Let's Talk Knives

Back at the beginning of the century, my wife got me a new pocket knife for a project I had at work. Since that day I've carried a pocket knife with me daily. As much as this might sound all outdoorsy and manly, the truth is I use it mostly for cutting straws down to kid size at McDonalds, but I'm OK with that. Sure, I've used it for other manly tasks like freeing a newly gifted Barbie from the box, or for freeing a Transformer from the grips of cardboard and zip ties. A pocket knife is just a great tool to have close at hand.

Recently The Fiberglass Manifesto posted about carrying a whistle while wading. In response to this, Fishy Kid ordered up a bunch of whistles for those willing to support Fishy Kid and safety! This of course got me thinking about safety a little and what I do, which brings us back to knives.

I like to carry a knife while wading.

A few weekends ago I went to a gun and knife show in town and was looking for some cheap knives...the kind you can carry if you are out on the town and know you might get frisked going into a concert and not care if you have to give up the knife. My daily knife cost me close to $60 and I don't feel like handing that over for admittance into a concert, know I'd probably never get it back. So, searching around the show I spotted a knife shaped to look like a grenade. Immediately I thought I had to have one. I checked the price and it was $18. For the knife I thought $18 was pretty good, but I wasn't quite sure I was going to get it.

My friends and I continued checking out everything that was available when one of them spotted the same kind of knife for $10. When I picked this one up, the guy selling it told me how to open it. It was a spring assisted knife and the moment I moved the blade it snapped open! It was the best assisted opening knife I've ever had the joy of opening. I knew right then, that for $10 I was going to buy one of these. I then checked out both the Army and the Marine version of them, and decided I'd get both. As I was reaching for my $20 bill the guy says "how about both for $15?" I immediately took him up on that offer!

So, why this knife? What's so noteworthy about a $7.50 knife made in China? A couple of things. First, when I go wading I always put my knife on my waders so it's right there, just in case I need to cut my waders off in a hurry. I've never taken a fall in the creek, and therefore never been swept away in the current and logged under a tree....but, should it happen, I have a knife ready to help free me of my waders.

THIS knife has a few things to keep in mind if you are looking for a knife. First, it's spring assisted. This means that once you start moving the blade to open it, a spring takes over and the blade flies open. Second, this knife can be opened with EITHER hand. I can open and close my daily knife with only my right hand (even if my left hand is unavailable), but this one I can open with either hand, without help from the other. The ability to open and close the knife with just one hand is a huge thing.

If you are interested in this type of grenade knife, I did a search online and found them for about $10. To me, it's a great knife to show off because of what it looks like, but even better because it's single hand spring action. Make sure if you find one online it is spring assisted, that to me makes the knife a great buy!

Pond Safety - Stay off

While searching the internet for something to read to pass the time I came across this article out of Indiana that says lawmakers are trying to pass a bill to make home owners pay for barriers around ponds.

As a fisherman who frequents these types of ponds, I don't like the idea of fencing them in, and fencing me out. I completely understand the desire to keep children and motorists safe, but like the guy in the video, I agree that kids will often just climb the fence or find some other way (or pond) in. Just in the last year, locally there was a pond that was mostly fenced in, and a kid found the hole in the fence and drowned. It's sad, but it's often preventable.

When I drive by the frozen ponds in my town, I'm often reminded that I need to teach my kids about winter pond safety....simply....STAY OFF!!!  When I was a boyscout I remember playing on an iced over pond and listening to it crack. Fortunately, I got off before any issue. During the summer time I teach my kids to stay back a step or two (they like standing close to the water usually.) Also, I try to ask them every time we are out "What do you do if you fall in?" We fish from the shore, not a boat, and they usually answer something like "swim" "yell for help", then I tell them the first thing they need to do is stand up. I figure that kids might be too worried about being wet and scared to think of the simple solution of standing up. Shore fishing on simple ponds means that most of the time the kids can just stand up and be safe.

We can't sit back and hope for fences to save our kids (not that we all want them), we need to teach them how to avoid these dangers. No matter what law they pass, a pond, a puddle, a lake, a ditch, a danger will always be there. Teach your kids safety!

LINK to the original story.

"Salmon are in my basement"

All the rain last week brought the Salmon river up above the banks. For what would have normally been a huge fishing weekend, businesses in the area found themselves flooded.

Click to watch video

Anyone who's been to Spey Nation may not recognize the parking lot:

The Salmon Crazy website has many more pictures of the floods
LINK1
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Stay Alert!

Sad news out of Oswego NY. 1 dead an others injured when the water rose.

Read the rest of the store at palltimes.com

None of use where there so we can't tell for sure if the sirens went off or not, but let's remember to make sure we are aware of the water around us, and have an escape route should it rise quickly.

UPDATE: Days later, more fisherman had to be rescued: http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=519461