Last weekend I was fishing one of my favorite lakes, that's just under 400 acres in size. They allow outboard powered boats & paddle craft, but no jet skis, swimming, or water skiing on that body of water, which suits me fine. I fish from a kayak most of the time because I enjoy the exercise, getting close to the water, and the satisfaction of pulling crankbaits under my own power. Normally, I wear a light tan floppy hat to keep the sun off my head, a neck gaiter, and fingerless gloves, to go with a long sleeved white shirt under a green PFD. My kayak is woodland camo because I also use it to access hard to get to places to turkey hunt & a bright boat isn't the best idea for that situation.

Last Saturday was foggy and not an extremely bright day early on. I was paddling my kayak parallel to the bank, pulling crankbaits over some 30+ foot deep water about 20 feet off the bank, when I heard a bass boat running down the lake towards me, fast. The fact that I'm constantly moving, I put out a wake, and my arms and paddle are almost always in constant motion, I'm not terribly worried about not being seen. Well, the guy in that bass boat kept getting closer, wasn't backing off the throttle, and his course was straight at me. All I can figure is that he was looking down at the depthfinder and not where he was going. I swept the paddle straight up in the air and started waving it back & forth as he approached me up on plane. He swerved out towards the channel about 60 yards from me and got out of the throttle. I had a pretty high pucker factor going on up until then, but was extremely relieved that he saw me in time. I wasn't to the point of seeing my life flash before my eyes yet, but I dang sure considered it. He circled out over the channel and pulled up beside me, then told me I was lucky he saw me & that I needed to be wearing brighter clothes. I told him that it is usually not a problem for others to see me, since I'm in constant motion. Plus, the others don't tend run wide open up close to the bank through fog, like he was. We both agreed to change our ways and went back to what each was doing. It took me a while to quit shaking.

The first thing I did when I got home was order a blaze orange boonie hat with a reflective band around it that can be seen from all angles. I'm also going to the kayak shop tomorrow to find a safety flag/light for the boat. I never feared for my life before when I was crappie fishing, but I guess there's a first for everything. Be safe out there Y'all.

Jim