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Cold Water Boat Safety

I know many of you have already winterized the boats.  However, I also know that as long as we have liquid water, some will still be launching boats and fishing.  We have lots of folks that are using their boats for waterfowl hunting too.  You all should have made note of this news release at the end of last week:

Trenton man injured in Swanson Reservoir boating accident

LINCOLN, Neb. – A 46-year-old Trenton man was hospitalized with injuries following a boating accident Nov. 19 on Swanson Reservoir in Hitchcock County.

Sometime in the afternoon, the victim, the sole occupant other than a dog, apparently was ejected from his boat. The running boat began circling. Another boater rescued the man from the water and took him to the boat ramp to be treated by emergency personnel.

The victim, who sustained injuries from the propeller, was flown by helicopter to CHI Health Good Samaritan in Kearney.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission conservation officers secured the boat and dog. Game and Parks is investigating the incident.

Wear your life jacket, use the kill switch!  You should do that ALL THE TIME, but it is especially critical when the water is cold.  That would be now.

I will keep blogging about this from time to time because of what I see.  I continually see guys fishing alone, not wearing their life jacket and not using the kill-switch.

You are asking for trouble.

Watch the first couple minutes of this video.  You will get the idea.

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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