Texas Fishing Forum
Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday
Posted By: DataHawk
Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/11/17 11:42 PM
I almost died Saturday morning. Was a beautiful morning and first time out in the kayak since Harvey. Went to a local lake. Found a spot where I caught 4 cats in about 15 minutes. The last one about 3 pounds. Well he swallowed the hook and as I was trying to hold him he flipped around and finned me in the fatty part below the thumb and came out at the thumb about 1 1/2 inches away. Blood squirted and pain ran up my arm, burning and painful. Last thing I remember was I am going to black out. Well sure thing, I woke up under water, flipped the kayak. Faught my way to the surface, and yelled for help. Lucky there was a boater near by I couldnt hold on to the kayak. He pulled me out and towed the boat back to the ramp. Dumped out the water for me and loaded up my truck. Now for the very stupid part, I was sitting on my life vest. When you are passed out and sinking to the bottom it does you no good what so ever. 3 days in the hospital, bag after bag of antibiotic day and night. LIFE VEST IS MADE TO BE WORN!!!!! CALM WATER OR NOT!!!
Posted By: Siberman
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/11/17 11:46 PM
Glad you made it .
Posted By: J Lowe
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 12:43 AM
Wow, glad to hear it didn't wind up much worse. It's crazy how fast something unexpected can happen! I need to get better at wearing my PFD in the boat as well.
Posted By: Chiprat
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 02:24 AM
So glad you made it through. I have a small Jon boat, and my vest is always on...and anyone else in the boat. It happens so fast.
Posted By: Catfish Lynn
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 02:59 AM
I try to explain this to others. If you get knocked out (become unconscious), chances are you will be unable to put on your life vest. If you get knocked out of a boat, what good does the life jacket do, sitting in the boat. The list goes on & on. Such as get struck by lightning & blown out of the boat.
One good example some years back. My boss was fishing alone one night (or very early morning) at Lake Somerville. He all of a sudden realized his boat was sitting very low in the water. About the time he realized what was happening, it was going down fast. His first thought was to attach the clip to the front of the boat that was attached to a buoy, so the boat could be found & pulled up.
However, he seems to have had all of the life jackets locked (or at least it was the button type release) in one of the compartments. Needless to say, it all happened so fast, as he was trying to save his boat (to be able to retrieve it), he failed to have time to get his life jacket. So there he was, in the dark, no life jacket, all alone out in the water, boat already sunk. He was very lucky to have grabbed a hold of his ice chest. He held on tight. Shortly thereafter, he heard a voice in the darkness say, Hey, there's a bait bucket, and as they grabbed it, they also stated it still had bait in it (minnows). He heard those voices, then started to yell. They eased over, found him & got him into their boat.
He was extremely lucky, due to his ice chest. And later that day, he was able to retrieve is boat.
Anyways, glad to hear you survived! And that you will now wear it, instead of becoming a statistic.
Posted By: scruboak
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 03:01 AM
wear mine full time I am not afraid to say I'm a sissy.
Posted By: psycho0819
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 03:11 AM
Wow, glad you will be OK. I'm steadily getting better about wearing a pfd on my boat. Still don't as much as I should, but trying to get better about it.
Posted By: banker-always fishing
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 04:13 AM
Glad you are OK! One important lesson learned!
We had a similar situation yesterday on Tawakoni. But unfortunately, the older gentleman who's small craft turned over passed away.
Posted By: Buff2
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 02:03 PM
I always hated wearing a life jacket.
I bought one of the self inflatable ones and now I will forget to take it off when I get back in the truck
Posted By: Gitter Done
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 02:08 PM
We had a similar situation yesterday on Tawakoni. But unfortunately, the older gentleman who's small craft turned over passed away.
Prayers up for the victims family and friends. Post like these remind us all not to take the life jackets for granted.
Posted By: Captain Yakker
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 04:49 PM
My PFD goes on before I step into the yak and does not come off until I am back on land. I had a similar experience last fall though I did have my vest on and luckily another boater was already close the me. I ran a treble hook into the meat of my thumb and ended up passing out. When I came to, the boater was holding me from falling out of the yak. Glad you got a second chance. Be safe.
Greg
Posted By: munawar
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/12/17 05:06 PM
Thanks for the warnings. I learn from these and run through as many possible scenarios in my head as I can, so when (not if) I have to deal with a situation, I am at least partly mentally prepared.
Posted By: cat-aholic
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/13/17 01:40 PM
Glad your ok bud, never take things for granted,always expect the worst so you can be prepared for it !!!
Posted By: psycho0819
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/13/17 02:20 PM
Stories like the make an impression on me, more-so the older I get. So it's good that people will share them.
Another eye opener was a FB video that's going around. Shows a fella alone on the deck of his bass boat, he must have been wearing a gopro or something. A jetski hauls [censored] across the lake headed right for him, turns at the very last second and sideswipes the guy's boat, throwing the fisherman into the water. He remained conscious and injuries, I understand, were minimal. But it could have been terrible for one or both parties. Just showed me that even if you are doing everything right, things can still turn bad in an instant.
Posted By: Big Sam
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/13/17 04:28 PM
Im glad your ok.... it was headed south quick...I know you guy's love yak fishin they do it around here too but man it would be hard staying in those dudes.....be careful
Posted By: SChapa
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/13/17 05:32 PM
Glad your ok! I also need to get better about wearing mine ALL the time. Calm water, anchored or whenever, should have it on.
Posted By: Springcrik
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/16/17 04:48 PM
And while we're talking about safety...don't forget that dead-man's switch! The life jacket probably won't save you if you get thrown out of the boat with it running wide open and then it starts to run in a spiral!! I nearly found out last summer while planing out in my Lund. The Optimax 200 suddenly died and when the hull quickly fell off plane, it was pointed to the right... threw me out of the seat but fortunately not out of the boat. That little tether might save your life someday.
Posted By: ChuChu1
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/16/17 09:56 PM
This was not a stupid event, it was a lesson in staying alive event. You will never forget.
Since I do 90% of my fishing alone, I made my wife a promise years ago that when the big engine is running the life vest will be on and properly secured. And the kill switch lanyard will be connected.
Posted By: Nickbyrd
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/17/17 03:58 PM
Prayers up brother . Glad your all good
Posted By: OPTIMUS PRIME
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/17/17 05:16 PM
Prayers up brother . Glad your all good
Plus 10...
Posted By: ETRANCH
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/18/17 03:09 AM
Glad to hear you are ok.You are right, if you are on the water your PDF needs to be on. You never plan on something bad happening but when it does you need to be prepared.
Posted By: Wildferret
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/19/17 11:48 PM
Glade to hear your still around to learn another of lifes lessons
A couple of my friends and myself had a mishap on Lewisville about 6 years ago . One of my friends in the boat always said he could get his vest if he ever needed it which he always kept stuffed up in the nose of the boat . Below is his post about it that he wrote and I'm the Marvin that he mentions in the post .
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...svi#Post5537736
Posted By: manoverboard
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/23/17 02:43 PM
Glad all is well,fell out of my pontoon of all things last early spring tieing to a tree on fork ,luckily my wife was with me. dint have my life vest on boat went away from me when i fell in could not catch my breath because water was so cold, if i been alone would not be posting this. ill never ever ever not have my life vest on no matter what conditions . stay safe
Posted By: TxBigball
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/26/17 08:47 PM
Glad you made it to continue to write new chapters in your story! Safety first!
Posted By: Mudshark
Re: Something Stupid nearly cost me my Life Saturday - 09/27/17 11:54 AM
No joke, I had a ten inch cat fin me so bad I passed out as well two summers ago. I was standing on a dock when it happened and fell into the lake. Waking up after taking a water nap is some scary stuff. If I'm in the boat, I am wearing a life jacket these days.