PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Wes Logan’s goal Saturday was to catch another 20 pounds on Lake Champlain, like he did on Day 1 of the tournament, and sew up a Bassmaster Classic berth. Instead, Logan was getting sewn up in a local hospital Saturday morning after a freak boating accident on Day 2 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite.
“It was about 8:45 or 9:00, and I had four fish in the boat, and I was running to another spot,” Logan said. “I don’t really know what happened, it all happened so fast. I wasn’t really going that fast, maybe 50 (mph). I came off a wave and all hell broke loose. I hit something. The (250-horsepower outboard) motor came loose, spun me around in a 360 and threw me to the passenger side. My head hit the gunnel, and my chin hit a grab handle.
“I kind of got my bearings about me. I couldn’t really see, there was so much blood all over my face. I could feel how deep the cut was. I knew it wasn’t good. I just kept holding rags on it.”
Logan still doesn’t know exactly what he hit. He was in the middle of Lake Champlain, near the ferryboat crossing. It’s believed there was some part of a dock of walkway that broke loose from shore during Friday’s storm, which postponed Day 2 of the tournament.
There were no other boats around Logan, the 30-year-old seventh-year pro from Springville, Ala. He called B.A.S.S. tournament director Lisa Talmadge, who sent help.
Logan credited the “outboard motor leash” – a cable that wraps around the motor designed to do exactly what it did Saturday – keep the motor from coming forward if it breaks loose from the transom.
“I swear that’s the only reason that motor didn’t come in the boat,” he said. “It came off (the transom) like that – snap.”
An ambulance was waiting for Logan when he got to shore. At the hospital, five stitches were put in a cut near his jawline and 12 stitches closed the gash in his forehead. He’s also got a couple of cracked ribs.
“I was in the hospital about 2 ½ or 3 hours,” he said. “They did some CT scans and stuff that showed everything was clear. I got back and fished for another hour-and-a-half and was able to catch my fifth fish, which is going to help a lot in points.”
Logan said he wasn’t in much pain when he got back on the water, but when he set the hook on that last bass, it felt like his whole body hurt.
“I’ve got to thank the first-responders and the hospital staff,” he said. “They worked hard to get me back out there. I kind of gave them the gist of what was going on, and they put it overdrive.”
That last three-pounder was important. It left him in 60th place instead of finishing 85th. And he’s now 26th in Progressive Angler of the Year points for the season, well within the 40th-place cutoff for a Bassmaster Classic berth.
But most importantly, Wes Logan lived to tell about what could have easily been a deadly accident.
“I feel like I’ve been in a car wreck,” he said. “I guess I pretty much have.”
