Solved the problem of newbies on the boat ramp!

[Blazerman]

Yeah Ham I agree. Not very smart. I know when i first got in it took my breath away and i was thinking this might not of been a good idea. But once i started swimming to the boat i knew i would be ok. 

i was down on my dock this weekend though and put my hands in the water (Meramec) and you could not pay me to get in right now. After two minutes my hands were getting numb. Big difference between now and Oct.

[Ham]

1 hour ago, Blazerman said:

Yeah Ham I agree. Not very smart. I know when i first got in it took my breath away and i was thinking this might not of been a good idea. But once i started swimming to the boat i knew i would be ok.

i was down on my dock this weekend though and put my hands in the water (Meramec) and you could not pay me to get in right now. After two minutes my hands were getting numb. Big difference between now and Oct.

The simple formula I remember reading was that if the air temp and the water temp added together are < 100 that hypothermia is a significant issue. The lower the number the less time you have. I've wet waded in the Spring River when the air temp was hovering around sixty and it was raining. Soaked to the skin, but I was having fun and feeling good. I was cold, but felt like I could have stayed in that water for an extended amount of time (well, actually I did).

[holleybob]

On 2/2/2016 at 7:41 AM, MOPanfisher said:

Sam, I see lots of folks do that around the lake when fishing alone.  I have considered doing it, but like you have given rides out to boats when the cheap lightweight polypropylene they seem to invariably use breaks. Have also seem them pull up "gently" so they can grab the rope and accidentally hit gas or something and drag the boat partway onto the ramp.   I believe last year a similar situation cost a man his life.  No one is entirely sure what happened, but his vehicle/trailer was still backed into the water, a pile of shoes, watch, wallet, cell phone etc. piled neatly beside and his boat floating loose in the lake.  His body was recovered a short time later.  I fish alone a lot and haven't really come up with an easy way to launch, I try to wear some sort of footwear I can get into at least a few inches of water with.  Summer is easy, sandals or wading shoes.  Cooler weather I keep a pair of rubber boots so I can wade out far enough to get on front on my trailer and push it off, if I back far enough to float the boat on most ramps it requires me to get my feet wet to get on the trailer or boat.   What I really need I guess are more fishing buddies!

I believe Charlie Nuckols, creator of the float n fly,  died that way on Percy Priest Lake back in the 90's. Boat got away from him and he swam after it but never made it into the boat.  I fish solo a lot also and use the rope tied to the trailer method. Never had a problem but you got me thinking about checking my rope.

Jeff

 

[Ham]

58 minutes ago, holleybob said:

I believe Charlie Nuckols, creator of the float n fly,  died that way on Percy Priest Lake back in the 90's. Boat got away from him and he swam after it but never made it into the boat.  I fish solo a lot also and use the rope tied to the trailer method. Never had a problem but you got me thinking about checking my rope.

Jeff

 

Yeah, that's a sad deal. I couldn't remember his name when I posted earlier.

[Guest]

My dad had a similar experience at Beaver in 2013. He got out on a dock to unhang his lure. Meanwhile the G3 drifted off & the wind was blowing. He stripped down & swam after the boat & the wind kept pushing it further away. He told me that he wouldn't have made it out, but the wind suddenly shifted & stopped the boats progress. He was able to grab the gunwale but was too tired to pull himself in the boat (he's 70 years old this year). It took him 30 minutes to climb aboard & then had to idle over to that dock & retrieve his clothes. It was a weekday during the spring & raining so nobody was out on the water to help. He easily could've drowned, thank God that he made it back. 

[mixermarkb]

My boat just isn't worth it. If it drifts off, I'll go recover it when I can and get whatever is broke fixed. That's why I pay insurance. I've tried to get into it while messing around with tubing with the family. It's not an easy task in warm water, wearing a lifejacket. I have no delusions about doing it wearing winter/early spring clothes.

[MOPanfisher]

Being a non swimmer I am pretty sure I would stand there smoking a cigar and say, "well &#!%".  I have really wanted to tie a rope on the boat and float it off that way but seems like there is a just right amount of speed to float it off without breaking the rope.  Maybe I will man up and try it with some good rope like 3/8 braided nylon.  I have worked accidents where people have been injured falling off or out of a boat at ramp, driver starts to pull forward as operator is standing or close to edge.  Injuries ranging from badly broken bones to bruises or stitches.  Quite often someone doesn't fall out but it can be rather hard on rods, tackle boxes, depth finders when they fall in the boat.

[gitnby]

I am thinking of starting a free valet boat launching service?

But, I need a partner!

Pretty sure we could make over $100,000 in the first day!

I would offer to sit in a nice $50,000 bass boat while the owner backs it in.

Then, while he's pulling the empty trailer back up the ramp, I would speed off to another ramp where I would meet up with my partner who offered to park the other guy's $50,000 truck after the boat owner took off to go fishing.

My partner backs the new truck and trailer down, we load up our newly acquired boat, and head off into the sunset.

It would probably only work once, but might be worth a try?

[gitnby]

Obviously, I'm kidding about the valet service, but it seems that every year, you hear about some guy who thinks he's giving his keys to a valet outside of a restaurant, and then finds out later that they don't have valet parking?

[Champ188]

You might have a plan there, gitnby. On the other hand, winter sure needs to go away soon. Lots of idle minds running amok on here, certainly including mine! LOL