FELL Marine wins Island Fisherman Magazine’s GEAR FOR THE YEAR 2018!

“This is one of the best safety devices we’ve ever seen, and we can’t recommend it enough.”

I love to fish alone. Don’t get me wrong, I always enjoy family and friends on the water but packing up the boat and heading out somewhere remote is the best way for me to hit the reset button. Whether I explore new areas or revisit familiar spots, I always come back a better fisherman. I don’t completely change things when fishing alone; sometimes I downsize my standard 10’6” rods to 9’—I find that helps get the fish just a bit closer to the boat for netting or gaffing. And depending where I am, I sometimes like to throw a shallow line off the back on a Deep Six with a lonely lure from the depths of my tacklebox that doesn’t usually get attention, just to see what happens. Last summer, my father asked me, “How do you keep safe from not falling off the boat? Do you tie a secured rope around your waist like a tether?” My knee-jerk chuckles faded as I grimly imagined myself being dragged behind the outboards with the throttle wide open. It got me to thinking, yeah, I need to have a better strategy.

Guilty as charged. I don’t attach myself to the kill switch cord from the throttle often enough—it’s too short and it would simply get tangled up everywhere. It’s inconvenient. Of course, I do wear a lifejacket and keep a handheld waterproof VHF attached to it. But still, the thought of my boat merrily continuing on its way without me has been top of mind over the winter, at least until now.