The true cost of safety

Can we really put a price on our safety? We take part in a sport that involves standing on rocks and being battered by waves, wading in currents up to 8knot and sometimes even doing all of the above at night. We've all been there, you cast out and begin your retrieve, before you know it a wave that appears from nowhere has jacked up before your very eyes and you can do nothing but brace yourself and take it. If your lucky, you've stayed on your feet. But what if you don't? What if you get washed off the rocks and straight into the turbulent water that you're fishing? I Consider myself a strong enough swimmer and spent my youth Surfing in the sea, but with waders and chest pack on, how efficient a swimmer will I be? And in those conditions? Scary!

If you spend as much time trawling through Japanese video's as I do, you'll notice something. They're always wearing life jackets. No matter what sort of mark and in what conditions. As I don't understand a word of Japanese, I'm not sure whether they are bad swimmers, or if they are genuinely safety conscious(and rightly so). One thing I do know, is that some of the life vests they have available to them are very cool!

Take this Mazume Redmoon 111 for example. It looks a very stylish and useful chest pack, with the real bonus of being a safety device. I've seen Japanese Bass guys wearing them on video's and they hold decent lure boxes as well as everything else you're likely to be carrying with you. I know there are a couple of guys in the UK with them now. Yes, they are pricey at anything up to £300 delivered(including UK taxes), but when you consider what you're actually getting, they don't seem so expensive anymore.



After reading Toby Harnett' report on the Forum, how he got himself into a real pickle yesterday while trying to rescue a snagged lure, getting washed into the sea in the process and being saved by the fact he was wearing a Snowbee auto-inflate vest, can you guess what's just found it's way onto my Christmas list?

The fishing this weekend has been terrible, persistent rain, heavy winds and water that's just too coloured to fish effectively. Still, as they say; A bad day's fishing beats a good day at work. Put me on those rocks, soaked to the bone and blanking over being sat here at my desk any day.