Went out a fishing hole late this afternoon … it’s a marl pit that they dug out years ago for making the road beds in this area. Of course, filled in with water and kinda deep in spots, too - and there’s good bass & bream fishing to be had. Have fished it for years and great for trying out new fishing equipment & flies and such. Went out there this afternoon to try out some new poppers a fellow fly fishermen sent to me.
Got out the Radison canoe/boat and launched it at the pond. Loaded it with my usual gear … canvas creel where I tote extra leader and tippet material, flies & poppers, a pair of great fishing pliers, a small bottle of water. The Radisson looks like the one below, which is a 14 footer, only mine is a 12 foot model … and mine is painted green. Have used it for years, in many rivers and small lakes and ponds. Know it like the back of my hand.
Well, of all things I rolled it over while in the pond this afternoon! As best I can remember, while sitting in the rear seat, I turned around to look backward and meant to place the palm of my hand on the gunnel as I leaned back - however - the heel of my palm slipped off the gunnel and I rolled right over the side with the boat rolling right with me! Did a side swim stroke holding onto the canoe and headed for the shore which was maybe 40 feet away. Oh, did save the bucket, too, which I use to bail the remaining water out
after I turned the boat upright when we reached shore.
Did manage to save the fly rod! Grabbed that and placed in on the upturned bottom, along with some fly containers, a roll of tippet material and my fishing hat. However, lost the canvas creel which was weighed down with those nice fishing pliers!
Chalking this up to lesson number “eight-B-4-1” (LOL), plus saying a big “thank you” to the Higher Power for my being able to post this experience right now! AND, seem to remember the reason why we use to tie a small line from the thwart to things like that canvas creel … just in case you might roll over or something!
Glad to hear the damage was limited, but if you are going to continue with stunts like that you’re going to have to join the Crash Test Dummy Association. I’m the president.
That’s a plus side in that they are light, for example my 12 footer is less then 50 lbs, and I’ve been able to access some off the beaten path ponds and river points. Radisson has the same sizes (12 or 14 foot) in the pointed end and the square stern models. However, the transom rear (canoe/boat), like mine and the posted pic, the main redeeming feature is they are the more stable in the water. That is, to the point that I just posted!
A good inflatable PFD would be very comforting insurance. After working with canine search and rescue years ago, and more recently The US Coast Guard Auxiliary, I can state with certainty that I have never recovered a body off the bottom wearing a life vest…
I second saltydog. I flipped a canoe in Maine a few years ago wearing my PFD. Blew my whistle and this guy in a power boat came by, picked me up and said “We’ll get tow the canoe back to shore”. To which I replied, “Do you take AAA?”. We laughed, I got back to the camper where my wife almost died of oxygen deprivation trying not to laugh. I lost no equipment, just a little ego, but now trust my PFD to the max. I think everyone should go over, in a controlled sense, and see how the PFD works. I just leaned back, enjoyed the warm water. Can’t swim in that PFD!
Mike
Years ago when me and my brothers first started going out in a boat my dad had all of us always wear a PFD when in a boat and he always wore one himself. I still always wear one even though I have never needed it. I figure all you have to need it is once in your lifetime and it’s worth it and as my life is not yet over I’ll continue using it.
I’m a kayaker. I would actually like to participate in some deep-water recovery training with my boat.
I always wear my PFD while on the water. I need to go fall into a pool, either standing or from a sitting position, to get an idea of how well it keeps me up.
When I first started to fish out of my kayak, I was in about 3ft of water in the Indian River Lagoon, had not put the rod holder on the yak yet, so the fly rod was laying in the bottom of the yak. As I was starting to paddle out, I noticed a manatee crossing in front of me, so I stopped the yak to let it go past me. When it was a prudent distance away, I started to get moving again, and when I took the first paddle stroke, unbeknownst to me, there happened to be another manatee under my yak, which proceeded to flail the water with it’s tail while under my kayak. Needless to say, me, the fly rod, and the paddle all went flying from the kayak. And it continued to raise cain for 40 ft. Recovered everything an went along my way, I was lucky that it happened in shallow water. Started wearing a PFD after that.
I get a regular news email from paddling.net and they have a host of articles on canoes and kayaks and below posted their safety archives. On particular article that I neglected to read was about righting a turned over canoe in deep water. My experience in sort of “friendly waters” was a golden opportunity to give the technique a try but I missed it! Since my mishap happened where it did (and being very lax about safety), I took it as an omen for future strange waters. Anyplace else I would have been wearing a PDF.
