Almost NEVER without a jacket on. I can swim good, maybe even great, but when that water is cold/cool, and who knows what might happen, I want the Coast Guard to at least find my body, ha! Plus, I read all the time about guys, Charter Captains who drown when the boat goes down, because, get this, they can't swim!, but they don't wear their life jackets. Makes no sense as automatic inflatables are not that much money. It is like when my girl was surprised when I bought a VHF, and I asked her what her life was worth when the fixed VHF doesn't work and the cell phone has no signal/got wet, really?, what is ones life worth?
To be able to go fishing after work, what beats that, especially with the weather we've been having. Even not catching anything, just to be able to get out and see this . . . what a great life.
I find that hanging out around a good fish-laden spot from just before sunset and staying there until it gets dark out to learn the drift and where the danger areas are really helps, but then one has to be comfortable running in the dark and/or be aided by a GPS. For years I had no GPS nor did anyone else, we had to rely on just knowing the lit bouys or lights on shore to get us home, now I can go out and know that even in fog at night, I'm going to get home, so it takes some practice and getting used to. Then again, those with bad night-vision might never feel good about going out at night. I love it because there is no-one out at night and the fish filled spots are all mine. Sharing is sharing but the less riff-raff out there the better, right?
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