Which PFD do you recommend?

[176champion]

I had a boat(18 foot) in Florida and would go 35 miles off shore in the Gulf and never give a PDF a thought, today at age 62 if im by myself i wear a PDF pretty much anytime big motor fired up and my kill switch is hooked up....im just not as nibble as i use to be or as graceful...i bough a basspro PDF it has a couple pouches and the top part is of a mesh material, i think it was like 35 bucks....yep im getting softer in my old age....lol

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 minute ago, 176champion said:

yep im getting softer in my old age

Didn't you mean "smarter"?

 

[176champion]

1 minute ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Didn't you mean "smarter"?

 

That will work...lol

[msamatt]

I've gotta second Griz's sentiment "... the best PFD is the one you will wear. " , especially in cold water.  My buddy Dan and I were on a paddling/fishing trip in Quetico Provincial Park in NW Ontario back in late May early June of 2013.  The water was cold but warming and the fishing was pretty darn good.  The water was so cold that one afternoon when I was trying to bathe I could barely stand in it for more than a few seconds before my legs were numb.  When I dove into the water I nearly hyperventilated and jumped out of it as fast as I could.  Pretty darn cold.  I always wear my pfd when I'm on a trip like that.  Around the mid-point of the 10 day trip we noticed a helicopter or helicopters flying over the general region of the park we were visiting.  While its not uncommon to have float-planes flying over to visit fly in cabins which are located outside of the park mid-week its you rarely hear or see helicopters and we wondered what the heck was going on.  When we made it back to the outfitters at the end of the trip we asked about it and learned that it was a recovery effort.  Apparently a husband and wife, who were by all accounts in great shape and experienced wilderness trippers, capsized for whatever reason.  He wasn't wearing his pfd and she was.  She was rescued, he was recovered.     

That really made me think about my own competency and skills.  Sure I can hump 50lb packs over long portages and paddle for miles on end just to enjoy some world class fishing.  I can also swim pretty darn well and tread water for a long darn time.  But the Cold water.  If the initial shock doesn't get to you you're going to start to cramp up pretty darn quickly so you need every advantage you can get.  You're pfd is your main advantage in that situation (other than your common sense which has been telling you all along to stay on land dumba**!!).  Wearing a pfd will not of course guarantee that you don't drown or die of hypothermia but it gives you a much better chance of surviving than if you don't.  If you fish in cold water buy the most comfortable and best fitting pfd you can and wear the darn thing. Also pack dry clothes, something hot to drink and a means of starting a fire.  Live to fish another day.  

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

New Christmas list:

Jock Strap

PFD

[msamatt]

Just make sure that jock strap doesn't have more buoyancy than your pfd or you just might be in trouble  

[fishinwrench]

I got ejected from a bass boat @ 70+ mph into 38-40° water.  Had to swim 40-50 yards back to the boat and then it wouldn't restart (battery got thrown and ripped the cable ends off), took me about 20 minutes to repair that and get the motor fired back up.  Ran back to the truck and trailered the boat.  About 10 minutes into my drive back home I started noticing that I was cold.  Got home and got undressed while standing in the warm shower.  Only then did I realize that I had busted a rib, blackened an eye and broken a couple teeth.  

Adrenaline works !

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Here we go.

The ole "I got thrown from a boat at 70 plus MPH" story. 

Pete

 

[fishinwrench]

44 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Here we go.

The ole "I got thrown from a boat at 70 plus MPH" story. 

Pete

 

In very cold water too !

The point is that when you think you are about to die the temperature of the water doesn't even phase you.

[Old plug]

How many of you think you can swim 100 yards? .