Fishing tale of 78 year old
An incredible fishing tale by Kelly Hayes - Story: 40592
Jul 16, 2008 / 5:00 am
He was over the limit in more ways than one and can credit local conservation officers for saving his life.
Conservation officers patrolling Wood Lake Monday stumbled upon an elderly man who was literally clinging to life after falling out of his fishing boat.
Officer, Greg Kruger, says they approached the victim's boat after noticing that no one was in it.
"We couldn't see anyone in the boat so we approached it and this elderly gentleman was clinging to the side, at the back."
Kruger says the boat's electric motor was running in reverse and the victim wasn't wearing a life jacket -- although he had one tucked away in the boat.
He says the 78-year-old man told them a fishing tale.
"He had a fish on, stood up and tripped over his fishing gear. When he went over the side, he had both his lines tangled in his legs, so he had to take off his pants and shoes to free himself from his fishing line and in doing so he lost his keys, his wallet and both his fishing rods."
Kruger says the man was suffering from hypothermia and is lucky to be alive.
"We likely saved his life. He was in bad shape. He was so fatigued that when we approached him he made no attempt to give us a signal that he was in distress. He wasn't going to last much longer."
He says it was obvious that alcohol was also a factor.
"When he was talking to us, we detected an odour of alcohol so we got him to shore and had a look in his cooler and we found a 40 ounce bottle of vodka that was nearly empty."
What makes matters worse for the victim, he told Kruger that people were catching more than the allowable limit which is two Kokanee a day. Upon further inspection of the man's cooler, Kruger found three Kokanee and the man was issued a ticket. Kruger adds that the man has been ticketed before for over fishing.
Kruger says the RCMP were called and that the man wanted to drive home.
