In The Drink

Mattdogger and I were fishing the Murray Mouth, the wind was very strong, I was leaning to port to get something out of the back, stinkboat came by close enough to combine all this together and flip me over with the help of his wake. Considerate SOB :evil:

I was in about 4 to 5 foot of water when she went over and the wind quickly moved me into deep water. Lesson here, attach yourself to your yak or you could be in big trouble quick. I wasn't at the time but was lucky enough to have a grip on her when she went over. Anyway, I ez'ly flipped her back over and it was when I came to climb back in I discovered a difficulty that someone might have a solution too. And Yes, not flipping is the best option; however, when your already in the drink it ISN'T!

When I tried the method of re-entry as prescribed on this site and else where I found there was a problem, for me anyway! Being a Senior Citizen of considerable size I found that this coupled with the bulk of my PFD I found myself unable to get back in coz the PFD was in the way. BTW, the PFD worked fine! By this time Matt had come over to help and the wind had moved me across to towards a sand bar so Matt just pulled me the rest of the way and I got back in that way. Matt suggested later that maybe I could have unzipped the PFD and got the bulk out of the way. Have not tried it yet so don't know if it will work; but, you can bet your sweet a.. I will!

Anybody got any other ideas?

Lessons learned! Practice B4 it happens - make sure you are teathered, especially in wind coz it moves your yak pretty quick. Be properly dressed for the occassion, I had on a long john wet suit etc and even though the water was about 60 degrees F I never felt cold. Watch out for bloody inconsiderate stinkboats!

Lost: one rod and real - yes it was leashed and in a Scotty rod holder; however, when she went over, being water less then the length of the rod it must have hit the bottom and it broke in half at the reel seat. One digital camera as it was not in a dry bag (gotta be a lesson there) it got submerged and didn't lke it. Several items in the milk crate that did not float including my nice lip gripper.

Generally, as the Boy Scouts say "Be Prepared!"

Had another encounter with a stinkboat on this trip where his wake washed over the yak and filled up the tackle box which was sitting open in my lap.

Did catch one small exuberant salmon trout who took a lure a third his own size.

Anyway, if anyone has some other options for getting back in I wud love to hear them.