Fishing ocean.....alone

[bgreene]

Two safety advantages to two or more on board:
1. In case you fall overboard
2. In case of medical emergency

Other than those situations, I don’t feel less safe alone, I most frequently do fish aloneand often prefer it . I fish how I please, where, and when plus less responsibility regarding guest comfort. I wear an auto inflate PFD with sports whistle, and the GPS locator to signal coast guard if I fall in. On board, two VHF, flares etc plus charger that can ( supposedly) start my outboard if battery too weak. Would I survive cold water till the rescue boat arrived ? Maybe......depending on temp.

How do others feel about this ?

[Redloon]

You might consider a safety line tied to the boat and yourself - say a light 25-50 foot nylon rope tied around one ankle and the other end to a close cleat. You have to be careful not to trip yourself but if you fall overboard and there is a 5 mph wind you would be surprised how fast the boat will drift away. Unless you are Michael Phelps whose top swimming speed was about 6 mph you'll never catch that boat.

I came up with that after fishing alone on a close by lake late October a couple of years ago. It was probably 10-15 mph winds. I was standing up in a 16' PowerCat casting to a submerged hump in the lake. Suddenly the boat rocked an odd way and I fortunately fell into the boat instead of going overboard. I never would have caught the boat and the lake was probably 55 degrees. Even with my life vest I probably would not have survived as i was about 1/2 mile from shore.

I jokingly tell my wife if I don't come back and they find the boat, just pull the rope and there you'll find my body.

[spareparts]

I've got customer that do this, I tell them not to go out till their check clears. There is so much false confidence with some of these guys with heavy dependence on electronic devices. Way too many things to go wrong. Besides, I look at fishing the way I do drinking, its more fun when you do it with a friend

[bgreene]

You might consider a safety line tied to the boat and yourself - say a light 25-50 foot nylon rope tied around one ankle and the other end to a close cleat. You have to be careful not to trip yourself but if you fall overboard and there is a 5 mph wind you would be surprised how fast the boat will drift away. Unless you are Michael Phelps whose top swimming speed was about 6 mph you'll never catch that boat.

I came up with that after fishing alone on a close by lake late October a couple of years ago. It was probably 10-15 mph winds. I was standing up in a 16' PowerCat casting to a submerged hump in the lake. Suddenly the boat rocked an odd way and I fortunately fell into the boat instead of going overboard. I never would have caught the boat and the lake was probably 55 degrees. Even with my life vest I probably would not have survived as i was about 1/2 mile from shore.

I jokingly tell my wife if I don't come back and they find the boat, just pull the rope and there you'll find my body.

Red...........tied around your ankle sir ? So if you fall overboard your boat will drag you backwards and complete the drowning much faster. What a way to go.....

[Redloon]

I think I'd be okay. My wife taught me how to handle that situation and there is a picture of me practicing. Refer to attached pictures.

[Redloon]

Just kidding. Those are a couple of images I snagged off the internet.

I've only got the rope on when I'm drift fishing or at anchor when I'm fishing.

[bgreene]

It’s trolling alone that’s more dangerous but doesn’t keep me from it .

[wellcraftv20step]

Seriously fishing alone is just a bad idea. I was always that guy that loved to be alone as I too liked the idea of not having to worry about others onboard! But as age creeps your just not the same guy,and anyone who's spent any real time on the water has experienced a time or two all the reasons you need someone along . Besides it's just not worth the absolute living HELL my wife puts me through when she gets wind of the fact that I'm thinking about going alone OMG.

[Redloon]

Wellcraftv20step wrote:

'Besides it's just not worth the absolute living HELL my wife puts me through when she gets wind of the fact that I'm thinking about going alone OMG.'


That is the best reason right there not to go alone! I couldn't stop laughing when I read that.:clap:

[spareparts]

If you cant find someone to go fishing with you, it probably says something about you

[phatdaddy]

I go out alone often, either going over to a barrier island and walking over to pompano fish, trolling for grouper,Spanish or king. Probably the biggest risk is when i was pulling my stone crab traps because i was in a 13 ft whaler.

Of course most of this is in the bay, but cold water and wind are everywhere. I would much rather have company, but due to my work schedule or lack there of, i go when i can.

There was a guy here couple of years ago that was site fishing for cobia about 200 yards off the beach. He was heading west, he was standing on the gunnells and holding on to the t top. Slipped off and the boat kept chugging west. He swims to the beach and calls coast guard. They found the boat next day beached about 100 miles away near Pensacola .

4 stroke motor, full tank of gas and hydraulic steering, it just kept going

[bgreene]

If you cant find someone to go fishing with you, it probably says something about you


This threads about fishing the ocean alone and I just don’t have a problem with it.

[Redneck]

It was probably my favourite day out on the salt my buddy was sick and decided at the dock he couldn’t make it out there. The conditions were perfect no wind made for a run out in flat seas. I kept my floater coat on and hand held radio attached to me. It was calm quiet what a peaceful day the salmon were biting hard all morning. After my limit was in the hold I just drifted on the outside of the other fisherman drinking coffee and taking in the action. Once the coffee was done I run over to a halibut hole at slack tide three drops and a 40lb fish it was time. A slow cruise back to the harbour watching dome humpbacks feed along the way was amazing. To top it off I pulled one of our crab traps and it had six big dungeness in it.

[bgreene]

Great pics

[Destroyer]

If you cant find someone to go fishing with you, it probably says something about you

Amen :)

[bgreene]

Wellcraftv20step wrote:

'Besides it's just not worth the absolute living HELL my wife puts me through when she gets wind of the fact that I'm thinking about going alone OMG.'


That is the best reason right there not to go alone! I couldn't stop laughing when I read that.:clap:

If the wife encouraged you to fish alone, especially on nasty weather days...THAT might suggest something :)

[wellcraftv20step]

I've been home from work for 3.75 months .it wouldn't surprise me now if she suggested that I go alone .

[steplift20]

Let's get serious, I tell all my sons never ever go out alone,anything can happen.i tell them a true story about 5 years ago at the beginning of the fishing season their was this charter captain who was taking his boat from one point to another by himself,well the boat ran aground with no one aboard and the engine was still running ,they found the captain dead footing in the water so what they think happened was that he tripped and fell overboard, I feel so bad for that guy cause he was probably all hyped up about starting his season and never made it, he must have been doing that along time with no issues until this day,so don't go out alone period

[bgreene]

Safer ..... yes no doubt, but like sailing solo across an ocean, part of the human spirit.

Snow skiing.....now that’s more dangerous in my experience. Large group of family and everyone’s been injured on the slopes, either from wipe outs , or other smashing into them.
I’ve seen people hurt from the chair lifts too.

The point ..... as a percentage, I bet snow skiing accounts for many more injuries per person
than fishing ocean alone, but it’s just viewed differently .

I’m humble to the power and risks at sea......taken in context of life overall.

[wellcraftv20step]

I was not going to add to this thread beyond my last post but I'll add this..Quite possibly My son in law may not have grown up without a dad if there were a second set of eyes aboard. Not that it would have stopped the clueless captain of the 35 footer from driving rite over his dads boat but maybe that 2nd set of eyes would have spotted the idiot ! I myself make a point of telling everyone aboard my boat that they are all Captains and don't be afraid or hesitant to say something! I'm going to assume you all do the same. Recently My two fishing partners over the last 30 years have retired and moved out by Spare. I don't mind cruising after dinner with the wife because as long as we're moving I have my eyes peeled.But I'm giving serious thought to the fact that I'll be anchor'd up Bass fishing the bridges and rips without those trusted sets of eyes and years of boating skills that I'm used to! Just something I've been thinking about.

[spareparts]

90 percent of the boats I'm on are broken, about half of those their owner doesn't even know its broken. I run boats by myself on regular basis, I've got 35 years on the water professionally and run three to four boats on the water a week. I wear an inflatable pfd, tell at least one person where I'm going and how long I will be. I've got at least one back up plan in case the engine stops running. I have a phone and vhf. I leave against the current in case I need to drift back. I go at it expecting it will break or give me trouble, its my job to fix it. I will not go boating for recreation by myself, its just not enjoyable or safe. I've seen the results of way too many unexpected

[bgreene]

Spare - you run boats by yourself all the time.....but you won’t go alone for recreation .
Not sure I follow but clear about the safety features. I use same plus I wear the personal locator ....
I fish with and without others, continue to do so as long as the Feds don’t create a law and mess it up.

[spareparts]

I run boats inshore, near docks and facilities, for short amounts of time, with all the safeguards I've mentioned. I do not go near the inlet or beyond the jetties without someone else with me. I prefer to have someone with me even running inshore. I carry a fair amount of tools and diagnostic equipment with me JIC. Most often, when I'm running one, I have someone on standby with a boat in case I need assistance. It is not fun, its not relaxing, its work, its what I do. BTW, GPS, PLBs, etc fail pretty regularly. I've got one customer that fishes offshore by himself, he bought a clip on PLB that responds if hes too far away from the helm and will shut the engines off. After several false alarms, a call from the USCG and the system shutting his engine off for no reason. He had the system removed and returned it