personal opinion is that rolling back bass boats would be more effective than limiting technology. I don't see any danger of using FFS or any other sonar to catch fish. The fish will adapt as they have always done. I think fishing out of 21 ft long 250HP boats that run nearly 80mph is not only dangerous but also ignorant. Does it make sense to allow pedestrians on bicycles to ride down our interstates? It's by the grace of our god that more fatalities haven't happened. There needs to be more regulation on what types of boats and what is allowed. Lakes shouldn't be unlimited speed and horsepower. I think a tournament boat should be no more than 18ft with a 150HP. We need to cut back on the egos and use more common sense. Not only is it safer, it also levels the field (which is the whole argument about FFS) and, it also brings it more in line with the common man who likes to tournament fish. A $40K vs. an $80K boat. Manufacturers may even do better with quantity over quality. Use all of the sonar you want, use whatever kind of technology you can get a hold of, we don't need $100,000 rocket ships blasting and running all of our waterways. It's too dangerous. 

I agree with you 100% but the problem is that fishing has been over commercialized.

 

It is profit driven corporations driving it and controlling it. Everywhere you look it is sell, sell, sell.

 

And I truly believe that is what is behind it all.

 

A pro bass fisherman cannot open his mouth without trying to sell us something. They are paid to push products on us all. Bigger, better, faster boats and all the technology, and every product known to mankind is pushed, pushed, pushed.

 

It overflows into every facet of fishing. Top to bottom. We cannot escape it.

 

I agree we need to get back to fishing, and one day hopefully try and remove the over commercialization of it all. Fishing has become money driven and may be found at the core of this case as well. Maybe a case like this one can compel some much needed change. Then again, maybe not.

As I have said, you can’t legislate common sense.  If regulating speed and size was the answer, then there wouldn’t be an automobile made that exceeds the maximum speed limit.  Pretty hard to not get 100mph out of most all vehicles.  That’s not to say that sometime in the future automakers won’t come out with a way to limit a vehicles speed to the posted limit.  My GPS/Android Auto In my truck knows the speed limit and displays it.  It also lets me know when I exceed it.  But I digress.  

In light of the driver being now being charged and the video that came out, my previous assumption based no charges was obviously incorrect.  

 

Looked to be a long stretch of unobstructed water and no visibility issues....

A mistake of youth, it’s unfortunate folks lost their lives.. no redo here. 

Man, that was tough to watch.

Manslaughter is a heavy charge and its appropriate here after seeing the footage. Video is brutal, he hits the boat broadside dead center at over 60mph WOT and on a zoomed-in view you can see one of the deceased being speared by the bow.  Completely clear sunny conditions, no fog, open water. He was almost certainly looking at his graphs or phone, he certainly wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.

 

Hopefully a wake up call for bass anglers in general, you see a lot of guys being way too casual with how they drive their boats. I'm not a huge stickler when it comes to safety stuff and like to have fun in my motorized vehicles, but was shocked when I saw how a lot of bass boat guys operate their rigs when i started getting more into that world.

That video was awful. Awful. Clear as a bell, plenty of space either side, and dead centers them broadside. Just awful.

^ Finally got around to watching the vid myself. I have no doubt that Davis wasn't paying attention to anything other than his screens. And for him to not even have a valid operator's license when it's required puts MLF clearly in the wrong as well.

 

Personally, I hope the families suing MLF win and the organization has to have a major overhaul.

36 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

^ Finally got around to watching the vid myself. I have no doubt that Davis wasn't paying attention to anything other than his screens. And for him to not even have a valid operator's license when it's required puts MLF clearly in the wrong as well.

 

Personally, I hope the families suing MLF win and the organization has to have a major overhaul.

I agree with you Ken.

There must be two cases pending for this case: criminal and civil.  The criminal prosecutor must be seeking manslaughter charges, while the family is seeking monetary compensation through a civil case?

 

Usually that's the been case when a police officer has to utilize deadly force in recent memory.  The criminal charge often goes either way while the civil payout case usually goes in favor of the plaintiff.