Leech Lake – Missing Boater

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Hope to hear good news. Godspeed to the rescuers.

Where’d you see this? I am at Hiawatha beach right now

Its being reported all over Twitter. Hopefully the boater is found fine, but these rarely end well.

Pee bottle boys, get yourselves a pee bottle and wear them life jackets. Depending on your boat hook the kill switch tether up also.
We don’t know what happened yet but we know it isn’t good.

Sounds like the body was recovered. The neighbors were on the sand bar when the police pulled the body out.

These cases are especially tragic because a high percentage are preventable.

David Blais wrote:

Where’d you see this? I am at Hiawatha beach right now

It was posted on one of the Facebook pages I follow. “MN Crime”

belletaine wrote:

These cases are especially tragic because a high percentage are preventable.

Yep, and how many of us have been out alone without a PFD. That’s what hits home for me.

belletaine wrote:

These cases are especially tragic because a high percentage are preventable.

That’s just it.

Wear your lifejackets people. I don’t want to read about any of you in the news.

Condolences to the family.

I fish a lot by myself. My daughter gave me an inflatable a couple of years ago for Christmas. From my understanding they need to be worn to be in compliance. That’s what I do and after a few minutes I forget I have it on.

Ive gotten into the habit of wearing a PFD all the time. I have an inflatable that i use when with friends but if i fish alone i go so far as to throw on a regular life jacket. I figure less chance of failure and if it fails and im alone and find myself in trouble then…well you get the picture.

Sad news. My condolences for the family

Admittedly I haven’t gotten into the habit of wearing mine at all times but I definitely do wear it when under power. I also try to always slip my tether lanyard around my wrist. I do want to get an inflatable though so that I actually wear it at all times.

If I fall out of the boat under power for any reason i want to float and I don’t really want the boat doing death circles around me in the water

Netguy wrote:

I fish a lot by myself. My daughter gave me an inflatable a couple of years ago for Christmas. From my understanding they need to be worn to be in compliance. That’s what I do and after a few minutes I forget I have it on.

I plan to start getting inflatables too. I dont wear a life jacket unless its really rough, etc which I know is bad. If I had an inflatable I am sure I would wear it all the time.

I fish alone 80% of the time.
I always have my auto inflate on and don’t even notice it. When under trolling motor power fishing lily pads or docks and it’s calm I will take it off but make it a point to wear when under power. You just never know when an “accident” will happen.
So sad

Sad to hear of this incident…

I took an unexpected head first dive out of the front of my boat 2 weeks ago, without my life jacket on “cuz it’s too cumbersome to fish with it on…” Where have you heard that lame ass excuse before…?

I now own an auto inflatable vest, and don’t even know I have it on when fishing…”Spendy purchase, but worth every penny…!”

It’s also a good idea to make a plan in advance as to “how are you gonna get back into your boat if you end up in the water…” And practice/test it some day when the fishing is really slow… If you got a ladder, try it out… If you don’t, try using your power trim/tilt button to lift yourself up to make boarding from the rear of the boat easier… Knowing you can get back in the boat safely will help reduce the panic…

My problem with inflatables is that they seem high maintenance. I finally bought one only to have it inflate while stored in the boat. Don’t love that you have to change cartridges every other year either so decided they are not for me.

I have started wearing a standard life jacket while fishing alone.

Sad situation for sure.

lindyrig79 wrote:

My problem with inflatables is that they seem high maintenance. I finally bought one only to have it inflate while stored in the boat.

Get one that has a Hydrostatic mechanism instead of the dissolving pill. Much more reliable, less maintenance, and won’t trigger just sitting in the boat. They are more expensive however.

We lost one on White Bear Lake Friday afternoon. Didn’t get much publicity. 43 years old.

That’s too bad Mahto, what were the circumstances?

Craig Sery wrote:

That’s too bad Mahto, what were the circumstances?

Rented a boat and was swimming off of the boat and went missing. Recovered, transported to hospital and died either at hospital or on scene. Unsure. In fairly shallow, weedy water. Not sure of any other circumstances.

Reading about this incident finally got me to purchase an inflatable today at Scheels. Been boating for 40 years and seldom wore a life jacket but now that I’m in my 60’s I figured it would be a wise move to start doing so. Condolences to the fisherman’s family, and sorry it took a life to wake people like me up.