I was gone all weekend but read Sunday's Peninsula Daily news today and saw a picture in there of a boat sunk on the Sol Duc Friday morning. Anyone know what happened? Did they get it out?

Does anyone have the pic? If so please post it.
What float were they on? More details might prevent this in the furture.
Be safe all.....NUT

I heard they were on the hatchery drift (there is some bad water here). They made it out ok, even collected their gear. The bad day got worse though when they hiked out to get help, all the recovered gear got stolen. Unbelievable....
Just what I heard from Tom, the fish checker.

I'm not going to answer on going questions or get sucked into a heated debate. Here are the facts.

Some friends of mine, who wish to remain nameless, put the bow of their boat up on a rock in the rapids below the hatchery. The stern stuck spinning off of it and they took water over the side behide the rowers seat: The classic case. They got out safe and their gear was left in the boat (as the photo in the paper clearly shows).

Since they were up there for two more days, they wanted to fish the following day and deal with the boat on Sunday. I hooked them up with guide, Pat Gram, on Saturday. They had an excellent trip (thanks again Pat), and they came back to the accident that evening to formulate a game plan for salvaging their boat.

Long story short, the boat was pulled off the rocks while they watched by Jack Kirkland of Forks, who when confronted by my friends claimed salvage rights to the boat. [salvage rights are only legal after 72 hours on rivers]. See my lawyer was Mr. Kirklands congenial responce. Well, through a network of friends in Forks, who shall also remain nameless, we found out where Mr. Kirkland lived. I then escorted a Clallam County Sheriff to his residence and in a very ugly confrontation, confiscated the boat back.

It was locked in Kirklands shop. It was striped of the seats, anchor, oars, ropes, etc. The rods and tackle that were lodged under the seat or locked in the compartments were gone. Mr. Kirkland said the boat was empty when he found it. BULL****. This man is a common thief. I passed him on the riverbank in my boat at dawn Saturday morning and he already had a flashlight in hand scoping out the submerged boat.

If there is anyone in Forks who knows the whereabouts of any my friends gear (Cataract oars, rods, reels etc.), They would greatly appreciate its return. I submit you need look no further than the band of pirates down there on Storman Norman Road (Kirkland had several people in the hood helping him).

The last thing I want to say is thank you to the guys that took an hour out of your fishing day to get my friends safely to shore. That is what fishing camaraderie is all about. To the guys that floated by laughing while they were stranded, your day is comming.

WOW!

Please let us know if and how this story ultimately ends.

Obviously the thief knew he was in the wrong or he wouldn't have bothered to strip the boat.

By the time I went by at 9:00 sat every thing was already stripped out. The boat was lying in the path for dropping down into the main slot, definitely a cold thing to do stealing all the guys stuff but I have to wonder why they decided to wait two days to salvage the boat. If it was my gear I'd get it out the same day if possible.

It's easy read the above account and say what you would have done. These guys dumped their boat, swam for there life, got no help from a hostile neighborhood and walked several miles to and down highway 101 to get someone to come and get them. It was evening by the time they got dried off. The quickest they could get back was the next morning and that is what they did. Pat Gram took them down the same stretch of river and had their gear still been in the boat at that time, they would have grabbed it.

I said above I did not want to lauch a 50 thread diatribe on this event. Please respect that. My friends feel bad enough. I felt it was important, however, to let people know what happened in case any of their gear surfaces and to set the story straight.

Wow. That sucks.

If it were me, I'd have the police take down the report, write up all witnesses, and/or parties involved, especially this Jack Kirkland, and fire that off to my insurance company. I'd claim a loss on everything. I'd let the insurance company go fight for their money.

Given the police report, it wouldn't surprise me if the insurance company pursues Jack Kirkland.

Hopefully your friends have insurance. Sounds like a good time to cash in the chips and get everything replaced.

Isn't that sort of loss covered by homeowner's insurance?

When my partner lost his and my fishing equipment out of his boat while moored in a marina, his homeowner's insurance covered it all.

Unless their is an itemized rider most HO polocies just cover for $2000 - the deduct generally $250. So it is smart to have riders on all your fun stuff.

Give my condolences to your friends Sol on the Duc. That sucks. If I ever run into that Jack Kirkland, I'll make sure he knows that I will never fish around a thief or a pathetic lousy excuse of a kind american citizen like that.
You said it all, " there day is coming". Good day and tight lines everybody.

jack better thank god this isnt the old days.sounds like a hanging crime to me.