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oldtimer57.
I had an accident this weekend and feel like I should pass it along to “the family”. It is a great example of why you should keep your life vest on at ALL times. Im an excellent swimmer but, after what happened to me this weekend, I will never take my life vest off while on the water. There are so many things that can happen to you that you may have never thought about. I havent ordered my BassCat yet so this weekend I took my 15 GlasStream out to catch some smallmouth. We had caught 30+ pounds of smallmouth on Thursday and Friday night so we headed back out on Saturday to catch a few more. I fish open water structure and have always had a problem with folks messing with me in my little boat but nothing serious has ever happened. Saturday night around dusk, I had the usual jerk pass me in his Bayliner while I was fishing. As usual, he rocked the heck out of my little boat. I just shook it off and continued my fishing. However, this jerk was different. After passing me, he decided to come back for another pass. This time, he circled my boat within casting distance while yelling in a sarcastic voice, “sorry bout the wake!”. I had about 5 seconds to react so I turned the boat in order to prevent the large wakes from hitting the side and capsizing the boat. The wake approached the front of the boat and all I can remember is the wake coming over the front of the boat and hitting my legs. The next thing I remember is being pulled into the boat by my passenger. According to my passenger, the wake took the entire front end of the boat under water and when the boat came back up, it launched me into the air. He said that my legs were thrown over my head and that I went head first into the top rail. At that point, the second wake covered the front of the boat, the bow sank again and my passenger saw me go under the boat. In short, I ended up in the water, under the boat, and unconscious in just a few seconds. I HAD NO TIME TO REACT! That said, our first intent was to chase them down and well, ya know. But you cant catch Bayliners with a 40hp Yamaha! I refused to let these jerks run me off my fish so I fished the next six hours in soaking wet clothes (the dry ones in the lockers were soaked) and a sore head. In the end, I thank God for watching over me and Im thankful that my 9-yr old and 5-yr old sons were not with me. Its rare that I fish without my boys and I know this accident would have scared them away from fishing forever. Or worse… Im lucky to be alive after being trapped unconscious under a boat in 40+ feet of water. I never take my vest off while fishing but I had gotten hot and taken it off a couple of minutes to cool down before the accident. That said, I feel like it is my responsibility to pass this along to anyone who may fish without their life vest (even for a second). Thanks for taking time to read this. You guys take care and PLEASE WEAR YOUR LIFE VESTS … EVEN WHILE FISHING!
Olddawg My knees are worn but there are still more thanks to give. I cant believe I made it out of the situation but I know that I had help!
Harassing a person who is fishing, including circling his boat, is against the law in Texas. I would not feel bad at all about turning the guy in, particularly after what happened. I am considering buying one of those expensive auto-inflatable PFDs to wear while just fishing. I fished the other night in the wind and it was rough enough that I put on my vest even though it was warm. I did catch a couple bass that had small mouths (to go along with their short bodies.) About 45 of them might weigh 30 lbs. Steve
Steve (Sparker) The auto-inflatable PFDs are a great idea. Anything is better than nothing at all, right? I feel much better after talking to the TWRA. At least Ive taken action to prevent this from happening to someone else. And hopefully, other folks will read this post and decide to wear their vest even when sitting still. Another important thing is to not hesitate to call the Corps or the local authorities if this happens. I got the feeling that they take this very serious. Now, for the fun stuff … those little brown fish. Contact me if you ever fish Dale Hollow Lake in TN and Ill fill you in on what I know about fishing the lake. We can fish together or I can hook you up with GPS coordinates and some bait. But, we wont take the 15 GlasStream . My email is [url=mailto:wolfrvr@yahoo.com]wolfrvr@yahoo.com[/url]. On DH, Ive found that they move around alot based on the moon and weather conditions. We had good luck last week fishing a drop shot through deep weed beds. The fish were concentrated around the weed beds and would hit the drop shot as it left the weeds. Im still learning how to catch them but it appears that baitfish move into the weeds for oxygen and move out once oxygen levels get low. When that happens (usually late at night), the baitfish move out of the weeds and are ambushed by the smallmouth. This was my cousins first smallmouth trip. Heres a couple of the fish he caught during our three day adventure… Take care! ScottLast edited by wolfrvr on July 14th, 2009, 4:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
As boaters we are all responsible for our actions in our boats…including our wakes. This story could have had a very bad ending and that clown of a boater could be facing a lot worse. I would hope that a good stiff fine might wake him up before he kills someone. I am glad you came out of it well, God bless. Phil
Your very lucky! I wear an auto-inflatable at all times during warm weather. Even during the heat of the day it is bearable. I also keep both the water patrol and the sherriffs numbers on my cell phone and I WILL call the numbers if a jerk puts me in danger. The water patrol is very willing to keep these guys off the water. LOZman
I have a cousin that fishes 1 or 2 places where that kind of behaviour is not so unusual. He carries a 9 surf-fishing rod along with an enormous plug with multiple treble hooks attached, If someone tries to circle him, a cast across their bow will stop em in a hurry, with enough time to “have a conversation” as if they try to run, they are going to reach the end of his fishing line and come face to face with the hooks found there. I dont see this on the places I fish except for the PWC guys that like to run over a school of striper or spots and “send em down” when they see a group of boats sitting around them casting. “my momma always says, stupid is as stupid does…” so I guess we will be dealing with this so long as there are still stupid people walking the earth.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
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