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

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

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.

Great pics

Amen :)

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

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

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

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.

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.