Lake Erie required items???

Do I need anything more then Fire Extinguisher, Horn. Throw cushion ??? Also have drift sock. Do I need flares and a flag? 21ft Ranger Z-21

You need flares on the Great Lakes and they must be within ther safe use date. I know that for sure.

Also check, because over XX feet you may also need a marine radio.

I wouldn’t go out on the Great Lakes without a GPS/plotter. If for no other reason than the ability to give your coordinates will greatly help any rescue attempt should it be necessary.

Grouse

Flare will suffice for a daytime signal. Flag wouldn’t be necessary. After fishing on superior for a couple years now, I feel much safer with a flare gun anyway.

I also can’t recall on the marine radio. Once again, I feel much safer with it.

Almost needed it yesterday when I ran out of 2 cycle oil on superior. Luckily I was close enough to shore to ignore the buzzer for a while.

According to the Coast Gaurd that checked me last year you must have a marine radio. Hand held or fixed mount will meet the guidelines.

Anchor with an appropriate amount of rope.

Kurt Turner wrote:

Anchor with an appropriate amount of rope.

Really. my goodness that could be a lot of rope. What’s appropriate? Old rule of thumb was 3 x the depth to get your anchor to hold, I believe.

mxskeeter wrote:

According to the Coast Gaurd that checked me last year you must have a marine radio. Hand held or fixed mount will meet the guidelines.

Some form of communication is required. A cell phone counts but don’t count on it working. A Marine radio is strongly recommended not required.

Radio Regulations
Most recreational vessels less than 65 .6 feet (20 meters) in length are
not required to carry a marine radio . Any vessel that carries a marine
radio must follow the rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) .

Licensing
The FCC does not require most operators of recreational vessels to
carry a radio or to have an individual license to operate VHF-FM marine
radios, EPIRBs, or any type of radar . Operators must however follow
the procedures and courtesies that are required of licensed opera-
tors specified in the FCC rules . You may use the name or registration
number of your vessel to identify your ship station .

Recreational
Vessels that may be required to be licensed:
• Power-driven driven vessels more than 65 feet (20 meters) in length .
• Any vessel, including a recreational vessel, on an international voyage .

Radio Listening Watch
Vessels not required to carry a marine radio – for example, recreational
vessels less than 65 .6 feet (20 meters) in length, but which voluntarily
carry a radio – must maintain a watch on Channel 16 (156 .800 MHz) or
VHF Channel 9 (156 .450 MHz), the boater-calling channel, whenever
the radio is operating and not being used to communicate.

http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/workflow_staging/publications/420.pdf

See page 42 in the publication.

When I fished the FLW the Ohio fish and game required a 100 foot rope. My 50 footer wasn’t enough. FWIW

Reviewing the above PDF I don’t see anchor required. Interesting. The azzhat would not allow me to launch until I went and purchased a suitable length of anchor rope. Lost half a day of pre-fishing running around finding one. You don’t forget events in life like that. I always wondered if he was usurping his power much like what I see and hear in MN/ND/WI/SD on rare occasion. Oh well, sure have a nice long anchor rope now. Hah

trytoofish wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Kurt Turner wrote:</div>
Anchor with an appropriate amount of rope.

Really. my goodness that could be a lot of rope. What’s appropriate? Old rule of thumb was 3 x the depth to get your anchor to hold, I believe.

An anchor may not be required but if your boat motor is inoperable and you are in any waves it can save your boat from being destroyed by crashing the shoreline.

Local regulations may require more gear. Most of the time when I fish Lake Michigan 100 feet of rope won’t even reach the bottom! But as mentioned earlier,it could keep you from trashing the boat. I keep a large drift sick on board in case I have double motor failure off shore; at least it slows the drift and keeps the bow into the waves if needed.

Thanks all, great conversation and info. Art Green nailed it. I also called 9th District and they confirmed the radio issue (not needed) 216 902 6094