Reminder to wear your life jacket!

[Sore Thumbs]

I was fishing Beaver Lake Elite Series this weekend. Sitting in 32nd place going into day 2. Excited to get to my topwater spot I was trying to get there as soon as possible. Took the turn at Copper Mine like I’ve done 1000 times. I turned too sharp and boat  threw me out like a rag doll. Not sure exactly what happened other than I was going too fast and the boat whipped around before I could correct it. After climbing in the boat and collecting myself. I went back to the ramp, went home and changed clothes. Came back and finished same place I was to start the day at 32nd. The picture looks worse than it actually was. I had my life jacket and a helmet on. Not sure what I hit my head on but the inside of the helmet is what cut my head. I’m lucky to not have any further injuries. Just a reminder to wear your jacket and respect your boat. Things can change in an instant. 

[Ham]

Glad you’re Ok.

Fishing is such a pleasant, laid back pastime. 

 

[LukeD]

glad you weren't hurt any worse. could have ended badly.

I will have to say I am pretty religious about wearing mine as im not the best swimmer in the world by any means and summer before last I had a small incident where it could have turned out really bad with my last boat.

my wife and kids and I were camping at Aunts creek for the weekend was Memorial day weekend and kids were wanting to get out on the boat and fish. so like most times camping im always the first one up and the kids normally sleep pretty late but I figured I would go out for a hour or two before anyone woke up. so I hit the water and headed to the back of the creek arm. managed to catch quite a few fish. and it got about 8:30 am and I figured I would head back to camp and make breakfast for everyone. so I button everything up on the boat and head back. so get the boat up and running and managed to get behind a boat pulling a skier so not wanting to follow them back I moved out to pass them. when I hit the boat wake all of a sudden the boat is in the air and sideways. it hits the water bow first and spins me around quicker than I can blink and I'm facing the same way I just came from. it threw me all the way across the boat and into the opposite side. I managed to stay in the boat just mainly because I was able to hold on to the wheel with one hand and the boat I had at the time you practically sit on the floor so it was a deep boat. if it were like most of the newer boats where you sit up high from the gunnel im pretty confident I would have went out. and all this within 1 mile of the boat ramp so being that it was close I didn't have my life vest on. could have been a bad deal

what happened was when I went to cross the wake of the ski boat I gased on the boat and at the same time went to turn into the wake and the Hydraulic steering line came off the pump which kicked the motor to one side and threw me sideways in mid air. who ever had the boat before me had messed up the threaded end of the hydraulic hose so it did not screw onto the pump they just had a barb air type fitting on the pump and the hose with a hose clamp holding it on. stupid what people do to repair boats.

 

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, LukeD said:

the Hydraulic steering line came off the pump which kicked the motor to one side and threw me sideways in mid air. who ever had the boat before me had messed up the threaded end of the hydraulic hose so it did not screw onto the pump they just had a barb air type fitting on the pump and the hose with a hose clamp holding it on. stupid what people do to repair boats.

Yikes!   This is why I'm not a fan of hydraulic steering.   

[Quillback]

Dang Thumbs, should've saved that look for Halloween!

Glad you made it out with a relatively minor injury.

 

[MOPanfisher]

Dang that was bad but could have been so much worse.  Glad that you are still around to be a living example.

[edwin]

Glad it wasn't worse...be careful out there, esp as the water temps drop

[STLbassbuster]

Glad you made it out ok. So the boat hooked at some point and spun? Stayed upright?

[Sore Thumbs]

9 hours ago, STLbassbuster said:

Glad you made it out ok. So the boat hooked at some point and spun? Stayed upright?

Yes. Boat seems fine. I lost about 5 rods that were on the deck. Funny part about loosing those rods. The strap was still strapped down. Rods somehow slipped under . Weird. 

[ness]

20 hours ago, Sore Thumbs said:

I was fishing Beaver Lake Elite Series this weekend. Sitting in 32nd place going into day 2. Excited to get to my topwater spot I was trying to get there as soon as possible. Took the turn at Copper Mine like I’ve done 1000 times. I turned too sharp and boat  threw me out like a rag doll. Not sure exactly what happened other than I was going too fast and the boat whipped around before I could correct it. After climbing in the boat and collecting myself. I went back to the ramp, went home and changed clothes. Came back and finished same place I was to start the day at 32nd. The picture looks worse than it actually was. I had my life jacket and a helmet on. Not sure what I hit my head on but the inside of the helmet is what cut my head. I’m lucky to not have any further injuries. Just a reminder to wear your jacket and respect your boat. Things can change in an instant. 

Dang! Glad that you're ok.

On the bright side -- you've got the makings of the best derned avatar on OA ever right there!