Put Your Pride Aside And Wear The Lifevest When Fishing Alone

I will start off by saying with water temps in the 40's here and 30's just a few miles further north you have only minutes before trouble sets in. Yesterday while fishing with close friends and clients the worst of all possible accidents happened. While reaching for a Rod he went head first into 45 degree water with full wintertime clothing and footwear on. When he surfaced we were able to get hold of him and pull him to the side of the boat. After several intense minutes which seems longer was able to pull him onboard. While just in the water for a very limited amount of time his hands were numb and extremities were not working as they should. We were able to get his clothes off and into some dry clothes I had in the boat. I can say it was a long 7 mile ride back to the warm truck. So with this said please please if fishing alone wear your vest guys we all are getting older and hopefully smarter starting today. If it's a Pride thing just bury it cause we are talking about your life. Learn a lesson from this and come home safely to your family.......Ranger

Because I fish alone so much I have reduced the amount of time on the water in the winter. I wear my heavy vest in the winter (all the time) and an inflatable in the summer (most of the time.) I also installed a ladder on my boat as I am certain I could not drag myself on board when alone. Pay attention to Ranger, guys. This is serious!

Words of wisdom Ranger!! I wear mine 100% of the time.

Great advice Ranger. Also show that your motor skill are quickly taken from you. Glad yall was there to help him.

Good post, Ranger. I fish alone quite often and hardly ever wear a vest, but that's because I'm fishing from the bank or off a dock most of the time. On the other hand, I have advanced geezeritis, and it might be a good idea to wear the vest afterall, as falling off the dock, a culvert, or an elevated bank is not beyond the realm of possibility. One of my friends was at the Carl Blackwell dock a couple of years ago, walking along backward while dipping his jig. He was leaning against the raised section on the north side, and he about went in when he got to the shorter section of railing.

Great Post wear your Life vest.Glad all turned out well.

WTG!! Ranger. After the 2 young people drowned on Kaw this winter, I received an inflatable life vest for Christmas. I now wear it whenever I fish. That episode really made me think.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cricket george

WTG!! Ranger. After the 2 young people drowned on Kaw this winter, I received an inflatable life vest for Christmas. I now wear it whenever I fish. That episode really made me think.

---

It was pretty intense for a few minutes George. He stayed down for what I thought was to long. When you have all those big bulky clothes on its hard to get back to the surface with all that weight. His phone took the swim also and I have been trying to contact him just to assure my mind he is as fine as he told me he was when they left. No matter how good a swimmer and time spent on the water things just happen no matter how careful you are.......Ranger

I think it was two weeks ago a young hunter here went wade hunting for ducks . He broke through the ice he was trying to cross with his chest waders on, I heard they found him standing upright with his head above water.

Cold water is a killer.

You should always wear a vest wether fishing alone or with someone, especially when the big motor is running. If you cant touch bottom you cant get back in a boat and its hard to pull someone in by yourself

You HAVE to know how to get back into your boat if you fish by yourself or with another person who is not able to assist you. Wearing a life vest will buy you time to get back into the boat or to the shore but it wont get you back into your boat. Depending on your boat style, it can be very difficult to climb back into it over the gunwale in the summertime with shorts and a t-shirt, even for a young man. In the winter it is nearly impossible with heavy clothes soaked with water restricting movement and weighing a person down. And, every moment you are in the water will drain you of strength. You could be wearing a life vest fall, in and still perish this time of year if you are unable to get out of the water quickly. For many people the best way back into the boat is by using the anti ventilation plate above your prop on your outboard motor as a first step to get over the stern. IkenI installed a ladder, which is a great idea. If you are not sure if you can climb back in your boat using the plate on your motor, you can test it in shallow water when it warms up this summer (chest deep is a good depth to test). I did just that when I purchased my latest boat a couple of years ago. I actually had to do it last summer on Sardis. I was under trolling motor power on full speed and the trolling motor hit a underwater log at the same time while I was reaching for something and unbalanced, over the edge I went. I just swam around to the back and climbed back in. It probably took less than 20 seconds because I knew exactly how to get back in on my boat. There is no way I would be able to go over the gunwale on my style of boat. If a person didnt know that they could could get in from the back, in the winter they could lose all their strength before they figured it out.

This is yet another reminder of the danger of winter fishing and cold water. Someone was looking after your client besides yourself and others in the boat,together he survived.

Spot on Fishers

Great post Ranger! Another suggestion for fishing alone...always attach the kill switch to your vest when running your big motor.

Good post and responses by all. My boat has a ladder and because sometimes I have a tendacy to run over my markers and get them tangled in it, I had thought about removing it. But at my age (24) I decided to leave it on. It could very well save a life.

24 is that in dog years?! JK LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fishers

You HAVE to know how to get back into your boat if you fish by yourself or with another person who is not able to assist you. Wearing a life vest will buy you time to get back into the boat or to the shore but it wont get you back into your boat. Depending on your boat style, it can be very difficult to climb back into it over the gunwale in the summertime with shorts and a t-shirt, even for a young man. In the winter it is nearly impossible with heavy clothes soaked with water restricting movement and weighing a person down. And, every moment you are in the water will drain you of strength. You could be wearing a life vest fall, in and still perish this time of year if you are unable to get out of the water quickly. For many people the best way back into the boat is by using the anti ventilation plate above your prop on your outboard motor as a first step to get over the stern. IkenI installed a ladder, which is a great idea. If you are not sure if you can climb back in your boat using the plate on your motor, you can test it in shallow water when it warms up this summer (chest deep is a good depth to test). I did just that when I purchased my latest boat a couple of years ago. I actually had to do it last summer on Sardis. I was under trolling motor power on full speed and the trolling motor hit a underwater log at the same time while I was reaching for something and unbalanced, over the edge I went. I just swam around to the back and climbed back in. It probably took less than 20 seconds because I knew exactly how to get back in on my boat. There is no way I would be able to go over the gunwale on my style of boat. If a person didnt know that they could could get in from the back, in the winter they could lose all their strength before they figured it out.

---

Fishers you are 100% spot on correct. I have a E Ladder on my boats transom and I couldn't reach the pin to release it to fall from inside the boat. I will from now own make every person that rides in my boat before getting on the water to know where the location is and how it works. We were able to get him back in the boat by using the cavitation plate on my motor for a step and trim to assist him back in the boat........Ranger

I always wear mine when fishing alone.

The nice thing about a terrova is the remote .I can get myself to shore if I can hang on to the boat.

I've had to use the power trim on my motor to get back in the boat before, it wasn't fun

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crappiepappa

Good post and responses by all. My boat has a ladder and because sometimes I have a tendacy to run over my markers and get them tangled in it, I had thought about removing it. But at my age (24) I decided to leave it on. It could very well save a life.

---

What is he going to look like at 50 ??? If you don't know how old you are, you probably won't figure out how to use the ladder anyway ! Stay safe ole buddy, believe me we could never replace you.

I always wear mine when fishing alone, always when the big motor is on, and the majority of the time when fishing with someone.

Fishers is correct, if you can't get back in the boat in cold conditions, you might not make it. Always have your sure your cutoff switch is connected when on the big motor.

I'm about to get a new boat and it is coming with a ladder on it. Not a very good way to do a ladder on my current boat, so I have practiced with the tilt before.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crappiepappa

Good post and responses by all. My boat has a ladder and because sometimes I have a tendacy to run over my markers and get them tangled in it, I had thought about removing it. But at my age (24) I decided to leave it on. It could very well save a life.

---

Smart move, Probie!

Great advice. . . . I would think it would be mandatory as a guide to require the use of vest while in the boat. A few years back the coast guard almost got it right at texoma by requiring guides to have a captains license and be certified in cpr. But after a fight that fell through. Not all of those in boats have the experience of most of us on here and accidents happen so quickly. I was a few boats away two years ago when the drunk driver hit the pontoon killing a man at the fireworks show at eufaula, he was not wearing a vest.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hat55

What is he going to look like at 50 ??? If you don't know how old you are, you probably won't figure out how to use the ladder anyway ! Stay safe ole buddy, believe me we could never replace you.

---

HA! Nor would you want to! 😆

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lazylakedog

Great advice. . . . I would think it would be mandatory as a guide to require the use of vest while in the boat. A few years back the coast guard almost got it right at texoma by requiring guides to have a captains license and be certified in cpr. But after a fight that fell through. Not all of those in boats have the experience of most of us on here and accidents happen so quickly. I was a few boats away two years ago when the drunk driver hit the pontoon killing a man at the fireworks show at eufaula, he was not wearing a vest.

---

Lifevests are offered to every man, woman, and mandatory for all children in my boat. They are always readily available along with a throw cushion. As far as CPR I am licensed with the Red Cross and paper carrier. I am also first responder trained as well and carry a medical bag with most needed equipment on board. And yes I totally agree every guide should be medically trained......Ranger

Most of you have probably heard this but, over 80% of fishing drowning victums have their zippers undone! Thank about that the next time you are out!

Very comforting to know how well prepared you are Ranger:ThumbsUp

Great post Ranger.

Wow! Way to go ranger! It's nice to know that you go the extra mile to make sure your passengers are in capable hands! That is very admirable and impressive. So many don't consider the safety of their clients our even friends as top priority! It's great to know there are great people such as ranger out there! Keep up the good work!

Only comment to Ranger's post I have would be to remove the "fishing alone" comment. I wear mine all the time, alone or not. If you go in and get pulled under by the weight of heavy clothes, there is not much a guy in the boat can do to help you. I still can't get any of my friends to wear one, they look at me like I am a Martian and we are all in our 60s and 70s. So much for getting smarter as you get older.

Great post Ranger. Me and a friend lived to tell about it back when we were younger, but we were really lucky. We were fishing a bass tournament in late February on lake Eucha, water temp was 40 degrees. Tough part was, i sunk my boat because i made a stupid mistake. I turned the boat too sharp and took a huge wave over the back of the boat. The boat literally sunk within 30 seconds. No, me and my buddy weren't wearing our life jackets. You know, we were in our 20's and we were bulletproof. We both panicked of course. We grabbed the life jackets as the boat sunk out from under us in the mouth of a big cove 200 yards from shore. We managed to get the life jackets on, but it wasn't easy with all the heavy winter clothes and boots we had on. What really saved us was an ice chest we were using for a live well. We both managed to swim to it and both of us used the handle on each side to hold onto. My buddies first instinct was to try to swim to shore. i insisted that he stay with me, holding onto the ice chest. We hung onto that ice chest for over 30 minutes, hollering as loud as we could trying to get someones attention. Some lady on the other side of the lake finally heard us and told the lake ranger where we were at. When he finally pulled his boat up along side us we were both almost unconscious and couldn't even grab onto the side of his boat. Luckily he was a big fella and he literally pulled both of us into his boat by the hair on our head. i'll never forget how quickly the water affected our ability to move or even think. Within 10 to 15 minutes we were done. We were shivering uncontrollably and struggled to just hold onto the ice chest. I remember all the the things that ran through my mind while we were out there for so long. One of the things that bothered me the most was my stupid mistake would cause my buddy to lose his life. For sure, we wouldn't be alive today if we hadn't been able to get those life jackets on. Don't mess around guys, wear your life jacket, #$@! happens.