# Leash Everything!!!



## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

Well, since this is the first free moment I've had since the weekend, I thought I'd throw out a caution to all newbie yakkers out there. But first, a short back-story. I went bass fishing with a buddy on Saturday, in a small tributary off of the Potomac River. The water's shallow, and there are a lot of boats, but back in the woody area we fished, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Fishing was good, up until I did the most boneheaded thing that I'm still kicking myself for. While I was sitting there in my yak, I looked down and noticed that my Boga Grip was not secured in it's normal place (I had used it about 10 minutes prior to land a bass) so I picked it up to put it back and secure it. 

On a whim, I sorta thought to myself, "hmm, I wonder how high the float (that's attached to my Boga) will float with a 2lb Boga hanging under it?" and proceeded to (feel free to laugh hysterically) drop it overboard!!! Well, it didn't. A 6"x4" oval crab-trap float WILL NOT float a 30-lb Boga Grip :redface: As I see it sink into the depths, I had faint hopes that it would pop back to the surface, but it was not to be 

Now, most people that know me know I'm a planner that likes to think ahead and usually come well prepared. However, in this instance, I broke three of my own rules. 

Leash everything you can't bear to part with
Test every piece of gear thoroughly before getting out there
Plan ahead and prepare for the worst
First, when I fish from my yak, I leash everything to the yak (or myself in the case of my knife and whistle). Even my sunglasses is strapped to my head and my hat is clipped. Losing gear is not fun, and I've taken it to heart, but for some reason, my Boga wasn't leashed. I guess I got complacent and through that since it was gripped to a deck loop and had a float on it, it'd be fine. 

Second, I make it a point to test nearly every piece of equipment, tackle, line and clothing before I take it on the water. Equipment failures are an avoidable cause of cutting a trip short. Ironically, since I had previously only used my Boga to weigh fish on land, I had never given any thought to potentially losing it. 

Finally, the two prior mistakes would have been avoidable had I just planned for it. Even something as minor as tying the line from my rod to it would have sufficed, or paddling over to the shore before testing it. 

So while there wasn't much to contribute to the sport of kayak fishing (although I did get a tip on the location of a couple of real hawg LMB down on the Potomac ), I offer these thoughts so that others wouldn't make the same rookie mistakes I made last weekend. OK cue the raucus laughter, boos and jeers :redface:


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## AL_N_VB (Apr 3, 2002)

I'm not laughing at you .. I am laughing with you....

Fisherman's Island shoals.. nserch4drum..hook up.. drum take me and the yak into the heart of the shoals. Fast incoming tide. Breakers all around me. Yak gets flipped.. there goes the tackle bag.. the milk crate... spare rod.. spare reel..bait bag... only thing still attached is the TLD 15 and Penn Slammer rod. Drum is still... land the drum but loose $$$$ of tackle.

Lesson learned.. tie and secure everything down!


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

Oh, and Pelican Boxes and good dry bags are your friend. I've killed my cell phone by accidentally dunking them before. A Pelican 1010 is a cheap investment for an expensive cell phone. If it's really precious, box it and then bag it. 

And definitely leash and secure the cooler!!!


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## Jesse Lockowitz (Feb 13, 2006)

dont feel so bad. atleast you were on a yak. i lost a custom popping rod and reel today.

does suck though!

i tested my x-tools shit, and if current is running, they aint that great either.


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## lil red jeep (Aug 17, 2007)

So, what did you say the GPS coordinates were where you tested the Boga? Sorry for the loss. BTW, any chance of dragging a large magnet and picking it up?


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## SkunkApe (Dec 9, 2006)

AL_N_VB said:


> I'm not laughing at you .. I am laughing with you....
> 
> Fisherman's Island shoals.. nserch4drum..hook up.. drum take me and the yak into the heart of the shoals. Fast incoming tide. Breakers all around me. Yak gets flipped.. there goes the tackle bag.. the milk crate... spare rod.. spare reel..bait bag... only thing still attached is the TLD 15 and Penn Slammer rod. Drum is still... land the drum but loose $$$$ of tackle.
> 
> Lesson learned.. tie and secure everything down!


Shoulda' siced Lipripper on your chit. He'll catch just about any tackle left to Davy Jones. Then he'll hold it for ransom for a case of wobbly pops in return! :beer:

Skunk


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## Too Busy (Sep 7, 2007)

The yakkers motto "Rig to Flip; Dress to Swim"

I donated my cast net and some tackle to Davy Jones in August when I didn't have my milk crate properly secured. Luckily the rods had floats on them.


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## beagle (Jun 9, 2009)

It's a good idea.
A little more than 10 yrs ago when I started doing this, I had everything in that yak you can think of. One good turn over made a minimalist out of me quick.
While tethering all yer stuff is a good idea, the real test is rig it up like that...and... tip it over. Now, can you effectivly self rescue with all that "stuff" attached to the yak? Will you have to cut some free? Can you do it if it is snotty out? Man, is it an eye opener. Yeah, I know, "I don't go out when its rough", "I only go in protected waters". Yep, it'll happen someday. Everyone normally takes their yak out for that first paddle or 2 and flips it and figures out how to get back into that model. That's a good practice but not real world if you are gonna fish in that yak.
We used to do it in my pool some years ago. Very enlightning.
2cents
beagle


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

I can sympathize with you. I lost not one but two expensive pairs of sunglasses. One when I flipped over my Hobie cat (even had a neck strap on them) and another when I was raising the flag at a Coast Guard station that was built out on a pier. I hoisted the flag and it hit my front pocket knocking my glasses into the drink


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## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

thanks for taking one for the team! d;D


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## Kayakist (Jul 25, 2006)

Wow, that stinks, I'd be tempted to dive in to retrieve.

I tether mine with a gearkeeper clip to my PFD D ring. They can be found here http://www.gearkeeper.com/flyfish/bogagrip.html. 

I also use a standard sandwich ziplock bag to keep my cell phone in placed in my PFD pocket. Cheap and does the job.


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

Heck, I had tethers for stuff...just didn't clip it on the dang Boga :redface:

I used to use plastic sandwich bags, until I killed a phone because it leaked. I've sinced learned from my mistakes and use a Pelican box.


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## Too Busy (Sep 7, 2007)

Kayakist said:


> I also use a standard sandwich ziplock bag to keep my cell phone in placed in my PFD pocket. Cheap and does the job.


A standard ziplock won't do the trick. trying that was a $300 crackberry lesson and I didn't tip over. All it took was just a bit of water inside the hull. The crackberry was in a ziplock in the catch bag of my Tarpon 140. Use a dry box , dry bag or both.


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## surfnsam (Apr 28, 2008)

wow that sucks AK, those grips are $65? after loosing knives and other stuff over the side, the only thing i use pool noodle floats on are .99 bait knives. every thing else is stowed inside the yak in plano boxes and dry bags, heavy pliers get spring clips attached to rigging. you can make nice leashes from weed eater line and crimps. had an idea for my new revo., used the wives mesh floor matting that keeps area rugs from slipping in side the cockpit area to keep stuff like plastic boxes and gear bag from sliding around, used some silicone to hold it in place. works great.

glad someone was catching something, only got a few WP and spot on the severn sunday morning


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

A Boga Grip 30 is $120 new; usually around $100 used (they don't depreciate much ). Painful loss, but valuable lesson. I sorta tipped my yak yesterday on the Shenandoah (good fishing, BTW) and nothing fell out except the two plastic worms and the jig that was in the cup holder. Everything else was well leashed!


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## surfnsam (Apr 28, 2008)

heading to the Virgin Islands on friday, hope to do some inshore and offshore fishing next week. hope they have some yaks there. definitely taking some rods for some beach action if not. hope to get to PLO 1 weekend in oct.


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