Rock Fishing Safety Thoughts
Resolution No. 1

I will do several Blue Mountains Canyons in 2006
  1. Rocky Creek
  2. Claustral
  3. To Be Decided

 

Resolution No. 2

I will catch the following game fish in 2006

  1. Bonito
  2. Mulloway
  3. Yellowtail Kingfish
  4. Tuna
  5. Brown Trout

     

Fish-Keeping Notes

  1. White Spot
     
  2. Commonsense Precautions
It seems that everything ever written on rock fishing has a safety warning. 

I need to add a few words about a recent extremely near miss that happened to me and one of my best mates who wishes to remain anonymous.  Read this and think what you'd have done if you were in my shoes that day.  I have not seen my lessons written or talked about anywhere else, so maybe you haven't either.  If you come up with some extra thoughts or lessons you've learned, or want to comment on this stuff below please let me know and I'll add them here for the benefit of all.  Email me - gavin@traileryacht.com 

The Life-changing incident 
It's a small day.  There are about 20 men fishing the platform.  We had to keep a close eye on the waves, but we felt confident that the conditions were quite safe.  Literally a few SECONDS looking the wrong way and my mate is in the water.  He's not a strong swimmer, and he's very quickly in extremis.

People are racing from everywhere to try and help him.  A wading pool is thrown, a bucket and rope is used to try to get him back on the platform, but nothing is of use.  Within a very few minutes, he's just about gone.  Literally a miracle happens and a boat is heading off to another spot barely sees him in the water, and rescues him.  If you want to read the whole story, read it in full near the bottom of the page - click here.   
 

Lessons

  • Carry a couple of distress flares. 

A boat was the only reason my mate survived.  There were at least 10 blokes yelling & screaming at the top of our lungs, and waving our arms.  Not one person in a group of boats only 400m away even noticed. 

An orange smoke distress flare would have been an unmistakable signal to anyone nearby that there was an emergency situation.  Flares have a fairly short shelf life, and so it's easy to get old ones from a boat owner.  They are not that expensive to buy anyway.  It could make the difference for you and your mates.

  • Wear a lifejacket, yes REALLY.

My mate was in desperate trouble simply because he was going to drown.  He was almost uninjured, only suffering slight abrasions.  He's not a strong swimmer, but that doesn't matter.  Even an Olympic standard swimmer would be in trouble if he was injured on the way into the water.  A life jacket of any description would have bought my mate the time needed for the rescue services to arrive on scene. 

We now wear a lifejacket at all times when we are rock fishing.  We each bought an auto-inflating PFD type 1 jacket.  They are so compact & light that you will forget that you are wearing one.  For that reason they are so much more practical than a conventional vest, and much much much better than not wearing one.  If you do end up in the water, a standard type 2 PFD may act a little like body armour and absorb some of the bumps & scrapes on the way into the drink, but they are a lot more cumbersome to wear. 

  • ALWAYS make a point of charging your mobile phone the night before you go fishing

Yep, that's pretty damn obvious. 

My phone started running out of battery just as the emergency was coming to a close.  One thing that may be worth considering is the extra coverage the CDMA network still has over digital in 2006.  My digital phone had barely one bar of signal strength.  My phone got out, just, but was constantly dropping out.

  • Put the local Coastguard, Coastal Patrol and surf rescue club on speed-dial

When I rang "000", the operator got straight onto the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.  It was actually being warmed up when my mate was rescued by the boat.  The problem was that he would almost certainly not have been alive by the time the chopper arrived.  Apart from tasking the rescue chopper, I don't know what the "000" operator did.   

If you can reach the local rescue groups directly, they may have a rescue boat in the area that could be on-seen much quicker than other rescue services.  At the very least they can put a "May Day" call over the 27 MHz and VHF frequencies on your behalf, alerting any boats in the area.   

  • Wear a bright coloured top of some description.

There were two things the "000" operator asked me when I first rang - and I'll never forget what he said.  "Is the fisherman wearing a vest?" and "what colour is his top?" 

I felt like such a completely incompetent fool that was just asking for disaster when I had to say, "No, he's not wearing a vest.  He is wearing a dark green sloppy joe.  He can't swim very well, please hurry. . . " 

 

 

 

                               

 

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