Safety gear saves lives

As we near the Labor Day weekend and the end of the “boating” season, make sure you make safety a priority on the water. I think this is a good time to share this:

I have written several times about the high school bass tournaments that we started up way ahead of their time on Lake D’Arbonne back in the late 1970’s and 80’s. A lot of folks made a lot of memories back in those days. All of them weren’t about catching fish. Heath and Paul Greer of Bastrop ended up in the lake with the fish, instead of the fish in the boat with them. Here’s a note I recently received from Heath and a copy of the news article from that day.  I share it today for a lot of reasons, but MAINLY as a reminder how important it is to use your safety gear like life jackets and kill switches!

Mr Kinny,

I found this newspaper article in my dad’s collection.  Paul and I were very lucky we only lost a few rods and reels.  Since that time, we are both lifetime kill switch and life jacket users.  I always like to share this experience with young boaters and outdoorsmen. Hope to see you out on the Bone soon.  — Thanks, Heath