11-23-2002, 04:02 PM
Well, heres a tip that may be the most important I have ever learned in boating saftey. Get a compass. We fished bear lake again yesterday. A very thick fog covered the entire lake all day long. The fog was so thick it had visibility reduced to about 80 yds. Skeeter and I got there around 8:00 am. We called Bear lake mack from the marina and he said he was somewhere on the lake but wasnt sure where. He had gone straight out of the marina headed east and wound up in three feet of water looking at the west bank about five minuets later. Somehow he had completley turned around without even knowing it. He thought maybee he was somewhere north of the marina. So, we went fishing. After catching no fish and being lost in the fog for a while we decided to try to hook up with BLM. So, we got on the phone, BLM got on an air horn and we tried to follow the sound. Well, we got further from the sound and wound up out in the lake not knowing wich way was west, east, north, or south. We occasionally heard road noise and assumed it was the west side but it kept moving and we were completley lost. Then we looked down and noticed that skeeter has a compass mounted to his dash! Wow, we were saved! Right? Well, we knew wich direction was what, but who knew where the marina was, other than on the west side. After hours of air horn blowing and stop and go boating we located BLM who we think was actually just south of the marina, not north. Fished a bit more, every one caught fish but me. Had a bit more fun trying to find the marina. even with a compass we about ran a ground on the west bank. But as you can see, we made it home, learned a valuable lesson about the compass, and decided a gps is a must have for anglers who want to fish in the fog. You just never know when the fog is not going to burn off. No big fish this week.