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Dwayne Mills 		"GUNNY'S TACKLE BOX"
Fishing Reports And Articles On Lower Alabama Rivers
Email gunny@hook1.com

SAFETY ON THE WATER


Safety on the water is very important, and it is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
There are many boating citations that are given out annually that could have been alleviated.
They could have been alleviated through education and or a boating checklist.
Too many boating incidents take place annually; some of them can be prevented by ensuring that we are educated on the rules of the water from the state that we are boating in. There are many safety courses that are given by each state, some are proctored and some are not. Of course, there are some that are also better than others. Each state has it own set of boating safety rules and what equipment that must be carried aboard. Remember it is the boaters responsibility to ensure that the appropriate equipment and all personnel aboard the vessel are following the set rules. As we consider safety we can look upon it many ways. The most important way to look upon safety is to make sure that we aren’t taking anything for granted and protect ourselves to ensure that we make it home safely.

There are many areas of safety that we must consider and don’t get me wrong, everyone of them is just as important as the other. One of the areas that I will consider is the head. The head is something that we all take for granted. We don’t protect our heads, necks or faces as we should.

We must have something to protect our heads from the brutal rays of the sun or from the liquid sunshine that periodically falls during our adventures out on the water. The bill of the hat will keep the sun or rain from getting to our face. There are many hats out on the market today that will also protect our necks and ears. A hat can also keep the warmth in on those chilly winter days. A knit cap or face mask can be used for warmth when running early in the morning or from one area to another through out the day of fishing. A great item to have is a full face helmet, which not only protects your head, but also provides the warmth and protects your face from the wind and or rain. Rain hitting the skin at 60 mph is not a pleasant feeling. Rain isn’t the only thing that can hit you in the face. Bugs early in the morning can also hurt the face. What about all the sand and dirt that is on the front deck of a boat after is has been walked on? Anything of any size that becomes airborne is a potential hazard, please protect yourself, that you can fish another day.

There are just as many styles of glasses as there are places that you can purchase them.
During periods of reduced visibility, a clear or amber lenses is recommended. These periods of reduced visibility may be early in morning during blast off, during periods of rain, snow or sleet, or a completely
overcast day. Protecting our eyes is very important. We must have keen eyesight to ensure that we have depth perception, or ensure that we can evaluate our target areas that we are going to be casting at for a precise and accurate cast. Needless to say we need our eye sight to ensure that we can navigate our fishing machines in search of those illusive largemouth bass.
When the sun is out we need a lenses that will protect our eyes from the rays of the sun and the glare off of the water. Polarized lenses are recommended. Having shields on the sides of your lenses is also recommended to keep the glare that we get in the corners of our eyes from distracting us from our primary mission of putting quality fish in the livewell.

The use of sunscreen is something that not many of us do. We should always keep a tube of sunscreen in our boats or tackle bags. Using SPF 15 or greater is recommended. Believe it or not, we get a lot of reflected rays off of the surface of the water. These indirect rays are reflected straight to our face
underneath the bills of our hats. Coating our faces with sunscreen, paying special attention to our forehead and cheek areas, is very important.

Next month we will consider another area of safety. Until next time, see you on the water and be safe.

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