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Posts: 3774
| It's been a while so I'll post this again.....
If you fish alone please wear a good life jacket from put in till take out. I had the experience of getting hooked up with a green mid-30's fish, we shared a Poe's Giant Jackpot for a few minutes. A hook entered in the back of my hand and the point was sticking out of my index finger. I cut the fish off but the lure was still hanging off my hand. On the way back to the landing I passed out while underway. I woke up hanging over the side of the boat, my head and one arm dragging in the water. Very lucky I didn't fall all the way out of the boat. In hindsight my judgement was shot starting when I became hooked and the fish was thrashing next to the boat. Putting a life jacket on was a million miles from my mind and I didn't think of it immediately afterward, either. Point is, if you get hurt you need to already be wearing the jacket.
Edited by Ranger 5/17/2017 9:11 PM
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Posts: 8719
| Words of wisdom right there.
I hate 'em. Everybody hates 'em.
But there's a lot that can go wrong even if you DO have someone else in the boat who can save the day. Had more than one friend grab the back of my pants and drag my ass back in the boat. You'll probably never need the life jacket. But the one time you do need it will be the last time you ever need anything unless you actually have it. |
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Posts: 3774
| Right on EA. Here's another one....
I was trying to help a distressed boat, they were going to wash up on a rocky shore in sorta high wind. As I'm trying to set ropes the guy tries to start his motor again and it goes for a moment so he hits the gas, straight at the side of my brand new Yar Craft 209tfx. I lean over the side of my boat and try to deflect his boat and it works but the cuff of my sleeve catches on one of is front cleats and I get sucked overboard, I drop into the water between the boats. His boat is stalled again and my boat is in, get this, idle forward. Bad, bad, bad. I quickly swim to my boat, reach up and catch a side rail but there's no way I can pull myself up and back into the boat, I'm too fat and out of shape. My boat goes into a small circle with me on the inside as the other guy looks on in horror because what else can he do? My boat does increasingly tight 360's with me hanging on on the inside. It's a 250 Verado on a 2k# boat and I will be just a slight bump when that motor hits me. Out of the clear blue, and in whitecaps, a bearded, hippie paddle boarder shows up, jumps in my boat, shuts the motor off. I pull myself down the boat, swim around the back of the motor and get back on via a snap-down boarding ladder.
I hate to admit that happened, but it did. |
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | Yep great idea. But I'll never have one on I'm not a very religious person but if the good Lord calls me home there's nothing I can do bought it. And when the time comes and I die fishing I'll have a smile on my face and joy in my heart knowing It came doing something I loved. I hope it won't be for a long long time but like I said when it's your time its your time . |
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | http://www.themoreheadnews.com/kentucky/morehead-woman-drowns-in-ca...
This tragic tale is yet another reason why PFD's can save a life. It seems this could have totally been prevented. I ran into a DNR officer yesterday at the put-in to the lake. He checked all of my stuff and I am glad he did. That means he is checking other people, which makes us all safer in the grand scheme. |
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Posts: 568
Location: Lake St Clair | Holy moly
i wear one every second im out there |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | You can never predict a set of circumstances. |
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| When fishing alone, I wear a auto inflate pfd. The only annoying thing is I went a little cheap and the part that sits on my neck will rub the hide off if I don't remember to wear a shirt with a collar I can pull up. But, I wear it. I am a strong swimmer, having swum on my lunch hour for many years but going into a cold lake, fully dressed is a whole 'nother story. I am always amazed when I see someone going flat out in a tiller boat with no pfd. All it takes in that situation is to hit a floating log, etc and you are over the side. Years ago I almost lost a friend in Canada in that scenario. Had there not been a floating cushion that flew out with him, he would have been on the bottom, 30' down. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Make sure any passengers know how to shut off the boat. People on large cruisers tend not to wear life jackets. A couple of years ago on Lake Ontario a man fell off the side of his boat while on auto pilot and his passenger had no idea how to stop the boat. It could happen on any size boat I bet not many on here use the kill switch.
I wear a auto inflate in summer a float coat when its cool and a survival suit when it's cold part of a deal I made with my granddaughters so that I could extract the promise that they would never be in a boat not wearing a PFD.
At 35 I was a strong swimmer at more than double that probably no so much.
Edited by horsehunter 5/18/2017 8:02 AM
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Posts: 617
Location: Clintonville, WI | Anything can happen.......and anything happens fast!
I'm sure there are many people who spend time in/around a boat or water that have not experienced trouble. Odds are they will at some point. Whatever "it" is will come in some combination of quick/unbelievable/unimaginable. Not being prepared or not getting lucky could be BAD, no matter how much time you have on the water.
Ranger's experience helping that stalled boat is a prime example of ALL of that. |
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Posts: 246
Location: Grand Marais, MN | I've also noticed that cops don't bother you most of the time if they see you with it on. Unfortunately the one time I was paddle boarding with friends in 2 feet of water without life jackets, 25 feet from his dock I get a ticket from a very "friendly" officer on a lake full of drunk boaters.
Edited by bigfoot 5/18/2017 11:56 AM
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Posts: 141
Location: Minnetonka | Just a heads up...If you go to Jet.com, you can get the Onyx A/M 24 for under $70 w/ free shipping. Just picked one up for myself and a second as a Father's Day gift. If it's the thought that counts, it's a perfect gift. |
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Posts: 3136
| Off topic,,but you motorcycle guys,,,wear the Helmut,,if it's not mandatory where your at.
Just lost another acquaintance in a crash,,that makes 5 I've known on cycles. |
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Posts: 3774
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Edited by Ranger 5/18/2017 10:37 PM
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Posts: 3774
| Ok another real horror story....
Southwest MI and a buddy takes his first "big" boat out on Lake Michigan for the first time. His new/used boat is like 30' with a sleeper cabin and a roof. Goes out of South Haven on a calm day with 2 other dudes and a 10y/o kid. About 3 miles from shore the boat sinks so fast the only thing floating are the people and a few coolers. The kid has a jacket, but none of the 3 men. Tho there are only soft swells they get separated because two men waste a ton of energy failing to use the coolers as flotation while the third guy is intent only on getting his son to shore. The dad is a great swimmer but while still far from land he wears out and learns for sure that his son's jacket will not keep both of them on the surface. He begins to just tread water as he watches his son watch him about to die. Two hours in the water and in very last minutes the coast guard shows up - another pleasure boater came across one of the guys clinging to a cooler, that boat called it in and the Coasties went looking for the kid first. The dad told me that watching his kid watch him, there at the end, was beyond the worst nightmare ever.
This is a true story. Go Coast Guard. Wear the jacket. |
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Posts: 138
Location: Aurora IL | terrifying, I wear a self inflator when alone and vests are always on seat backs, should probably be wearing one even if 2 or 3 in boat. |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | Ranger - 5/17/2017 10:07 PM
Out of the clear blue, and in whitecaps, a bearded, hippie paddle boarder shows up, jumps in my boat, shuts the motor off. I pull myself down the boat, swim around the back of the motor and get back on via a snap-down boarding ladder.
I hate to admit that happened, but it did.
Never ceases to amaze, the mayhem that a 30 something incher can whip up.
Conversely, I've had numerous bearded hippies magically appear to save my day over the years also.
They always have that, "WTF were you thinking?" look on their face afterwards too.
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Posts: 3774
| Speaking of magical, after I hooked up the other boat and began towing, which took just a few minutes, I looked around and that hippie hero was just gone. Didn't see him coming on scene, didn't see him leave, either. The other boater said the same. That's the real reason I rarely tell the story.
I've spent a ton of time on both busy and remote waters, lots of hours in the dark, many all-nighters. I always throw silver coins "To The Lady Of The Lake" and always pick up any trash I can reach on the shoreline, surface and bottom. I feel a weird connection to lakes and rivers. I'm obligated to help no matter what and never, ever expect anything in return.
Edited by Ranger 5/21/2017 2:01 PM
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Posts: 8719
| Sort of off-topic, but I had a friend when I was younger who was walking through a pretty deserted area because his car had broken down when a similar looking fellow to those described above appeared out of nowhere and asked for "a couple bucks" for food. Said friend got really aggravated. "I wanted to tell him to %^*$*&", but something made me reach in my wallet and give him $10. He went his way and as I started walking the other way I thought "Hey, maybe he knows where I can find a gas station or a phone. So I turned around and I said "hey, buddy, do you know where I can - ... The guy was nowhere in sight. And there was nowhere he could have gone.
You just never know... |
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Posts: 3774
| Ok, 6 of us are skipping school to take acid and hang out in a grove on a local, private golf course. We suddenly see a distant guy walking down the center of a nearby fairway and at one point he makes a 90* turn and walks a good 200 hundred yards straight towards us. We are high as ****, blazing on good acid. He walks up and says, "You need to be careful. LSD tears holes in the fabric between worlds. You can get stuck on the other side." then he spins around and walks back to where he did the 90, turns back on his original track and walks on over the hill and out of sight.
Edited by Ranger 5/21/2017 3:53 PM
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Posts: 3136
| This should actually be a mandatory law,,,,sailboats should be "forced" to wear jackets they get those things up on side and they tip over all the time. At least a dozen times we've pulled people out from capsized small sailboats on metro city lakes. Mostly just shaken up but I'm sure one 70 year old passenger would have drowned if we wouldn't have got there. |
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Location: MN | Ranger, Jesus looked like a bearded hippie. Are you sure there was a paddleboard under his feet? |
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