1st Time

[ronaultmtd]

The lessons learned will not be soon forgotten- I am an old country boy from the hills of Arkansas- don't have to hit me with a stick but once...I have been considering buying a small center console for Island hopping for specks, eastern shore tarpon fishing and runs to the Cobia grounds...the turtle did nothing but reinforce that thought- the biggest take away here is to prepare better for the turtle- I am glad I did not have any rod leashes- I would have definitely gotten tangled in those and under water you don't do too well with reactions- I am now looking at flotation for the rods. I would rather lose tackle than drown- The Plano plastic boxes with my tackle floated- I think they are just fine the way they are- PIA swimming around grabbing them but at least they float- the other thing is keeping one side of the kayak clean to re-enter- no mounts of any kind blocking the way- before you put any thing on the sides of your kayak think about re-entering the boat from the water- and it is different when you are in the water. And the other thing is righting the upside down kayak- rods still in the holders makes this next to impossible- the upright Seat back and crate resistance didn't help but I was able to get the Outback turned back over and started throwing stuff back into the boat- My handheld VHF ICom M34 floats just fine.

[MetroMan]

the other thing is keeping one side of the kayak clean to re-enter- no mounts of any kind blocking the way- before you put any thing on the sides of your kayak think about re-entering the boat from the water-

+1 I've been saying this for a while.

Glad you're ok, and I'm glad you got most of your stuff back.

[scorpioreno]

Glad you are OK Ron. I feel your pain. When these things happen it is a little disheartening and embarrassing, but by sharing your experience teaches all of us to stop and put ourselves in your shoes and take needed precautions and situational awareness is heightened. I know that when I turned over in my pro angler that boat is too heavy to flip back over when you are treading water. I too, thought about getting a small center console after my incident. I hope to see you on the water soon.

[ronaultmtd]

I do not believe in coincidence- everything that happens; happens for a reason. We may not understand why at the time, but later on we look back and see the "why." Yesterday was meant to happen- maybe the why wasn't meant even for me, but it was meant to be-

Back decades ago my older Brother Tom (who has since passed away) was piloting his 24 foot Aquasport cuddy cabin in position to anchor up current to the Ricks wreck ( a WWII ship sunk by U-Boat) to shark fish in early August for the big Tiger sharks that were known to hang around that wreck about 23 miles off Rudee Inlet on the edge of the South East Lumps. We wanted the 500 pounds of frozen ground up Menhaden chum to drift back across the wreck and draw the sharks to the boat far enough from the wrench not to tangle the lines in the wreck when fighting a big shark. We had a big orange floating bouy on the anchor line so we could unhook the rope and chase the fish without worrying about the anchor rope- I was on the bow with the anchor while he was intently watching the Loran C to get the exact set of numbers we always went to. Without warning a rogue wave hit tossing me about six feet into the air and out in front of the boat, still holding the anchor and 250 feet of 1/2 inch nylon rope tied to the bow cleat- I had the presence of mind to drop the anchor and the rope- as the boat passed over me, I pushed off the bottom of the boat hard to clear the propeller. Tom never even knew I was overboard until I was pulling my self up on the stern- he laughed about me setting a world record swimming speed getting back from the water known to have big Tigers...so even in a big offshore boat you can still get wet-

[loupa5]

Its a humbling experience but one that makes you realize how Sh$t happens and can turn for the worse in the blink of an eye. When you least expect it and boom, there it is....no time to react, no time to rectify the situation. I know the feeling all too well when it happened to me at White Horse Rapids just below Harper's Ferry. I lost a Plano box filled with jigs, three fishing poles and my pride. I learned that day you can never be prepared for the unexpected but you can learn from it, if you survive. Thanks for sharing...

[Shady]

Thanks for sharing the story, glad you made it out ok, and glad you recovered most of your stuff!

[AbuMasgouf]

Wow Ron! A lesson to learn from for all of us. Very happy to hear you are ok and nothing was lost that can't be replaced.

[ronaultmtd]

Thanks for all the support from the forum- so far only one reel is going back to the factory- one Lexa couldn't be taken apart- the large side screw in the anti backlash control that allows the reel to be cleaned had frozen and when I tried to remove it, it broke off- so that reel is out of commission- my other reels were full of the super fine sugar sand- used hot soapy water to rinse all the grease off, sprayed the gears and levers off with WD-40 dried the WD 40 off and used Penn Precision grease to re-lube the gears and levers- one drop off Penn synthetic reel oil in all the ball bearings and put everything back together- got one Revo left to go- tedious work- helps to have been an inside machinists-

[Beerboy]

Thank you for the reminder and the lesson about being on the water. Glad to hear it was relatively benign. On the camera issue, I use one of these floats (http://www.amazon.com/Chums-30046-Waterproof-Camera-Float/dp/B003CK10DG/). Works nice for snorkeling with the camera as well. It easily detaches when you are using the camera on dry land and isn't too tangly.

[Runnin]

First off, glad you made it through safely! I'm impressed that you recovered 95% of your stuff. You may be doing some thinking about "lessons learned" but the fact the you only lost a couple items shows the thought and preparations that you made prior to your first turtle. Good job!