How safe is fishing Solo?

[seatime]

If I fish midweek, which is more common these days, I'm on my own. When I work its on weekends, rest of the time there's 4 kids to look after. Like a lot of people the decision is made too late or I want to do some exploring and crew may not be available. I only have a 4m tinnie at home so its easy to handle, but I guess a small boat can be more vulnerable. I am a lot more careful these days tho, many years ago I regularly fished the sand island that was on the Sth Passage bar, alone.
A flooding tide across the face of the bar isn't always a fun place to be, so tide times need careful consideration. Also 12' tinnies are heavy when you need to drag them 50m to water, oops.

Fishing solo can be as safe as you want to make it I suppose, maybe it also builds confidence and an increased awareness and hopefully we're better and safer operators as a result.

rgds

[timbacutta]

I enjoy fishing with others but sometimes if there is no one available I will go by myself. Going by myself enables me to go when I want, come home when I want and go on short notice.

Some of the precautions I take is to always have the cord from the kill switch attached to my wrist whilst under way and I also have a radio and EPIRB on board close at hand.

I have not had any problems on the water so far, but getting the boat back on the trailer single handed has been a bit of a pain on a few occassions.

If you minimise your risks, going fishing solo can be an enjoyable experience.

Jeff.

[bidkev]

ooooops, sorry

Post whore!

kev

[finding_time]

[quote author=onerabbit link=1153122566/0#12 date=1153127390] # #ooooops, # sorry

Post whore! #

kev[/quote]

Hey pot this is kettle!

Guilt by association!!!

Ian

[bidkev]

Good thread scalem.

Used to go a lot when I had Kingtin....6 metre tinny with 70 yammy would cost me less than 40 bucks for a day out. Now a trip to the cape would cost me 120 and I can't justify that going on my own.

I still go solo in the little tinny but only in the Pine and Pin. My last escapade at the pin when I got thrown out has taught me a valuable lesson in always attaching the kill switch and I have to be honest, I was pretty reckless in that I never attached it before, although I always did when I went solo in the bay or offshore.

Not totally solo when I did go though, in that the deckie always launched me and took the trailer home and then met me at a pre-arranged time. I never logged onto VMR as I always thought the deckie could raise the alarm if I wasn't on time.

I like the solitude, deck space and peace of being alone and the chance to just get away from the kids now and again although I love 'em dearly. Having 'em with me most of the time when I'm fishing means that I rarely get a chance to float a bait out and most of the time I just bottom bash........put the rod in the holder and then attend to them. When they're grown, may be able to perfect my skills a bit, but until then...going solo is the only chance I get.

I can be a rather anxious person and quite often when solo I get to thinking "what if"? One occasion a whale surfaced really close and being solo you get to thinking "what if it had lifted the boat and I'd gone over" It was a night session on Curtin and I never really relaxed during the night. Tried to have a kip but got to thinking about anchor drag and other stuff Took the edge off the fun to be honest but being the masochist that I am...I will probably do it again

Age is creeping up and I really have to think about the likelihood that a mishap may cause the family grief.......If I'd've gone over the side at curtin.....the way that tide was running I'd've never got back in the boat....I'd've surfaced a hundred metres away. Doesn't bear thinking about realyy though does it?...especially for someone who at one time wouldn't have thought twice about free climbing a 100 metre rock face. I kinda think nowadays that I owe it to others to think about what I'm doing............that's my excuse anyways.....you didn't expect me to admit that I was shit scared did you?

Seriously though, I laughed about it but that last spill at the pin shook me up a bit. I'm rethinking

kev

[jimmybob]

hey there scalem......i love to fish alone...dont have to worry bout the noisy mate and ya can move on anywhere anytime ya want.....but its good to share awesome fishing moment too im sure all you agree.....im also a diabetic...so when i do go all alone im sure i have eaten well and take all the precautions needed...my wife does worry about me all alone floating around on my kayak ........if i did have a really bad low sugar ( hypo) and fell in the drink im sure that would make me crab food........i constantly tell her that i have too many fish to catch to die on the water so i really prepare myself b4 i go out and take plenty of sugar in case i need it........but i will tell ya it is quite hard to have an insulin injection while bobbing away in the bribie passage when there is lots of traffic....oops i think i mioght have gone off the topic a bit...sorry....but yer mate fishing alone is great but there is dangers involved somtimes im sure.....cheers james.......

[Alex9797]

Who would I blame all the things that go wrong on




cheers




Alex

[bungie]

Prefer going solo, both the bay and pin. The solitude is the reason I own a boat, fishing is a side line.

[StevenM]

Well,

99.9% of the time I fish alone, doesnt matter if its in the bay or offshore from the goldy. I never have anyone complaining about how hot, wet, cold etc etc. (joys of a open boat) I go and come as I please.

As for safety I give the misses a call and if going off shore log in. If things start getting uncomfortable I don the safety vest and ensure all other safety gear is in close proximity.

Dont even take a radio as I usually find that all the voices inside my head keep me busy.

Cheers

Steven

[shaman]

An old mate of mine used to own a trailer-sailer and he would quite often go out o'nite on his own and camp in the boat. One night he was anchored at Amity Pt. (Nth Straddie) and the D-Shackle on the pick let go somehow and when he woke up to a constant thumping thru the hull, he went up top and saw all these traffic lights. He was bumping up alongside a channel marker along side the Hornibrook Bridge (Redcliffe).
Now that's a big drift. I dunno what would of happened if the boat did a right hand turn out thru the Sth Passage Bar .
This guy loves the water and his boats but I don't think I remember a time when out with him that there wasn't some type of drama: groundings, boat on it's bum on the ramp,blown up outboard just to name a few, he even was about 2" off drowning in the mud at Jacobs Well once (submerged up to his nose on an incoming tide) I wasn't there but the stories this guy has tells me that there are some people who shouldn't go boating let alone boating SOLO..............Billy

I must tell you that I love this guy like my own dad and no ill feeling is intended.........Billy..........................hm m I must ring him............

[S_Bend]

Mate, thought provoking post. Haven't yet been out solo in this boat (yet) but have done so twice before - once in my 18 foot fibreglass off Noosa. Took a fairly big wave over the bow crossing the bar which shorted the radio out. Needless to say I went straight back in. The other time was in a 12 1/2 foot tinnie off North West Island. Caught an albatross that took a floating pillie. Can laugh about it now but have you ever tried dehooking a bird that size? Wing span was damn near the same length as the boat. Put a landing net on its head and kept that down with one foot while I held the head in one hand, beat off the flapping wings with the other and tried to gently remove the hooks. Took about half an hour. Good fight on light line though...

I have experienced quite a few nervous moments out in boats before from Manta Rays leaping nearby, whales passing by a bit too closely, hooking myself instead of the fish, motor problems, etc. Whilst I do enjoy a bit of quiet time, I think I will stick with calling the mates/family as deckie at this stage.

[Dodgy_Back]

I normally fish on my own as I always fish mid week.

I don't have a problem with it as I normally fish the Broadwater, it's always close to a sand bar or island and I always wear the kill switch lanyard.

I'm more worried about being at the boat ramp at 3 am on my own, worried that some lunatic will jump me .

Mick

[onerabbit]

[quote author=onerabbit link=1153122566/0#12 date=1153127390] # #ooooops, # sorry

Post whore! #

kev[/quote]

Sorry Kev, oooops done it again,


Muzz

[shaman]

Good post Jamaryiz, I had a visual with this big-ar$ed goonybird and u having a wrestle had a giggle, very funny indeed.

Hey dodgyback what ramp do you go to? I wouldn't mind getting jumped at 3 am even if it is by a lunatic (she'd have to be a cute lunatic though).
..............................Billy

[Hornblower]

I guess the question really isn't a question at all. Of course going with someone else makes it safer, but only by degrees. and of course there are excpetions. But if you take the "wrong" person with you, it could make it possibly more dangerous e.g. someone with no common sense and let's face it we all know someone like that.

But say if something goes terribly wrong, statistics seem to show that usually there are mutiple victims in such circumstances, and why is that, because people normally don't go out there alone.

I guess my point is this, yes it might be more safety wise to take that extra person with you, but generally if you go out alone you are confident, and experienced and know what your limits are and not to push them.

I firmly beleive that it is a judgement call and most people with average intelligence (and I definitely include myself in this category) know when they are getting into a dangerous situation. Some people's judgement tells them not to go out alone - and there is nothing wrong with that, and other's judgement tells them to go out alone, and there is nothing wrong with that as well.

With current technology of safety equipment, navigation aids, rescue services (although you should never rely on them as a matter of principle) then I beleive that boating is only getting safer, and all things considered that most dagnerous thing you do when you go fishing is driving your motor vehicle to the water/boat ramp.

And all things considered, we each make the water a safe place with our own actions and I for one am happy in the knowledge that if I was in trouble, I wouldn't have to watch someone from our membership ride past me with his nose in the air, as I know we are all here to help one another, and I firmly beleive that! All in all this thread has probably given us all something to think about.

Stay Safe