Fishing is a great way to spend the day, but it’s important that you and your fishing companions keep safe.

Here are some guidelines and tips so that you can stay safe out on the water:

a) Always keep your PFD (personal flotation device / life jacket / life vest) close to you at all times. Even better, wear it – especially if you’re wading. Even if you or your fishing partner(s) can swim, PDFs can help if you fall unconscious or get swept up in a strong current.

b) Remember REACH, THROW, ROW and GO when rescuing someone who may potentially be drowning:
1) REACH = reach out with a long pole or oar if the person is close enough and try to pull them over

2) THROW = throw them a life-saving device such as a lifejacket or life preserver
3) ROW = row your boat to the person in need, as it’s quicker and safer than trying to swim to them
4) GO = as a last resort, try to swim out and save the person.

c) Take your cell phone with you in case of emergency. You’d be surprised at how many areas now allow you to pick up a signal.

d) Carry a pocket knife (safely and securely!) in case you get tangled in your rigging.

e) If you’re wading, make sure you’re wearing your PDF, carefully check the area, and take one step at a time making sure you’re feeling for any drop-offs. Always be aware and considerate of the current and how it changes.

f) Bring a first-aid kit with you for any unexpected cuts or scrapes. And don’t forget to clean those wounds with antiseptic! It’s also a good idea to carry bug repellent in your kit – bug bites are really annoying, but most importantly remember that bugs can also carry diseases.

g) Make sure kids and family pets are well-secured any time the boat is moving.

H) Wear proper attire while fishing; try to find clothing that will help you stay cool in hot weather and warm in cold weather. And don’t forget your raincoat to keep dry in unexpected rainfall.

h) Apply sunscreen before and many times during your time on out the lake. The sun reflecting on the water can really increase the amount of sun you get, and we all know that the longer you keep that sunburn away, the longer you’ll have to actually stay out and enjoy your day.

i) Remember to eat and stay hydrated while outside, especially on those long hot days in the summer. Always take a few snacks and lots of water.

j) Handle your fishing equipment and gear responsibly. Look around you while you’re casting to ensure you don’t accidentally hit something or somebody.

k) Lastly, but most importantly, bring a buddy (or two) with you. It’s safer and more fun! At the very least, tell someone where you’re going and how long you plan on being gone. Someone should know where you are at all times and be able to find you if necessary.

Thanks to everyone that contributed on www.GetREELed.com and on our GetREELed.com Fan Page and Ultimate Fishing Directory Fan Page!

Please add any other tips or guidelines into the comments section. It’s up to all of us to keep each other safe!

Today, I was chatting with a friend over MSN, and the subject of women fishing competitively came up. Now…most of you know that I do not fish competitively. I do, however, think of myself as a pretty adept fisherwoman in some areas of fishing…Pike Fishing, for example. I feel as though a person can be taken seriously even if they fish only because of a true passion for the sport.

However, my friend and I started chatting about the sport of competitive fishing, and fishing in general, and why it was so hard for women to be successful or taken seriously. He said that to be respected women feel the need to behave in a manly way and to be “butch” so to speak. That men respect them more for behaving in this manner and they get more press and attention doing this but still not as much as the men. Another friend of mine also noted that women do not get as much press in the sport and wondered why.

We chatted and chatted about this subject until I finally said…”if a man will only give me respect because I conform to what he thinks I should behave like…or look like…then I do not want his respect”…and that is that.

I thought about my lovely friend Sondra Rankin (http://www.sondrarankin.com/) who is a professional fisherwoman, and she is beautiful. She is also a girl…and she is one when she fishes. She is adorable. Does she gets as much press as I think she deserves…Hell NO!!!! There are so many lovely women in this world that need to be open to the idea that fishing is no longer a man’s sport. Sondra embodies this. However, there are so many lovely men in this world that also need to be opened up to this idea, as well. Women like Sondra are slowly making their way in the industry…but I have to ask, how long will it take?

Is this truly a phenomenon that we are combating? Are women still conforming to gain the respect of the men in the industry? Are they hiking up their waders and hiding behind their hats for fear of getting made fun of or standing out for being a woman in a man’s world? Do we live in 1950?

I feel that getting women into the sport is something that needs to occur regardless of whether it is in the competitive arena or just out at their local lake. Women do not need to be scared of fishing…you do not have to baby us. We are strong, and we are capable. My theory is…women just do not understand the sport. They do not understand that you can be pretty and dirty, and concerned about your hair all while reeling in a fish bigger than your boyfriends. Introduce more women to the sport of fishing in a way that is relatable to who we really are as women and more women will realize that they love it!!! Simple right???

Girls we have a mission!!! We need to stand up and let down our hair and not be afraid to be who we are while we are casting that rod. We need to stand up and tell young girls that you can out fish your brothers and still be the apple of your daddy’s eye. We need to send the message to the next generation of fisherbabes that it is okay to net a monster fish one second…then turn around and ask if your eye makeup is running and if your hair looks fabulous for the photo…and we need to know that it is OKAY to talk about lipstick in the boat. Fishing does not have to be a MAN’s sport any longer…you can bet your ass that its okay to talk about beer and sex in the boat…so therefore, I declare that it is okay to talk about makeup and sex and the city in the boat.

There have been times when I have stepped off the boat and into my stilettos ladies…So I am here to say…

UNDERNEATH MY WADERS, I WEAR VICTORIA’S SECRET LINGERIE…DEAL WITH IT!!! It is who I am…It is who I will always be…and you know what…that is just fine!!

Happy Fishing…and Shopping ~

LIZZY aka The Fisherbabe

Hockey has the Sedins, Henrik and Daniel, and tennis the Byran boys, Mike and Bob. As good as all four are in the world of sports, the identical twins from Sweden and America can’t match the back-to-back feats of a homegrown Saskatchewan pair, Sean and Adam Konrad.

Try two world records, one apiece.

Fishing on Lake Diefenbaker earlier this month, Sean reeled in a rainbow trout of dimensions once thought unimaginable, a 48-pound world record rainbow trout that’s now before the International Game Fish Association in Florida for verification as an all-tackle record for the species. It helps that the first witness to his catch, the man with the net, was the current IGFA record holder himself, twin brother Adam, who two years ago landed his 43-pound, 10-ounce world record rainbow trout with Sean’s help on the same waters.

Big? Rainbows typically run no heavier than 15 pounds. At their tastiest, the fish fit whole on a restaurant plate.

For the 29-year-old brothers raised in Saskatoon, the past three weeks have been a dreamlike replay of fishing exploits past, only flipped, this time with Sean drawing global attention from the likes of ESPN Sports and Field and Stream magazine.

“Sean is doing most the interviews now, and I said to him, hey, man, now you know how it feels,” says Adam.

Says Sean: “I’m asked, in all honesty, is Adam jealous? I don’t know how he could be. When Adam caught his fish, I was happy for him.”

Saturday night of Labour Day weekend was a much-anticipated get-together for the Konrad brothers. From their identical school days — electrical engineering at the U of S, automotive mechanics at Kelsey Institute — only careers and new families were important enough to separate the twins, Sean eventually moving to Alberta with his wife and baby daughter, an end to what had been four-day-a-week fishing expeditions. Hitting Diefenbaker by themselves, not guiding for American anglers as they do about five times a year, the brothers launched their boat on Sept. 5 with intentions of fishing the way they’ve most enjoyed it since boyhood: intense, strategic and, above all, patient, lines in the water for as long as it took.

Fishing their favourite bay by headlamp around midnight, back-trolling and drift-casting, Sean felt the bite, set his hook and began a fight that lasted at least 20 minutes.

“We use some monster nets on Diefenbaker,” says Adam. “I just didn’t understand why it was so difficult to get this one fish out of the net.” They had a dandy, but the rainbow’s initial weigh-in was the first hint that Adam’s record was in jeopardy. “Sean said he couldn’t get a weight. I said, no way, and he said, I swear, man, the scale just bottomed out. I said to myself, oh-oh.”

And then, and then …

The boys went back to fishing.

“No reason for some big fish to end a great night,” says Adam. Such is their obsession with angling, an addiction that once prompted Sean’s wife, Glenda, to compare the twins to the single-minded technical support staff at her work, the computer geeks. “Yeah, geeks,” says Adam. “Cool. That’s what we were, all right, fishing geeks,” a handle that the brothers have since applied to their website, fishinggeeks.net.

A new law has just been passed. As of Tuesday September 15, 2009, anyone behind the wheel of a powered watercraft must be licensed with a Pleasure Craft Operator Card (more simply known as a Boating License). The penalty for not complying starts at a $250 CDN fine.

So get our there and get your boating license if you don’t have one yet! The test is just simple 36 questions which take about 1 hour to complete, so there’s really no excuse not to take it. You wouldn’t want anything standing in the way of catching your next big fish, would you?