A lot of people would have stayed off the water for at least a week if they were involved in the type of horrifying boat accident that befell Gabe Bolivar at the recent Columbia River FLW Series. But the Californian makes his living in a high-powered bass rig, and he was in the passenger's seat Sunday as friend Kevin Hawk chauffeured him around the California Delta.
"I couldn't drive – my right leg's stiff like a pole," he said. "But I felt it was important to get back out there as soon as possible.
"It was kind of scary, but I did it. We were down by Discovery Bay and there were some memorials and crosses up on the levies. That was spooky."
He hopes to compete on that same body of water in just a little more than 2 weeks, when the Western Series wraps up its season there with a tournament that was relocated from Lake Shasta due to low water.
"I'm real sore, but it's nothing life-threatening or anything that I plan to let set me back. I have every intention of fishing in that next tournament if I can get everything repaired."
Conditions were Ideal
Bolivar said he couldn't comment on the cause of the accident because an official investigation is ongoing. It occurred shortly after he and co-angler Kirk Beardsley passed through the McNary Lock on day 1. He remembers looking at his GPS unit and noting that the boat was traveling at 73.5 mph.
"Conditions were great," he said. "The water was flat and greasy-calm, and there was no sign that anything bad was about to happen. There wasn't even a ripple on the surface."
Pro Pete Krause of Sunnyside, Wash. and his co-angler, Aaron Reitz, were running right next to Bolivar's boat and watched the incident unfold.
"(Bolivar's boat) made a 90-degree turn to the left and he lost control of it, and then we saw both of them fly out," Krause said. "It was awful."
Bolivar recalls most of the sequence of events.
"When I flew out of the boat, I'm pretty sure my leg went through the windshield of the console and that's why it was cut up. Then my head bounced off the passenger-side gunnel (resulting in a concussion).
"I remember skipping across the water and my only thought was I was going to be killed. Then I was underwater for a split second and my life jacket (inflated) and my head came up. I started moving my arms and legs and I was surprised everything was working. I paddled back to the boat and pulled myself in, and then I pulled Kirk in.
"Then we both collapsed," he noted, "and Pete took over from there."
Odd Reunion
Ironically, Bolivar and Krause had just become reacquainted a day earlier at the registration meeting after having no contact with each other for 5 or 6 years. They'd been paired together at a BASS event back then.
"We'd caught a bunch of fish and just had a great day," Bolivar said. "I went up to him at the meeting and asked, 'Do you remember me?' He said, 'Yeah, you were just a kid who didn't know what to do back when we fished together, and now you're famous.'''
Bolivar and Beardsley were pretty shaken up when Krause and Reitz arrived at their boat. Krause called 911 and, being familiar with the area, knew the best takeout point would be at Crow Butte Marina. It took about 20 minutes to get there.
"Those guys were on the ball, and they pretty much threw away their whole tournament to help us," Bolivar said of the duo in the other boat. "They'd paid their entry fees and hadn't even gotten a chance to fish yet."
The two injured anglers were taken to a hospital via ambulance, where Bolivar underwent a CT scan and received stitches for several cuts. Beardsley, despite feeling the hull of the boat go across his back, suffered lesser injuries.
"Kirk's a heck of a trooper," Bolivar said. "He's called me every day to make sure I'm still kicking."
Uncertain Future
Bolivar knows he won't be able to completely put the incident behind him and go on with business as usual. He knows there will be future ramifications, but he's unsure what they'll be.
The former motocross competitor has had plenty of experience in becoming separated from his ride at high speeds, but this was different from any dirt-bike crash.
"It was pretty traumatic, to be honest with you," he said. "It's so hard to say exactly what it felt like, and when I think about it I get kind of choked up.
"It was a life-changing experience and I really don't know how it's going to affect me down the road. It really puts things in perspective as far as what's important and what isn't. You realize who your friends are, and even though you might have lost contact with some of them for awhile, it's good to find out there are people out there who actually care."
Notable
> The 32-year-old Bolivar, who recently moved from Phoenix to Oceanside, Calif., finished 32nd in this year's FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) race. He was 5th last year and 7th in 2006.
> His life jacket was a Mustang inflatable PFD (personal flotation device). "I have nothing but good to say about that thing."
> Krause ended up finishing 118th in a 122-angler field with five fish for 8-00 over 3 days. On the co-angler side, Reitz was 73rd with seven fish for 11-03. "It was pretty tough to fish after that," Krause said. "That was the first time I'd ever seen something like that, and you expect the worst."
> The accident was the second at a Western FLW Series event this year. In March, California legend Gary Dobyns was ejected from his boat during practice for a tournament at the Delta.
