Wear your d*mn life jacket

[Gellar]

https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Man-new-lock-and-dam-on-Mississippi-River-569011251.html
I hardly ever used to wear a life jacket until I had kids. Now I wear an inflatable vest when under power and while fishing. It won’t always save you, but it gives you a lot better odds.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Yep, dumb not to. Sometimes I’m dumb most of the time I wear my inflatable.

 

[Gellar]

Yep, dumb not to. Sometimes I’m dumb most of the time I wear my inflatable.

Last year we had a local fly fisherman get swept away while wading. Even good to wear one then.

 

[duckhunt]

Sounds like they were also in the restricted area. I always get nervous when by the dams.

 

[Gellar]

Sounds like they were also in the restricted area. I always get nervous when by the dams.

I think you are correct. I never heard if they recovered him or not.

 

[Sasquatchewan]

I hardly ever used to wear a life jacket until I had kids.

I started doing a lot of things I never did after getting my first kid. Wearing a helmet while ridding my ATV, wearing a harness in a tree stand, etc...

 

[noharleyyet]

The two biggest game changers of all time: Wedding Cake and Children....undefeated.

 

[JTHOMP]

Louisiana law is that if the vessel is 16ft or bigger you don’t need one. At a certain size big enough boat you don’t need one either, but don’t know off hand. I’m surprised by how many people in 16ft boats and similar sizes don’t wear them. Worse thing it can do is not be enough to save your life.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

PFD. not life jacket. If you put on a "life jacket and go stand in front of a bus going 50mph will it save ur life? No. Sorry pet peeve of mine. Carry on...and wear ur damn PFD's!!

 

[rwc101]

My BIL fished out a body his first week as a warden. Guy died in water he could have stood up in.

 

[Salmonchaser]

20 foot boat, 150 hp tiller, guaranteed if I hit something, rock or gravel bar, log, I won’t be holding onto the tiller any longer. In addition to Pfd using the dead man clip is a good idea.

 

[mplane72]

Reports I'm hearing say they tied off near the spillway. Bad Bad Bad idea. I saw a guy do that once behind the Rock Island Arsenal. He was lucky he had a knife handy.

Another tip when fishing below damns is to not pull the trolling motor before the outboard is running.

 

[Gellar]

Reports I'm hearing say they tied off near the spillway. Bad Bad Bad idea. I saw a guy do that once behind the Rock Island Arsenal. He was lucky he had a knife handy.

Another tip when fishing below damns is to not pull the trolling motor before the outboard is running.

I talked to one of the officers this morning. They had a small John boat that was overpowered. The boat started taking on water below the dam, the guy went in and instructed the other in the boat not to go in after him. He disappeared before boats nearby could get to him and throw a pfd to him.
It doesn’t take long in that current and cold water. The water temp is still in the 30s.

 

[Gellar]

My BIL fished out a body his first week as a warden. Guy died in water he could have stood up in.

Last year I was at the boat landing and heard a guy yelling for help. I saw him hanging onto the bow of his boat about 10 feet from shore. He had misstepped getting into his boat from the dock and was starting to panic. All he had to do was put his feet down and he would have been in waste deep water.

 

[Gellar]

Louisiana law is that if the vessel is 16ft or bigger you don’t need one. At a certain size big enough boat you don’t need one either, but don’t know off hand. I’m surprised by how many people in 16ft boats and similar sizes don’t wear them. Worse thing it can do is not be enough to save your life.

Iowa anyone under 13 years of age has to have one on at all times.Size doesn’t matter unless it has a fully enclosed cabin that you are in, like a houseboat. Everyone on board has to have a vest accessible and there has to be a throwable. But more often than not accessible is not accessible fast enough.

 

[Harrier]

Agreed. I don’t fish, I sail, but I don’t sail without a PFD buckled on. I would never step foot on any power boat without one.

Slightly related: I also learned the value of wearing a helmet while mountain biking.