Falling From A Boat

[Thornback]

I have fallen in my boat several times but never overboard. In fact after 10 years of fishing from this boat no one has ever fallen overboard. Had a couple of close calls. I was wondering if anyone on the forum, or a fishing buddy, ever fell overboard. If you/they did how did you/they manage in the water and how did you/they get back in your boat? Any stories?

[joedog]

Yup.....me.
Two summers ago from the kayak.

Caught a fair size bass and as those who fish from a kayak know, a bass of 2-4 lbs. can literally take you where they want to go.
Now I can peddle but if you get going wrong there's no back peddling.
So circling is about the only option.
And when your pitching right outside of the hangovers it doesn't take much to get pulled into the shore and trees.
I'm flipping lay downs and this thing pulls me into pretty thick overhangs.
You got the fish, the rods getting hung in branches, the ones sticking up in back as well as the one in your hands. The thought of 'maybe it's a biggie',....and next thing ya now I'm in the trees.
Fluking messing with rods, unwrapping the bass which decided to wrap itself around a huge submerged branch and then releasing the fish. Tossing out broken twigs and branches and crap.
All I wanted to do was get out into the clear to reorganize so I stood and was pushing off the tree branch........you guessed it, the kayak shot out from under me. Probably should of thought that move through a little better.

So the kayak shoots out like 15-30 feet...and in I go!

So now my sunglasses go flying off my head in the opposite direction ( I wear Fishgilz so they float) and again I make a poor decision and decide to swim for the glasses first.
Get the glasses and now the kayak is like 20 YARDS away. (how dumb can one angler be in a single outting )
So I swim to the kayak and I'm now freaking BUSHED OUT!

Well getting in a kayak from the water is a trick in itself!!!
Thing's like 38" wide and you have to grab the opposite side and pull yourself over and in...while in the water....tougher than it sounds.

Got in and just layed there crosswise over the fluking thing....FLAT OUT TUCKERED OUT!
Then after LAUGHING my arse off for 10mins. or so, I got reorganized and back fishing.

Water was warm, the day was hot.....AND I HAD A GREAT BIG SMILE ON MY FACE.

Boy I slept good that night!

[Thornback]

Great story. Made me chuckle. All's well that ends well

[mikechell]

My story isn't as funny.
I was fishing a lake, well, I was planning on it, since I'd just put in and was motoring along, about 50 feet from shore ... 30 feet from the Kissimmee Grass line. I didn't even hear or see the wake board boat that was running on the opposite side of the lake, but when I hit the waves, it spit me off that boat before I knew what was happening.

This was when I was stupid (Not that long ago) and didn't have a life vest on, or my lanyard attached.

The boat had throttled back to idle (about 5 miles per hour) and was looping around in a large circle. Knowing the lanyard was within reach, if I could just get ahold of the boat, I tried, twice, to grab the gunnel as the boat passed. Both times, the boat jerked from my hand as the water drag proved too much. Now I am getting winded ... and I don't float.

I start swimming for the shore. I get into the weed line, and I still can't touch bottom. I am going down. I could feel it ... struggling through the weeds, if I didn't touch bottom, I was going to drown right there. On tip toes, I touched. I was able to keep my face above water enough to get some of my wind back and made it to shallower water.

I climbed up on a pier and watched as my boat slowly got closer to the weed line with each circle. My hope was that it would hit the weed line and tangle enough to kill the motor.

Turns out, the wake boaters had noticed the boat and came over to see what was wrong. They were able to "rescue the boat" and brought it to me.

I now where my life vest all the time, and never put the motor in gear without the lanyard attached. (Not stupid, anymore)

[joedog]

WOW MIKE!

Tough way to learn a lesson!
But hoperfully others will read it and realize the importance of both.

[Thornback]

Hey Mike, experience is the best teacher. You reminded me of the time I was fishing with a buddy. He had to take a dump so he slid over the side of the boat, holding on to the gunnel he slid his pants down to his ankles and had a BM. The whole time I was in the bow seat casting away and not paying attention to him. Now he tells me he can't get back in the boat. He was a large man, 6' 250 pounds, and had had an operation on one arm making it weaker than the other. I asked him if he could throw one leg over the gunnel so I could pull him into the boat, but he couldn't. I told him I would put the motor at 45 degrees and maybe he could climb up the motor. He said he couldn't. He suggested I use the trolling motor to get to shallow ground so he could stand up. I started moving towards the bank and he shouted for me to stop because the grass or hydrilla was pulling so hard on his legs he was losing his grip on the gunnel. Now I became concerned and thought to myself, "This is how people drown." I debated on trying to put a PFD on him but then told him I would troll over to a large floaring stump and he could climb up on the stump and then roll into the boat. He said the stump might have a water moccasin on it. I told him that was the least of his worries. So as I again started trolling to the stump he told me to watch for gators. Sure enough I see a 5' gator at about 50' distance crossing the bow. I decided not to tell my buddy because the gator wasn't heading his way. Once at the huge stump he was able to climb on it and then roll his body into the boat.

[OkobojiEagle]

For years I have had a rope boarding ladder attached to my starboard aft boat cleat in a manner that I could reach and pull it into the water if I fell overboard. Thankfully I have never needed to use it.


oe

[keithdog]

I never fell into the water from a boat, but I did fall off a pier once when I was 17 while trying to impress a 16 year old girl at the same fishing resort. Her Grandpa owned the place and she was a real cutie. One day she happened to be fishing from the large resort pier which was horse shoe shaped. A couple other boys were out there casting too, hoping to steal her affections no doubt. So out I went intending to impress her socks off by catching a big one, putting the other boys to shame. But, it didn't turn out that way, as I took one misplaced backwards step off the pier and fell in backwards right into the large 3X4 foot home made minnow cage that was attached to the pier by the owner of the joint. To make matters worse, I was pinned rather nicely in the minnow box requiring my removal by the same said boys who seemed to be rather amused by my predicament. As for the girl, well, I didn't see much of her after that, which shows an obvious flaw in her character.

[Thornback]

I once worked with a guy who did scuba body recovery of drowning victims for the sheriff's dept. He said most of the fishermen's bodies he recovered had their fly open. Use your imagination and you will see how easy you could fall from a boat in that situation. Be careful on the water and wear your PFD. Once you are on the water you are in a hostile environment -- you can't walk on water and you can't breathe under water. I never get in my boat without my PFD and I only take it off when I get back to the boat ramp. Yes I can swim but if you go overboard with your clothes on you can't last for long.

[ROBZILLA]

Try getting ran over at the boat launch and left suffering in the ditch over night. Broken bones, cracked skull....... could go on, but too painful to bring back.

[Thornback]

Originally Posted by ROBZILLA

Try getting ran over at the boat launch and left suffering in the ditch over night. Broken bones, cracked skull....... could go on, but too painful to bring back.

Yikes!!! Gives me the willies to think about that.

[OkobojiEagle]

Originally Posted by ROBZILLA

Try getting ran over at the boat launch and left suffering in the ditch over night. Broken bones, cracked skull....... could go on, but too painful to bring back.

I'm afraid Obama Care is driving our health care system in the same direction...


oe

[Rebbasser]

Fortunately it has not happened when I am in the boat-came close a couple of times, though. I have since learned to try to remember to look at the arrow on the trolling motor before hitting the button especially when standing. Having it set on high and the motor pointing perpendicular to the boat is definitely a rush

The one time I know of is one of my stepsons borrowed the boat and he fell out. Would have paid to see that

[BrownHL]

Get to the back of the boat and use the engine as step up to get back in.