Don’t sacrifice safety for outdoor adventures

Nobody deserves to get hurt while fishing, but Mother Nature is not exactly warm and fuzzy about looking out for those who don’t look out for themselves.

Fishing people go in harm’s way every time they visit the water. Lakes and rivers, ponds and creeks all are dangerous places. They can kill those who are careless, and even those who take all due precautions.

It’s important, therefore, to prepare well every time you go to the water. Leave nothing to chance when it comes to safety. One false move, or one careless moment, is all it takes for Mother Nature to write your obituary.

Any water is a potential hazard. Cold water is especially perilous. The cruel thing about cold water is it’s the best we’ve got right after ice-out and we are finally able to cure our cabin fever with a fishing trip.

Anglers breaking out of their winter blahs often are tempted to take a few shortcuts to jump-start their season. But now is not the time to throw caution to the wind. The dangers associated with boating in cold water are obvious. But even shore fishermen can become victims. A late-March slip off a dock or an ankle-twisting tumble from a rip-rap bank can send an angler in over his head in water cold enough to numb a hippo.

I’ve been in cold water three times. Two of those occasions were results of freaky accidents, while the third was caused by carelessness.

The scariest of these misadventures occurred many years ago during a midwinter visit to the Chagrin River. I lost my footing on a mossy slate bottom and splashed to my butt as the current swept my legs downstream.

Air trapped in my waders floated my lower body, but my chest and head took a pretty good dunking before the current pushed me to a place where I could scramble to dry ground. My clothes were frozen stiff by the time I returned to my van.

A misstep off the front deck of my boat in early April at Mosquito Creek Reservoir sent me overboard, but I was fortunate the bottom was only 3 feet deep. One year’s first crappie trip at Berlin almost ended in disaster when the plug somehow worked loose from the transom and we found ourselves splish-splashing in 45-degree water.

All of these incidents ended well. But any of them could have had a disastrous outcome.

To tip the odds in your favor should the unthinkable happen, wear your life jacket — don’t just keep it handy, but wear it — when fishing in cold water.

Make sure your boat is water tight and the engine is reliable. Load the boat within limits and distribute people and gear in a way that keeps the vessel stable.

Stream fishermen — and they’ll be hitting Erie’s tributaries hard for spring steelhead — are advised to scout their waters carefully. Downed trees can alter currents to create holes, and undercut and erode banks.

To minimize hypothermic effects should you get a cold-water soaking, dress in layers of synthetic materials that will dry quickly, and top them off with a wind-resistant outer shell.

A little planning and clear-headed thinking go a long way toward providing protection from the perils of cold-water fishing accidents.

For additional safety tips, visit ohiodnr.com.

jwwollitz@aol.com