EYE OPENER

Just thought ild share with everyone what happened to me last night, so i was out on the mississippi river pre fishing for a bass tournament coming up this weekend, and everybody i’m sure realized how windy it was as well i’m fishing a current seam wind to my back all of sudden bang hit a stump which threw me out of my boat. I’ll tell what i know the current is coming down and so is the water temp which means your wearing warmer BULKIER clothes which is hard as heck to swim in. I did not have a life jacket on and i had a heck of time getting back to my boat and i tell what once i got back in my boat my teeth started chattering i was froze. Moral of story is if your by yourself make sure you have your life jacket on for your own sake and friends and families. Accidents happen so fast. Take care everyone

Brian Harmon

This is the 2nd story like this I’ve read on a forum in less than a week. A lot of us take things like safety for granted and really should wear our life jackets.

Glad to hear you are OK.

Quote:

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WEAR YOUR LIFE JACKET!!!

Don’t put your family through what I almost put mine through. A life jacket and waterproof cell phone case saved my life today. You don’t think its ever gonna happen to you but it may.
I don’t even know how the canoe tipped. I was paddling over to reset a decoy and it just went over backwords. I had a wader belt on but it didn’t stop my waders from filling with water. I had the shoulder straps down so the jacket would be against my body. The life jacket was no match for the weight of the water but allowed me to keep my head above water and push the sinking canoe, while using it as a life raft, to a clump of weeds a few yards away. I thought I was safe at that time because I could see the canoe about 3 feet below the water service so I tried to stand up, I sunk almost to my knees in muck and was up to my neck in water. I could barely breath already because of the cold and the initial shock and gasp you feel when dropped into cold water. The life jacket had enough boyuncy (sp) to keep my face up long enough to pull a leg out and put it in the sunken canoe which then gave me the leverage to get the other out.
I was able to stand on the canoe at this time and was about stomach deep. Through repositioning and moving the canoe slighly I was about to make it to a spot where I was thigh high and decide I was safe. I pulled the waterproof case from my pocket and dialed 911. I was in the middle of a swampy creek and there was no way to get out. I was wet, cold, and still in a little danger. I was already starting to shiver. I removed the wet cloths from my upper body leaving only my under armor. As I talked to dispatch I could feel myself getting more hypothermic. I was able to grab my wet jacket and hold it up as a wind break.
Over the next 60 minutes plus I talked to dispatch and tried to keep moving as much as possible in the small space I had. If I moved one way the canoe would start to tip. If I moved the other it would do the same. I could hear the rescue trucks on there way, it made me feel better but couldn’t get rid of the cold. Sun was shining but I was freezing.
By the time they got me to shore I could hardly walk and my mouth didn’t want to cooperate with my brain. EMS warmed me, checked my vitals, then brought me my car, it was at that time that I realized no one knew where I was at. I hadn’t told anyone where I was going. I was supossed to go out with the GF tonight but plans changed so I went out on a spontanious afternoon hunt, an afternoon hunt that could of been my last. If I did die nobody would even notice I was missing til tomorrow evening.
I did a couple things wrong to get there but what I did right probley saved my life. It only takes a second to put your life jacket on, it could take your family a lifetime to forgive for not.
It has quite a few hours and I’m still cold. I have since had that” wow I almost died” realization. That has happend only a few times in my life, bite from a poisonous bug, a couple situations in Iraq, and now this. The sinking feeling after the addenaline is gone is always the same. It not something I would wish upon my worst enemy.

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Glad to hear you are okay.

It’s usually the silly stuff that gets you. I’m trying like heck to get my 10 year old to understand that.

Yikes!

Glad to hear you’re OK

Eye opener is right!

First off, we are all glad to hear it was just a eye opener and not something worse!

I’ll say it again, if people knew in the morning they were going to fall out of a boat, they would wear their PFD that day. Since we don’t there’s only one alternative.

Most everyone knows I’m a Float Tech PFD supporter, but “any” PFD that’s worn is better than nothing or the one on the back of your seat.

Wear it. Live with it!

Glad to hear you are okay and thanks for sharing your story. Maybe someone will read this, and the other story that was shared, and maybe it will save their life.

Be safe.

Very scary!! Glad your alright, and yes put those lifejackes on boys!!

That is a scary story. I’m really happy to hear you tell it and not read about it in the a paper! Thanks for sharing this, not easy to admit making a mistake but maybe this will help someone. Yesterday I was on Pool 2 and at times it was tough just standing up in the boat with the strong gusty winds. I never take my jacket off, I know I swim about as well as I can flap my arms and fly away

Rootski

Glad you’re OK This is a good eye opener for us. Cold water = no fun swimming

Glad to hear your alright Brian, it happens fast! Good luck in the tournament!