My Stearns are getting worn.
What do you wear?

Following

I have this onyx but It stays in the seat hooked up to the kill switch. I don’t fish in it.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Ony...x5P-Z8QIV6z6tBh3jmwR5EAQYAyABEgLacfD_BwE

SAME

Mustang

I have a Mustang 100MPH conventional PFD that is just under 2 years old. Always kept stored in a dry bag. Hardly been worn and the foam is trashed on the inside. Not much longevity in that $150 jacket.

Mustang regular vest and a couple Onix exploders. I want the Mustang padding around me when I wipe out in the tree tops.

I'll never own an inflatable anything - here's why.

At the 2015 BassChamps championships on the Red River me n' my partner were headed down lake to pool 3, I think. It's approximately 35 miles through 2 locks. We came out of the second lock with about 80 other boats. We were 3rd row from the downstream doors. They opened and everybody kinna hot footed to the no wake buoy then stomped on it - myself included. We negotiated multiple bends in the river with a lot of other boats but we were out runnin' most of them. We had one more turn to reach the jungle. Nobody in sight. I saw a very slight ripple/wake going into the left hand curve. To this day I'm not sure why it happened, been driving Gamblers since 1996, but the bow hooked in that slight ripple wake. At 75 mph things happen fast. I felt the bow hook, felt the stern lift a tad as it turned sideways and the engine rev up from losing bite. Then it hit me - my partner coming across the Gambler bench seat at ~75mph. I was his launching pad. Boat behind us said he went about 30' in the air before splashdown. I got wacked up pretty good but that's not point I'm trying to make. My partner had on a brand new(less than 6 months old) Mustang inflatable. When he hit the water he was conscious of his surroundings. He said he went pretty deep before heading towards the surface. All the way to the surface he was pulling on the emergency inflate cord - it never did inflate. Yes, it was also auto inflate. Things could have been so much worse. I can not describe the feeling one gets after an incident like that. I was knocked out. When I came to I turned to where my partner had been seated - he wasn't there and at that moment in time I had no idea if he was dead or alive or severely injured. I said all of that to say this. There are no "test" for the inflatable. You'll never know if it really works until that moment you really need it. That's an awfully bad time to figure out it doesn't work.

Same here. Very comfortable and have had mine a while. Keep an extra one of the same for who ever rides shotgun.

I really like this one. Just cant bring myself to trust the inflatables.


https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/xps...=xps%20platinum%20series%20life%20jacket

That’s the exact one I use & Im pleased with it.

It is an excellent vest and doesn’t ride up if you cinch it...do yourself a favor though and cut the leg straps before putting it in the boat

Onyx