k-bob
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 2,371
Just saw the movie 127 Hours, in which a rock climber gets stuck so badly in a spill that he'd give his right arm to get out, OK, I'll stop. (The climber seemed pretty casual about safety, for example, using an ipod while climbing).
I like to fish rough, remote places for brookies and usually go alone; I can often get away at the last second on weekdays.
I am doing the Winter Review of Gear, and wonder if there's safety enhancements I can make. I have never been injured, just broke a few fly rods and other stuff in spills. Still, you could get hurt out there, and there is usually no one around. I ran into about as many rattlers as fishermen in 2010, just a few of each.
I carry a cell, but you can't count on cell service in ravines.
I am doing more to tell my wife where I am going, but of course I often hit multiple streams in a day, and change directions when something looks promising.
I carry both a NOAA-registered 406 mhz locator beacon (bass pro sells them, 'bout $400 but no annual fee) and a good garmin gps with topo and electronic compass.
I wear excellent turtleskin snake gaitors from knees to boot tops. There is probably very little chance of poisonous snake bite -- the few rattlers I've run into were not aggressive, unlike watersnakes and black racers. But the turtleskin wraps save your waders from getting cut by thorns, and they might help avoid cuts from underwater stuff I crash in to. Completely comfortable.
Think I will actually put the TU sticker on my car. I assume cops scan cars found in weird places for signs of where the owner might be. ("Would some idiot actually go fishing down in that hollow?")
Have learned to not tuck my fishing shirts in to my waders. I had a deer tick biting my side once, and the tick's path to me would have been longer if I kept my shirt tail out.
Carry a decent rain jacket in vest. Have good Simms wading boots, falling is probably the most likely problem. I have a serious blaze orange vest for hunting season. Trekking poles help: faster and more stable hiking.
Have learned to make some noise moving up streams so I don't walk in and surprise Yogi, or Mrs Yogi and Boo Boo.
Think I'll stay out of crazy ravines when the ground is frozen and snow covered. Too hard to see ice patches from tiny trickles underfoot.
So, am I state of the art? Jet pack?
I like to fish rough, remote places for brookies and usually go alone; I can often get away at the last second on weekdays.
I am doing the Winter Review of Gear, and wonder if there's safety enhancements I can make. I have never been injured, just broke a few fly rods and other stuff in spills. Still, you could get hurt out there, and there is usually no one around. I ran into about as many rattlers as fishermen in 2010, just a few of each.
I carry a cell, but you can't count on cell service in ravines.
I am doing more to tell my wife where I am going, but of course I often hit multiple streams in a day, and change directions when something looks promising.
I carry both a NOAA-registered 406 mhz locator beacon (bass pro sells them, 'bout $400 but no annual fee) and a good garmin gps with topo and electronic compass.
I wear excellent turtleskin snake gaitors from knees to boot tops. There is probably very little chance of poisonous snake bite -- the few rattlers I've run into were not aggressive, unlike watersnakes and black racers. But the turtleskin wraps save your waders from getting cut by thorns, and they might help avoid cuts from underwater stuff I crash in to. Completely comfortable.
Think I will actually put the TU sticker on my car. I assume cops scan cars found in weird places for signs of where the owner might be. ("Would some idiot actually go fishing down in that hollow?")
Have learned to not tuck my fishing shirts in to my waders. I had a deer tick biting my side once, and the tick's path to me would have been longer if I kept my shirt tail out.
Carry a decent rain jacket in vest. Have good Simms wading boots, falling is probably the most likely problem. I have a serious blaze orange vest for hunting season. Trekking poles help: faster and more stable hiking.
Have learned to make some noise moving up streams so I don't walk in and surprise Yogi, or Mrs Yogi and Boo Boo.
Think I'll stay out of crazy ravines when the ground is frozen and snow covered. Too hard to see ice patches from tiny trickles underfoot.
So, am I state of the art? Jet pack?