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Posts: 410
Location: With my son on the water | Guys
As we are about to start on another big season I want to remind everyone about 3 basic things that may allow you to go home after fishing versus being dead.
1. Life Jackets - Wear them.........In my life time of being in boats I have had 3 different people fall out of the boat. The causes were a wet boat, frost on the boat, a Rogue Wave. In two of the cases the people had PFDs on and after the incident they both said, "I am dam glad I had this on". In my case I wear an inflatable 100% of the time, and yes it worked.
2. Will you be able to get back into your boat????? Have you tried it with cloths on?? You will be surprised that the answer is (probably not). If your boat doesn't have a boarding ladder take a rope and tie several loops in it and tie it to a back cleat where you can grab it. It works..........
3. Boat lights. I absolutely don't understand why people who are out away from shore fishing, running up on plane, or people who have other boat approaching them after dark don't have boat lights on??????? 40 years ago ya boat lights didn't work very well, but today it is as easy as flipping a switch. So the question is why??? But I see it so much. When I do see this I do as kindly as I can tell people to put them on.
Another good tip is when you see someone at a boat landing struggling, give them a helping hand versus getting mad. You will feel better and you probably will have another friend that may give you a fishing tip.
Have a good day.  |
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Posts: 50
Location: North Central PA | Well Stated |
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Posts: 20248
Location: oswego, il | As stated above have a way to get back in the boat. I had a seat pedestal fail about 6 years ago in my small boat on vermillion and I did a divers fall out into the lake with heavy rain gear on. I am not in bad shape but was surprised I was not able to get back in the boat. Had my kids trolling motor me to shallow water and got back in. You can also climb up on the motor. Things can happen in an instant and when you least expect. You cannot predict a set of circumstances. Salmon fishing a couple weeks ago my fishing partner lost balance and when he landed to rest was sitting on my gunnel. I keep a throwable out on the deck just in case. He has 6 month old at home.
Go figure, I lost a nice spinning outfit, camera but the seat was floating with that pedestal! |
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| I swim for 40 minutes regularly at the local Y, but know from experience that between cold water and wet clothes I am not going far if I go over board. Something else to remember is that if you can get to your motor, many have a switch on the motor that will raise and lower the motor. Right after I got a boat with a Merc 90 the tech who set it up told me that tip. One nice summer day, I anchored in shallow water, went over the side, swam to the back, grabbed the motor and hit the switch. Lifted my 200 lb carcass no problem. I could have slid down the motor and into the back of the boat. Even if it just gets you out of cold water and not into the boat, your chances of survival are better.
You hope you never need to do something like that, but it makes sense to practice it, under controlled conditions, before you are in an emergency situation. |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | ToddM - 5/2/2015 6:11 AM
I had a seat pedestal fail about 6 years ago in my small boat on vermillion and I did a divers fall out into the lake with heavy rain gear on.
Seat pedestal failure ? Todd, you're obviously trolling too much !  |
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Posts: 1270
Location: Walker, MN | A throw-able (or a cushion with webbing on it) hooked on a cleat can make a decent step. The main thing is, have a plan for getting people out of the water, especially when it's cold. |
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Posts: 1530
| excellent post thanks for reminding the obvious we all forget |
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Posts: 194
Location: Lake Elmo, MN | YEP....good advice.
Several years ago up on LOW, I left my boat at the lodge after lunch and went out in a lodge boat with a buddy to do some trolling (still not sure why I left mine but nonetheless). The day was clear, no wind, and the lake like glass. On plane at about 25mph, my buddy took his hand off the steering wheel for 2 seconds. The boat lurched HARD right and I went over HARD left. Actually cracked the bottom pedestal plate and tore the screws right out of the bottom of the boat. Hit the water and sunk like a stone. Luckily I know how to swim and was not knocked unconscious. Life jacket was on the seat back of course.
Getting back in the boat was near impossible until I told my buddy (who was not thrown out) to take the key out of the ignition. Once he did that, I stepped on the lower unit, and worked myself up on board.
It's not "if" you'll go over....it's "when" . And almost guaranteed it will be on a sunny, calm day.
Bad deal. Wear your PFD. |
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| My boat has no ladder, so I put this flip-down step on the transom in case someone goes OB and needs to get back in: http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Stainless-Steel-Folding-Step&i=21111
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Posts: 84
| I bought my boat from a walleye pro and he told he always gets a boarding ladder on every boat he gets just in case. I know about the trick with using the trim tilt to help get you out of the water. Its amazing how much more you weigh with all your clothes on and rain gear. Ive went swimming on hot days with my life jacket on so I could float around and with just a slight breese my boat drifted away from me rather quickly. That also drives me crazy when people operate their boat without lights on, they must the same people I see drive their car without lights on after dusk, in both cases I say to myself where a cop when you need them . For me I want my lights on so people don't run into me. |
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