Life jackets!

Really doesn’t bother me not wearing one when the waters warm , when it’s cold out I always have my striker suit on that allegedly floats . I’d assume that’d save ya ? Anyone test it ?

FryDog62 wrote:

I landed and loaded my boat a few weeks ago with my jacket still on even as I pulled the boat out to the tie down area. A guy asked me if I had my Barbie pole too…

Fry you should have shown him your Barbie pole! I would never even consider making fun of someone wearing one. That just shows his lack of manhood. I respect anyones decision to wear or not wear one.

Well done Mud for your fast reactions. I don’t know you but I can say I am proud of what you did and I know your dad is also.

I hated wearing PDF. Would never wear one. Similar story as Umy. Was on LOTW and went around the point and was hit with 5′-6’ waves. “Where are your lifejackets, we should stop and put them on”, I said to my fishing buddy. He replied “if we stop we are sunk!”

This year I was forced to wear one for my son’s high school fishing league when the big motor was running. I bought one of the inflatable ones. They are so comfortable that I didn’t even take it off when I was casting. One would just forget it was there (almost). It was more inconvenient to take it off than just leave it on.

I have confirmed I float with the striker suit on. There are lots of youtube videos proving it too. I wouldnt want to be in the water too long however because the liner in the parka really retains a lot of water.

My long time fishing friend lost his life last year after he drowned. He was launching his bass boat by himself and apparently backed in a little to far and with the wind blowing out, the boat started floating away.
It was cold, he was wearing coveralls, and according to witnesses he jumped in after it, probably thinking he could easily get to it. They said he kept trying to swim after it, but never did get to it probably due to all the clothes he had on. After he got so far out in the lake that he couldn’t make it back to shore, and couldn’t catch the boat, he started screaming for help.
One of the construction workers that were working on a house next to the launch stripped off his clothes and swam out to try and help him. I guess he was barely alive and totally exhausted when the guy got to him and the guy wasn’t able to get him to shore so he had to leave him to swim to the boat to get that back to rescue him. Told him to try to float on his back, then swam to the boat. By the time he got the boat back to where he was he had drowned.
Accidents happen on the water. I always wear my inflatable whether motoring or trolling, and thankfully my son who is a fantastic swimmer will always wear a life jacket when motoring and if out by himself trolling also. He does take it off at times in hot weather when trolling with me, and thats ok with me as I am there to pick him up if something goes wrong.
I really miss my long time friend, and also feel terrible for that worker that had to make the decision to leave my friend struggling in the water, to be able to make it to the boat to hopefully save him in time.

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FryDog62 wrote:</div>
I landed and loaded my boat a few weeks ago with my jacket still on even as I pulled the boat out to the tie down area. A guy asked me if I had my Barbie pole too…

Fry you should have shown him your Barbie pole! I would never even consider making fun of someone wearing one. That just shows his lack of manhood. I respect anyones decision to wear or not wear one.

I know, he was just joking with me about how bad of shape his truck was, so he gave me a good-natured jab on wearing the life jacket on dry land. But it just shows most people aren’t used to it yet…

Amen.

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