Always fished way up in NW Ontario---always with a bud-relative. Found some water in the UP I want to fish for gills--since Ontario is out.....I will be 76 in Jan. Have a small 14 ft. Lund. I want to make many quick trips to the UP. Wake up in the morning any morning and just take off...no planning just go. Some trips will be just me. I don't swim but have a really good life jacket I wear. Was wondering about using a short rope to tie myself to the boat in case I fell overboard---is this a bad idea??????
Should I tie myself to my boat????
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Tie yourself to your kill switch
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BAD IDEA- YES. Use a good life jacket & a kill switch tether to yourself. If your tied off & go over, even at a couple miles an hour you’d have an extremely tough time pulling yourself back up!
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Here's my advice...
ALWAYS wear your life jacket. Have a kill switch for your outboard and use it. Most importantly, if you are going solo. Spend the winter finding a place to learn how to swim.
You don't have to become Mark Spitz, but you should at least learn to dog paddle.
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Very good advise!
The motor I like to use is a little 3 HP 2 cylinder Johnson. It just has a little push button to kill the motor--no kill switch with a tether. Also didn't plan on using a rope while moving...Just when parked in case I fell overboard. Didn't think about when I was moving----I see where that would be a problem--fall over and boat moving and me tied to the boat...............
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Life jacket and no rope. You don't need to know how to swim. Flail your arms and legs. If you start heading away from the boat flail them in the opposite direction
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So... years ago, I was with a group on a fly in fishing trip. It started to get nasty and one of the guys was in the 14 ft boat w/8 horse motor by himself. He was tossed out of the boat. He was not wearing a kill switch and was damn near hit by the prop several times as the boat went round and round in a circle.
Something to think about.
Something to think about.
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Take heed in these responses, tieing yourself is the worst thing you can do.
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You can get a kit to modify your switch with a tether. You can even get self inflating vests if you think you might be at risk of taking a short cut by not wearing a regular one full time. If you're worried about going over, get a little ladder , preferably on that can float, and stow it in a place that you could reach for it over the gunwale and set it up to climb back in. When moving around in the boat, keep three points of contact. Get a dry box for your phone and wallet. It's not illegal for small craft on inland water ways to keep flares handy like the coastguard requires on the big water. Or even just a handheld horn, for that matter.
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I fish alone, at night, in river current, a lot.
Wear your vest, use your shut-off tether, make darn sure the boat floor is clear of trip hazards, and perhaps most importantly, keep a hand held urinal (I use a liquid detergent bottle) handy for nature calls.
The best man-overboard prevention is in your head. Be wise to be safe.
Wear your vest, use your shut-off tether, make darn sure the boat floor is clear of trip hazards, and perhaps most importantly, keep a hand held urinal (I use a liquid detergent bottle) handy for nature calls.
The best man-overboard prevention is in your head. Be wise to be safe.
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Rather than "flailing arms and legs" a little practice in a nearby hotel's swimming pool would give him the confidence to move with simple leg kicks and using his hands to pull himself in the direction he wants to go. Depending on where you fall out, it may be safer to head to a nearby shoreline. Climbing into a 14' boat isn't easy. If you are all alone on some remote UP lake, you may end up with hypothermia long before someone showed up to help.
Besides, time in the pool will give a person confidence if the worst happens and he doesn't have to depend on a really tough case of On The Job Training.
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I fish alone also, good advice here. The three biggies for me.
1. Wear a vest
2. keep the boat floor clear
3. NEVER pee off the side of the boat. I use a coffee can.
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Sage.
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Wow, I never thought of the loop in the rope trick. Great advice!
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Add to that to tie the rope to the opposite side of the boat that you plan to climb in on. If you want top try the port side, tie the rope off on the starboard side and hang it over the other side. Doing so will make it much harder for the boat to either tip over or to drop a sidewall under the water which could sink the boat. If the OP had a larger boat, it would be better to climb in over the transom. Might still be better if there's sufficient room back there.
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