Reminder:WEAR YOUR PFD!

Scott N · #1 06-09-2016, 08:48 AM

Guy / gals,

I had a close call last night and I just wanted to remind everyone to wear your personal floatation device while you're out on the water. I decided to try my luck at Lower Kananaskis Lake for bull trout, and I hooked into a decent fish. When I was trying to net it, I leaned a little too far forward in my Fish Cat 4 Pontoon style float tube, and the next thing I new I was bobbing in the ice cold water and my boat was floating away from me. After a few seconds I realized that I was in trouble, and I pulled the tab on my inflatable life jacket. Without it, you would probably be reading about me in the newspaper this morning after my body was recovered.

I never used to wear a life jacket when I had my old tire tube style belly boat, but I was nervous about the way you sit in the pontoon style float tubes, so I bought a life jacket. Good investment, it very well saved my life last night. BE CAREFUL! You never know, and never expect, to have a close call like that. ALWAYS wear your PFD.

Ironically after falling in the water, swimming over to my boat, holding on to my rod, and eventually swimming back to shore with everything, I still caught my fish. May I present the fish that almost killed me:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

Not a bad fish on a 4wt.... caught it on a leech pattern.

graybeard · #2 06-09-2016, 08:53 AM

Welcome home; that cold water can really increase your chances of meeting your maker....

You got lucky twice on that trip.

waterninja · #3 06-09-2016, 09:04 AM

Thanks for the timely reminder and glad you were able to post about it. Nice fish too.

fishead · #4 06-09-2016, 09:56 AM

Thanks for the reminder, the fact that you were wearing a pfd removed the "luck factor" from surviving your dip in Lower K.

PerchBuster · #5 06-09-2016, 10:07 AM

Very glad to see you are still with us and will live to fish another day! Thanks for the reminder and a good one at that. Things can happen quickly and become out of control even quicker out on the water. There really is no excuse to not wear a pfd all the time, our families will be very thankful in times like these that we did. Glad you are ok, oh....and nice save on that Bull, nice fish!

neilsledder · #6 06-09-2016, 10:17 AM

I was bad last year for not wearing mine in my jet boat. I had cheap ones that didn't fit right. I thought it was a bad idea not wearing it so this year I spent the money and bought the inflatable ones. It was a good call very nice to wear, and now I always wear it!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scott N · #7 06-09-2016, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilsledder

I was bad last year for not wearing mine in my jet boat. I had cheap ones that didn't fit right. I thought it was a bad idea not wearing it so this year I spent the money and bought the inflatable ones. It was a good call very nice to wear, and now I always wear it!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bought an inflatable one too, just because you don't really know that you're wearing it, until you need it as I found out last night. I even wear it under my fly vest, so they are not very bulky.

cube · #8 06-09-2016, 10:38 AM

Great Fish.

Thanks for the reminder.

Since we are on the subject it is probably a good time of the year to test your inflatable life Jackets.
Fishermen tend to have lots of little pointy things around that can compromise inflatable life jackets. Just manually inflate your life jacket by mouth and check for leaks. I blow mine up by mouth and leave it a couple of days just to see if it goes down.

Have a great season.

cube · #9 06-09-2016, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott N

I bought an inflatable one too, just because you don't really know that you're wearing it, until you need it as I found out last night. I even wear it under my fly vest, so they are not very bulky.

Make sure you fly vest is not zipped or buttoned if you ware your inflatable under. It makes it very hard to breath if it goes off between you the vest. You could of course try this manually to see. I thought I had lots of room under my rain coat until I tried this manually. Not sure about yours but mine takes up allot of room.

Red Bullets · #10 06-09-2016, 10:48 AM

Very happy that you are able to tell us this story. Nice trout too.

Scott N · #11 06-09-2016, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cube

Make sure you fly vest is not zipped or buttoned if you ware your inflatable under. It makes it very hard to breath if it goes off between you the vest. You could of course try this manually to see. I thought I had lots of room under my rain coat until I tried this manually. Not sure about yours but mine takes up allot of room.

Good point cube. I was having a bit of trouble breathing when I took my dip, but I wasn't sure if it was from a little bit of panic, or the cold water. I don't think my vest was too tight, but before I actually tried to inflate the vest, I had wondered what would happen. That water is shockingly cold when you're in it though, even in June. I could see it restricting a person's breathing if it was worn under something somewhat restrictive.

nekred · #12 06-09-2016, 11:43 AM

Great Reminder, Thanks!.....

I have an auto inflate and it is sure nice to wear as it is not as restricting.... but like I say, if you think it feels uncomfortable try breathing water....

huntsfurfish · #13 06-09-2016, 03:20 PM

Glad you are ok!

wildwoods · #14 06-09-2016, 04:02 PM

Wow that could have gone south very quickly. I'm happy to hear you're ok and glad you caught that guy. Thanks for the reminder

Fil_Can_Yakker · #15 06-09-2016, 04:18 PM

Very timely reminder, glad that you're ok.

newguy · #16 06-09-2016, 04:35 PM

wow, glad you made it back ok. while in the FD in NS we had a few fatalities on the water... not one time did i see a PFD on anyone we recovered. so very sad.