Safety on the CRIOX

the sturgeon season is upon us and in addition to fishing tactics i would also like to emphasize safety. there will be alot of recreational boats out there esp during the early part of the season. everyone is tryin to get the last of summer fun in before fall hits. please use extra caution out there, esp if your fishing at night.

make sure you have all required safety gear such as PFD’s, throwables, extinguishers…. make sure all you navigational lights are in good wrking condition and if possible another light source handy.
i personally have a 3-MILLION candle watt and a 2500-lumens handheld spot lights within arms reach. i also run an orange blinking caution light that i used to use on my plow truk.
“spot light and caution light can be found at most retailers for around $20”

even with all those extra light sources i have had recreational boats come within spitting distance of me WOT on plane more then once. Darren has some video of these situations day or night.

i really dont want this turning into a big debate on who’s right/ wrong, when/where people should fish… I just wanna give word of caution out to everyone THAT’S ALL

so gang have a great season, take lost of pix and be safe

ps, if you wanna PM me gps coordinates of a hot bite plz feel free lol

That’s no joke.
Keep yourselves visible and be prepared to warn oncoming boats headed your way.

Phil, keep you flashing ligh on, i’ll know where to anchor up!!

isnt it usually me followin your lead bud? i actually wanna figure out how to mount it up higher, cz that thing blinds anyone lookin at it but somehow tuna boats cant see it lol

Yep no joke. I almost got hit by a mom driving a pontoon full of kids at 10 am.

Also, it’s probably not a good idea to blast an oncoming vessel with the spotlight right in the eyes for too long. Just flash the light at them and move it down. You don’t want to blind them.

mr-special wrote:

isnt it usually me followin your lead bud? i actually wanna figure out how to mount it up higher, cz that thing blinds anyone lookin at it but somehow tuna boats cant see it lol

That’s true , but there’s a good chance i won’t get back to the croix until 19th, so hopefully you’ve got them fingered out. Might make a night trip next week, but we’ll see.

For the amount of times you lift a beer can, if you wore a bunch of these safety lights (For runners)

http://www.aliexpress.com/cheap/cheap-safety-lights-for-runners.html

They’re bound to see you.

Might be nice on a rod too

Attachments:

1. 

   images.jpg
   

Good post Phil.

Remind everyone in the boat it’s their responsibility to be on the look out for boats heading your way.

I tell everyone that I would rather know too early and have the on coming vessel turn away then to find out at the last minute because I didn’t see them.

I’ve never seen anything like the Croix for boats getting too close to other boats at speeds where someone could get hurt.

Pay attention and stay safe.

St. Croix out of Beanies on Labor Day 2012 is not one I will soon forget. It seemed like every square foot of water from the head to the food of the lake had a boat on it, all moving in different directions. When we finally gave up and headed back to Beanies it was like playing Frogger.

Good post. Add a super loud blast horn to the list too!

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Good post. Add a super loud blast horn to the list too!

-J.

awh you’re right
good info gang

Steve DeMars was nearly T-boned one fall day a few years back.

Daylight…when a sail boat headed straight for his toon. There were at least 5 people on board and no one paying attention. Near as I could tell there were two vessels within a mile…the sail boat and us. As big as the Croix is, I couldn’t believe what was happening!

Had Steve not yelled “Do You See Us” Steve would have had an addition added to his pontoon.

dfresh wrote:

St. Croix out of Beanies on Labor Day 2012 is not one I will soon forget. It seemed like every square foot of water from the head to the food of the lake had a boat on it, all moving in different directions. When we finally gave up and headed back to Beanies it was like playing Frogger.

Pretty sure i spent that entire weekend fishing the river. Have a few stories of close calls that weekend, both daytime and nighttime.

PS a yellow flashing light means your either a hover craft or a submarine. LOL!

^ well if the approaching vessel doesn’t change course . . .

One thing to keep in mind, is that the white stern light, which is the only light required while at anchor, can easily blend into other lights on shore under certain circumstances.

Personally, weather for fishing or pleasure boating, I always have a big spotlight at the ready at night. If I feel there’s any chance that an approaching boat doesn’t see me, I sweep the water in front of them, just to let them know I’m there. Take no chances.

G

’tis recommended to leave ALL navigation lights on while fishing the Croix…and still keep a spot light handy. Not to mention the head lamps.

Dirkw said many moons ago, “redundancy at night is a good thing.”

I have three spotlights in my boat with one always plugged in ready to go.

As I was motoring to a group of anglers anchored a few years back, heading North towards them, what you described Grouse is exactly what I saw.

Boat lights blending in with the lights of Stillwater.

Sure made me aware that people just can’t see us. (there’s always some that just don’t want to see us too)

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

For the amount of times you lift a beer can, if you wore a bunch of these safety lights (For runners)

http://www.aliexpress.com/cheap/cheap-safety-lights-for-runners.html

They’re bound to see you.

Might be nice on a rod too

lol, might as well play sum trace music and have a disco ball going lol

mr-special wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishbloodrivermud wrote:</div>
For the amount of times you lift a beer can, if you wore a bunch of these safety lights (For runners)

http://www.aliexpress.com/cheap/cheap-safety-lights-for-runners.html

They’re bound to see you.

Might be nice on a rod too

lol, might as well play sum trace music and have a disco ball going lol

Hey now, i used to use finger lights on my rods. Haven’t been able to find them lately though. 4 for $1, batteries included. Velcro onto a rod, and it illuminates every eyelet!!

ive used those before as well, they wrk great. i think last time i saw them at around that price was wallyworld around halloween season.
now i think about it, they already have some of that stuff displayed now.
hmm, sounds like a wallyworld trip is needed

Where I work we are required to wear florescent yellow safety vests with 1″ wide reflective tape. I have two and plan on wearing one if I get out with anyone on a boat this season. The rest of my “safety” equipment is:
– Blaze orange hooded sweatshirt normally used to hunt deer
– Florescent yellow cut-off shirt when its warm out
– Headlamp
– LED handheld flashlight with strobe setting
– Hi-Vis fishing line, the LED light on this helps when boats cruising close to shore need to know where your line is while you fish from the bank.

Maybe someone on here would be willing to try using a bullhorn if needed, or is that type of thing not legally allowed on a boat?

go Griswold or go home

riverbank-rat wrote:

Where I work we are required to wear florescent yellow safety vests with 1″ wide reflective tape. I have two and plan on wearing one if I get out with anyone on a boat this season. The rest of my “safety” equipment is:
– Blaze orange hooded sweatshirt normally used to hunt deer
– Florescent yellow cut-off shirt when its warm out
– Headlamp
– LED handheld flashlight with strobe setting
– Hi-Vis fishing line, the LED light on this helps when boats cruising close to shore need to know where your line is while you fish from the bank.

Maybe someone on here would be willing to try using a bullhorn if needed, or is that type of thing not legally allowed on a boat?

One thing to keep in mind is that it is not legal to travel with headlights or spotlight on constantly at night. So wearing brightly colored or reflective clothing is somewhat ineffective.

I’ll go on record to offer an off duty Coast Guard Officer, an off duty MN CO, or an off duty water patrol MN deputy a evenings worth of fishing just to have them sit in a boat and watch the frolics on the Croix. It’s pretty hard for them to sit in one place too long while on duty and I’m not sure they really grasp what’s happening out there.

I know if we remind Washington County they will swing by, but once they see how bad it is, I think they’ll be around more.

I know an avid river fisherman that was up fishing in the King area during the day and he swears he’ll never go back.

I’m not trying to scare anyone, but I do believe fast boats are the largest threat to the safety of an anchored fisherman on the Croix. Too many people have died in boat collisions on that river already.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I’ll go on record to offer an off duty Coast Guard Officer, an off duty MN CO, or an off duty water patrol MN deputy a evenings worth of fishing just to have them sit in a boat and watch the frolics on the Croix. It’s pretty hard for them to sit in one place too long while on duty and I’m not sure they really grasp what’s happening out there.

Going on record that I’ll take that spot an PROMISE to write a letter to the sheriff’s department!

You better hope Cecelia doesn’t see you didn’t mention taking her along Doug! #deadmanwalking

Walked by a yellow magnetic flashing light at FF yesterday. Picked it up for $18.

May come in handy…If not just for when Phil is looking to anchor close by

Looks like John has started a new trend with the flashy lights.

Yeah we got tired of almost dying. Imagine this after dark and sometimes even closer.

Im very impressed that you where not flinging sinkers at that boat.

We flung some gang signs at him, that’s for sure

dtro wrote:

We flung some gang signs at him, that’s for sure

Get even when they’re in their dingy…