Five Boating Safety Tips for the Novice Fisherman

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

In case you haven’t noticed, driving a boat along the water isn’t exactly like driving a car. When you’re out on a boat, things like weight and balance become more sensitive. If you want to make sure that you have a safe and happy boating experience on your next fishing jaunt on the lake, it’s important to keep in mind some basic rules of safety and caution. Here are five tips for boating safety.

Tip #1: Follow the local laws and ordinances.

Some laws – like having enough life preserver jackets in the boat for everyone on board – are actually common sense ideas that you should enforce upon yourself anyway. Make sure you keep enough life jackets on board for everyone, and in general, be sure to follow the laws of the lake, including the wake hours.

Tip #2: When steering a boat, make small corrections when you can.

Steering a boat can feel like steering a car in slow motion – once you steer the engine, there is a delay before the turn really seems to take effect. It will be important to make small corrections when you’re steering a boat, unless of course there’s immediate danger and you need to turn right away. Try to keep your motions smooth so that they don’t upset the balance of the boat.

Tip #3: Make sure everything is secure before you accelerate.

On faster boats, this is especially a consideration. Make sure everyone is sitting down and prepared for an acceleration before you hit that throttle. You don’t want equipment – or worse, people – to go flying overboard because you suddenly turned up the engines. Unless there’s immediate danger, try not to accelerate or break all at once.

Tip #4: Make sure everything is off when you start fishing.

Having your engine off when you start fishing will help prevent a loose child on the boat from pushing the wrong button and catching everyone off-guard. Make sure everything is off and secure once you start fishing so that you can concentrate on the fishing itself.

Tip #5: Be mindful of other boats.

Sometimes when you’ve been out on the lake long enough, it can feel like you have the lake all to yourself. But it will still be important to be mindful of other boats so that you don’t find yourself getting too close to them.

Photo Credits: DeusXFlorida