With many northern inland lakes still frozen and there's still some ice lingering on the Great Lakes, there's plenty of open water elsewhere.

So boating season is or will be getting underway for many of us soon.

Before hitting the water, it's crucial to check the forecast for thunderstorms.

Here are some other important safety tips.

Stay Safe

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

 

..............timely post!

 

This is also the time of year that when fishing alone, I don't take off my PFD when fishing and drop may ladder when trolling.  Those without ladders should also practice up on how to get back in the boat before hyperthermia sets in.....

Very good reminder. Thanks for posting.

When spring fishing in Oklahoma you better be weather aware. Not just when you are on the water but the route you intend to travel. I've been staying at a cabin on two different occasions away from home and we were in a tornado watch. Not the best feeling in the world.

Ice breakers went through the st lawrence river the last couple of days. The first 2 freight ships made it into lake ontario today. Now that ships are moving the ice in the bays will break up fast. I'll probably be chasing perch the weekend after next. 

    Here in NY, you have to wear pfd's at all times in a boat until may 1st. It's a good law in my opinion. You'd be in serious trouble if you fell in this time of year. The pdf could easily be a lifesaver.

When I have to head to shore I look foe a little draw to pull into .

You won't catch me fishing with any storms on the horizon. The moment my phone alerts me to lightning in the distance I pack up and leave. I won't be launching the kayak until May, I won't risk hypothermia. I won't be stepping into the rivers until the flood waters recede and it warms up. Live to fish another day.

If there are thunderstorms in the forecast, I'm not going out. No matter what, I wear my PFD from the time I launch until the time I land.

There are thunderstorms in the forecast about 75% of days in east TN. I can’t begin to describe how inaccurate the weather reports are, nobody believes it until they live here. Unless you want to stay at home all the time, we have to mix it up with the storms from time to time. We don’t have the crazy tornados like they do for the west and south but lots of lightning. If there is lightning we just get the heck out of the boat try to find the best safety, it usually ends up being a barn. There are two trips I take annually that I wouldn’t miss for anything. One is canoe camping weekend float trip down the big south fork of the Cumberland River that me and all my friends have done for over a decade. ZERO of these trips haven’t involved lightning and a storm. Then there is my camping trip in south Alabama that I have been on for 20 years straight and the family I go with has done for over 50 years. Bass pro shops even did a commercial about this trip (including yours truly haha). If there’s anyone in the world that is storm conscious it’s these guys. They grew up poor in the 30s in Alabama with nothing but what they built and grew with 11 kids. One night when they came out of the storm shelter the house was gone. Needless to say they don’t mess around with storms. Regardless we camp every year and fish HARD, no internet or cell service for so called “weather forecasts.” All this to say if I stayed home every time there was a storm forecasted I would be a vampire not a fisherman 

My dad taught me to in bad weather to always keep one eye on the sky.

I was night fishing two summers ago and saw lightning in the distance . So I headed in and put my stuff up . The storm stalled several miles away and dropped five inches of rain on Clarence Missouri . I sat on the tail gate of my truck and watched the lightning show for over an hour . It was impressive . The sky was spider webbed with lightning from the storm too over my head .