American Christian Academy (ACA) of Tuscaloosa Alabama’s bass fishing team was fishing the 2019 Bassmaster Southern High School Open on Lake Guntersville (Alabama).
Mike Wilkins tells the story on video above of how 295 boats took off that morning. Mike, his son Hunter Williams, and another high school angler, Jackson Elder, ran out about 45 miles that morning. While coming back to a 3:30 pm weigh in at Guntersville State Park, the Mercury 250 horsepower Optimax Pro XS outboard motor struck a submerged object at about 60 miles per hour. He thinks they probably hit a stump. Mike says the outboard flipped up with the propeller being maybe one to two feet above the Power Poles. The team was running a tether. The Leash kept the outboard motor from breaking off all the way off and and flying into the boat on top of them with its propeller still running.
Hunter Wilkins and Jackson Elder of ACA High School Bass Fishing team
As Mike said, it sounded like the propeller was over the back of their heads. They quickly went from Cloud 9 after catching one last nice bass to him looking over to see if everybody was still alive after the collision in which the boat stopped abruptly and turned to the left.
The large Mercury outboard flipped up high and slammed its cowling into the rear deck.
Mike Wilkins talking about The Leash
