Three men and one of their rescuers stand on a rocky outcropping in stormy seas. Their boat is upside down in the water.

Photo Credit: Louis Rouleau / Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News

Sport Fishing Turns Dangerous in Stormy Seas

Bit rough out there, eh?

Always check conditions before you head out

Three men are lucky to be alive after their weekend fishing trip went terribly wrong. They were sport fishing off Ucluelet’s Amphitrite Point when their boat flipped over.

They were able to swim to shore, but one of the men got a fractured leg for his troubles.

And they didn’t exactly wash up on a sandy beach. It took nine folks and a quad from Ucluelet Fire and Rescue to get the men safely off the rocks.

Rick Geddes is the Ucluelet Fire Chief. He was pretty proud of his “crew.

“I just want really thank the efforts of our firefighters. It really took all of them to get these patients up to safety. They did a great job. It was horrible conditions.” he told the Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly” News.

“I was concerned for the safety of my members.”

He also reminded folks to check the weather before heading out on a boat.

“We encourage people to check conditions before they go out on the water. Saturday was a particularly stormy day to be out on a pleasure craft.

The day after the event, folks from Ucluelet got together to find a bright orange drybag that flew out of the boat when it flipped. Thankfully the bag had a working iPhone in it.

Geoff Johnson, who runs UkeeTube in Ucluelet, flew his drone out near the Find My iPhone signal. He found the bag near a cliff tucked in the rocks amongst the trees.

“Other people were scouring the beach, too,” Johnson told the Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News. “I’m just part of a good group of people in the community that were trying to help out the visitors.”

To be fair, he was the only one who brought a drone.

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