Just a thought on fishing "safety", and how a fun day of fishing can go so bad

[Fishless]

Just a little thinking on safety when out fishing. I was at pleasant the other day with a buddy and we were spooning stripers when an older gentleman came down lake and asked if we minded if he fished the area, said no problem. Real nice older guy have seen him several times on the lake. I remember reading some time back about a fisherman that was in humbug and had a lure caught up on a tree and as he was pulling it it broke loose came flying back at him and hit him in the eye, guys on the zone were talking about knowing the gentleman. Well the the guy that pulled up next to us last week was this older gent. He just got back out on the lake fishing, he lost his eye and now has an artificial eye, sad deal. I remembered back 25 years ago a group of us fireman were at powell and stopped in at what was that time rainbow marina (floating marina) to get supplies, guy came blowing in past the no wakes bouncing the docks and store all over the place employees yelling at him and in his boat was his 13 year old son with a fish lure "hook" stuck in his eye , bunch of fireman there and not a dang thing we can do for him, no place to land a helicopter, no EMS on the lake at that time, so we covered the eye and stabilized the lure (terrible sight) and the father had another 50 mile drive back to whalweep.

To my point, how many times I have done the same thing, have a fish come unbuttoned right at the boat, get a lure or jig stuck on a tree and being pulling it when it comes loose and here comes the lure right at you and I am ducking to keep from getting hit, and some times I have been hit in the body. If you get a hook caught in any part of your body you or a doctor can remove it and it is a war story, get a hook embedded in your eye and it can become a tragedy We all fish often with sunglasses on but I fish as many of you do before the sun comes up or after it goes down and the first thing you take off is your sunglasses I have reading glasses in the boat to tie on lures but as soon as I am done, they are off and back out of the way, so there I sit with nothing protecting something that is so valuable

I went down yesterday and for $2.10 a pair at my local hardware store bought two pairs of clear safety glasses, fit nice no distortion and when the sun comes up off they go back in the glove box and out come the sun glasses. Hearing that old guys story really got my attention

[wadefisherman]

Good advice Bruce, I keep a clear set for running the lake, I will be wearing them more often. Especially when fishing with rookies like Willie...lol

[IAMMAC]

I have several pairs of ballistic eye pro (clear and tinted) two pair of the clear will go into the boat when I return for early hours and night fishing.  Thanks Bruce!

[Papermouth]

I keep a pair of clear riding glasses probably identical to those you are speaking of, for when I'm driving in low lihgt conditions across the lake (for bugs and wind) - BUT - I never put enough thought into the eye thing. Snagged my ear fly fishing this past weekend so this advice couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you, Bruce.

[sandman]

Good tip. Thanks Bruce.

Another one along these lines is to make sure that your lenses are CR39 or polycarbonate. I was fishing with a guy that pulled a snag loose and the flying piece of lead hit his glass lens and shattered it.

[wadefisherman]

My Oakley's supposedly can handle a 22, don't think I'm willing to find out.

[Philbie]

Ansi 87.1 rating means they're considered safety glasses.  Oakley type glasses doen't carry this and aren't even allowed on most work sites.  Personally, any glass is an improvement over nothing, but if you go part of the way why not the rest of the way?