Spoke with a search and rescue diver one time and he said that in all the years of doing his job he never pulled a body out of the water that was wearing a life jacket. Only exception to this statement would be someone who died from hypothermia after being in the cold water too long. I always wear mine No Exceptions. Just like I always wore a helmet riding motorcycles, it just seems like common sense. I hear this stuff too often and its sad, I can only imagine how tough this is for the families.

This is a tragedy and goes to show how dangerous moving waters can be.

I'm new to kayaking but not new to boats, small boats and 1-2 man boats like blow up rafts. I've only had my kayak since the beginning of this year. I've taken it out plenty of times now and I've only taken my PFD off once while out on the water. I did this because I was in a small cove on a lake that I knew really well, there was little to no wind and I was within about 50 in either direction of land. I ran out of water and it was 90+ degrees so I was trying to stay cool and my life jacket doesn't help with that. I'm planning on upgrading soon. I took extra caution though. When I moved out of the area, I put it back on or at least had it in my lap. I'm not recommending this to anyone, I'm giving my opinion on it. I don't see a problem with having it off IF (and that's a big IF), the conditions are low risk.
I would never have taken it off if I was in a moving current.

for some perspective where i fish the trinity is normally about 8 feet of water right now its at 33 feet it was at 48 feet. i have gotten on it at 16 feet of water and it was class 4 rapids and flowing fast enough to be extremely hard to get back to the ramp when i did go down stream.(yes i was wearing the pfd and no i didnt catch anything)
i have been really wanting to catch gar but i also dont want to die so i have stayed home..play it safe out there and the trinity is the most extreme river in texas for water level changes imo. the trinity moves a massive amount of water across Tx during flooding and between remoteness the trees under the water and the trot lines and the gators its not the safest place

KRLD is advising that a body has been found in the Trinity near East 1st Street.

Unfortunately, it looks to be someone other than the missing kayaker.

I've taken my yak out once this year - in late March at LBJ Grasslands. I usually yak the Trinity. It's just not worth the risk to me. I've fished the Trinity as much as possible and have seen up close how absurd the current is and how much debris is in the water. Add to that what has been covered up by the new water (in terms of the lay downs and other things lodged in many places) it's definitely not worth it. And I always wear my PDF, even on the calmest, clearest-water days when it hasn't rained for months.

Makes no sense that people would risk it without wearing a life jacket.

Body pulled from the Trinity this morning.

They seem pretty certain the body found today is the missing kayaker.

so there were two bodys?

Yes, another body was found first and later the missing kayaker. No PFD. I think the report was that he was found 2 miles down stream of where he went under.