Tideline Summer 2017

A while back I had three fellows fishing with me who brought along and wore their own personal floatation devices (PFD’s), but unlike normal lifejackets or vests, what they had resembled a set of wide suspenders. With the helps of a Co2 cartridge the device would automatically inflate if the wearer ended up in the water, or if they pulled a certain red plastic tab. I certainly have no problem with anyone who chooses to take the extra steps to help ensure their personal safety. In fact, I applaud such actions and agree with safety statistics indicating that if all boaters would wear PFD’s (even people who can swim) there would be a lot less fatalities on the water. Still, seeing three guys step aboard my boat and immediately don lifejackets had me wondering what kind confidence they had in me as a captain. Hey - I’ve got a good sound boat, with high enough sides that people just don’t go falling overboard very easily and I’m happy to report that I’ve always managed to bring home every customer I’ve taken out. Of course some have come back a bit on the “pickled” side, and more than just a few have been burnt red like steamed crabs. But fortunately all have arrived back at the dock alive and well, even despite the pleading by some of my seasick clients to just kill them right there on the deck and put and end to their misery. Some things I just won’t do – dead customers don’t pay very well. While my clients always seem to stay in the boat, I wish I could say the same about myself. I don’t know if it’s just that if when you’re on the water so much that it’s bound to happen to you sooner or later, if it’s a matter of getting older and clumsier, or that I’m doing dumber things these days. I only know that I’ve found myself climbing back into boat more times in the last twenty-some years than I have in my first thirty, and it’s getting embarrassing! The first in my string of splashdowns occurred while fishing by myself down in the Florida Keys. I was working a flat in about three feet of water, standing on the bow of a skiff casting to a bunch of barracuda. I hooked one of the toothy torpedoes which immediately struck off for the water at the stern of the boat, I tried to follow by walking along the wet gunwale which proved to be a lot slicker than I imagined. Barracuda are revered for their jumping ability when hooked, but they’ve got nothing on a 183 pound doofuss doing the two-step off a boat while trying not to break or lose an $800 fly rod!

Even on a calm day an unexpected boat's wake can rock someone right into the drink!

When I stood up in the waist-deep water I was happy to find that the cuda was still hooked-up and slowly moving off into the current. Unfortunately my boat was quickly moving off “with” the current, forcing me to wade after it at warp-speed. Of course I wasn’t wearing shoes to protect my feet from common wading hazards like coral, sea urchins, and stingrays, after all I was supposed to be “in” the boat. I made haste, caught the boat and the fish, and later found that Soft Scrub works very well for taking human blood off a fiberglass deck. The next time I took an unexpected plunge was also in the Keys. I had jury-rigged a poling platform on an old boat and it was the first time I tried to use it. In fact it was the first time I had ever tried poling a boat at all, a deadly combination from the start. I had two friends with me, one elected to get out and wade (he had shoes) saying something about being in the water with barracuda and sharks might be safer than standing in front of me while I’m perched on an elevated platform wielding a 20-foot push pole. I wasn’t about to argue with him, I’ve seen him cast, and the thought of standing behind him on an elevated platform while he wings a fly rod around didn’t seem too safe either. My push pole may be 20-feet long but it’s only 2-inches in diameter, that’s not much to hide behind when someone’s backcast goes wild! Anyway, with one brave sole (and better caster) up on the bow, I pushed the boat around a flat looking for potential targets. Spotting a couple of nice barracuda up ahead I elected to stop the boat by staking-out and letting the angler make his casts. “Staking-out” is like anchoring except that instead of an anchor, once the boat is stopped, the push pole is jammed into the bottom and then tied to the boat via a short piece of rope. With my inexperience I didn’t realize

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