Have you had a close call on a river?

While wading or in a boat or float tube have you ever had a close call.

Some years ago I was fishing the Battenkill when I came upon a beautiful looking pool. A large tree had fallen in the river right where a small stream flowed into it.. The top of the tree was out into a deep and very fishy looking pool that seemed at least 5 foot deep. Leading into this pool was a long smooth riffle gradiant that, where it broke from above, was little over ankle deep but gradually deepened . It was a very fine gravel and It was about 12 or 15 feet in length. Without realizing it I had worked myself about half way down. Suddenly I could feel the gravel washing out from beneath my feet and the water pressure kept pushing me toward the deep water. I was suddenly mid thigh deep! For a couple of seconds I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Should I lunge for the tree which was to my left, or, let the current take me and try to 'tip-toe' through the deep water. Deep water is often deeper than it looks. I could not back up. Worse, when I looked out at the slanted moving water it made me dizzy...vertigo of a sort. At first I was going to try to grab for the tree branches . I turned sideways to face the tree. This took considerable effort. The nearest branch was just iches away and slightly up stream. I found I could inch my way back up stream as long as I remained in that sideway position. I forgot about grabbing the branch as it was deepening in that direction too so I continued inching back upstream still sideways.. It took me several minutes to work my way back and I found myself needing to get to shore, sit down and catch my breath.
I stay away from slanted runs like that now and I never wade with out a staff. Once was enough!
How about you? Do you have a story to tell?

Back in the early 70's Jim and I were fishing with Carl Richards on the Muskegon River in Michigan for King Salmon. At the time I had a severe back problem which affected my right leg. I was fine until I got into water about hip high, found the ball-bearing gravel and could not find my right leg! No feeling at all to the point of not knowing where the right foot was either.

I yelled upstream to Jim and Carl that I was in trouble. Carl was closer and plunged downsteam where he could get close enough to me to point his cane rod at me...and told me to grab on. I did and he pulled me upstream to shallower water.

Close call, and yes, eventually I got the back fixed no problems with that at all.

I did manage to catch a 30# salmon after that!



[This message has been edited by LadyFisher (edited 11 October 2005).]

Fell in more times than the average bear but I'd have to say none were a "close call". I try to prepare for the worst scenario and if it occurs, I'm ready ( except for camera and phone but now I bought a Pentax Optio WP which should solve even THAT problem)
The ONLY time I don't take chances is when the river is about frozen over and there is a chance a slip can pull me under the ice. To avoid that, I go to Florida.

Mark

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I'd rather be in Wyoming!

mantis,

On main stem Del several years ago. I waded out and simply hadn't realized how far I'd gone and how deep it had gotten. When I turned to head to shore I realized the predicament I was in. At best, I thought for sure I was going for a swim. A drift boat was coming by and I called to the guys. They just ignored my calls although I'm sure they were close enough to hear me. Fortunately I was able to wade back without taking that swim. Interesting enough, I found that it was easier wading upstream at a slight angle, balance wise, rather then downstream at an angle. That probably is not the prefered way to go about it but it worked for me.

One other time, this happened down on the Delaware too when I was a 15 year old and in a group of 8 kids that had just completed a canoe trip. We were swimming near the Gap and 3 canoes of girl scouts were going by. Some of us decided to swim out and say hello. Unbeknownst to me, one of the guys yelled to the girls that we were going to scuttle their canoes. When I reached the canoe one girl popped me on the head with her paddle and I went under.When I came up the canoes were well down river and I had to swim out in a downstream angle. I ended up coming to shore about 1/4 mile downstream and had to walk back to our camp position. Never did find out who it was who 'warned' the girls.

Allan

On an Army survival training mission on a Texas river. We were in two man rubber recon rafts and you had to kneel in them. The buck sgt I was with never white water rafted before. When we hit the rapids he froze in panic. I was in the front of the raft and tumbled into the water. I got pinned between the bottom of the raft and a rock with my feet hung up in the safety line. I managed to free myself and came up choking with paddle in hand. I then tried to decap that E-5 with my paddle and dumped him into the river. Our C.O. saw the entire event. When the E-5 asked the C.O. to bring charges against me for assault the C.O. said he didn't see anything. Good thing I was so mad that I missed that guy because then the C.O. wouldn't have had a choice. I got a new buddy for the rest of the trip.

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Eric "nighthawk"

It's a great day for fly fishing!

I have had a few but the worst one was on the Blackfoot when it was flowing around 20,000 CFS or so. It is at about 600 right now. No one really floats it at those flows and we weren't there for fishing. I was picking my way through a rapid that I had never seen before because I had never seen flows that high. I got to a spot where I had no choice but to go straight over and in between two boulders with a huge keeper in the middle of them. I told my friend that we were going to flip and to hold on. He was smart and dove off the boat as we were bow first straight up and down and about to flip. The boat came down on top of me and I got sucked out into the hole. It was recirculating so hard that it would suck me, spit me to the top and suck me down again. After about three times I was exausted from trying to swim out of it. I finally managed to swim out from the bottom of it the way you are supposed to. I saw the boat upside down a couple hundred yards down stream with my friend on top of it holding an oar. I started swimming towards shore and then noticed I was quickly approaching a barbed wire fence that was submerged in the high water, that would have torn me up for shure. I swam back out in the middle of the river and chased the boat and after about .5 mile I caught it. Actually got the other oar back.

I've run a lot of water and been thrown out a good many times but that was the closest call.

Quicksand in the Little Spokane River. I was within an arms reach of shore and managed to pull myself out slowly. Almost lost one of my hip waders in the process.
God Bless,



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He Knocks. You Only Have To Ask.
Joe

I seem go for a "swim" every year or two. This happen alot more often when I was younger for some reason. This time was fairly recent.

A couple of years ago I was fishing Nauset Inlet on Cape Cod. Trying to get a better drift,I inched my way out on to a sand bar until I could reach the drop off with my rod tip.
Of course, in this very fast water, the sand just melted away from under my feet.
Away I went.
Luckily, my stripping basket acted as a float and I was able to kick/tiptoe my way to shore without getting too wet. Otherwise it would have been a much longer and colder swim.
I spent the rest of the day casring from shore.

on my first trip to Montana we stayed at castlerock inn on the Galletin river.
wading to a nice big pool i stepped into a deep hole. my chest waders filled up unbelievably fast.that was the first time i had ever really experienced the shock and fear of the possibility of dieing.
some how instinct took over i let the current take me till i could reach a rock and grab hold and stand up.
i could not believe how heavy my waders were. i rolled my waders down to let the water out.i sat there for along time realizing how lucky i was. if i had panicked i could have easily drowned.

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gofish

Well...I had a tad of a prob one spring day....it was spring in the middle 80's on the Bighead River Meaford Ontario....the steelies were movin' upstream....I was following....and catchin'....decided to cross the river in a set of reasonably shallow rapids..mebbe 3 ft deep at most....was bout 1/2 way across with less then 40 feet to go....stepped on a bare spot of clay on the riverbed....whoosh....away I go....fully loaded with winter parka....neo waders...vest full of gear....yikes,...that water was cold....as I went down....I leveraged myself into a foot first position and went with the flow....sculling with one hand....rod in the other....bout 150 ft down river I managed to make it to shore...dam waders were heavy...I laid on my back...and lifted each leg with both hands to empty them...was a long cold walk back downriver to the truck....the kicker????....some er.....ummm...."person" fishin' the hole above where I went down stood up....and actually watched me struggle with no thought of offering assistance....hope this happens to him one day.....long and short of it...long walk...4 steelies...and a nasty cold.


mojo

I have had a few close ones. I fish a big river, the Skagit. We use jet powered boats to get around on it. You are going to have some close ones when running a big dynamic river in a power boat, especially when running in a few inches of water at speed. We take every precaution we can every time on the river. We always wear life vests, always, good ones, not the cheapy orange ones that cast a few bucks but good ones. Mine cost well over a hundred bucks. We use kill switch lanyards, always. If we don't know a section of river or can see it has changed significantly after a high water event, we beach the boat and walk the section in question. Both boats that I will be on the river with have first aid kits, fire extinguishers, warning horns, flares, emergency tool kits, and survival kits containing water, food, matches, flashlights, blankets and dry clothes. Even with all the precautions we take there is still the chance that something can go wrong. We try to be as prepared as we can.

Mantis, ....

Actually, ... no. I personaly haven't had any close calls. I've lived and worked in the bush for quite a long time.

I guess when you work around things (and people) that can kill 'ya real quick, you take health and safety really seriously.

I don't hop over logs when I'm walking (you step over them or go around), ... I don't jump down out of the pick-up bed, ... you step down with 3 point support, ... I don't deep wade in unsure current, ...

Just pays too well in the long run to play safe.

I HAVE, .... though, ... bailed out many a person in various situations. I always wonder what that (those) person would have done if no one were around (or ready to get called out) to go and bring them home. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/frown.gif

p.s. ... that's why I do my bi-annual rant: [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/Forum1/HTML/014918.html:e17a9]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/Forum1/HTML/014918.html[/url:e17a9]


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Christopher Chin, Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:e17a9]Fishing the Ste-Marguerite[/url:e17a9]

Not really a close call, but I got stuck so deep in silt I couldn't pull my feet out. Was right next to the bank, though, so was able to put rod/reel on the bank, grab some small trees growing on the bank, and haul myself out.

Had, one close call. I was fishing with my brother and my left foot gat caught in a tree branch under the water. I could free my foot and the current was just pushing me over. I yelled to my brother and he jumped back toward me and pulled me up so I could free my foot. Not sure what would have happen if I was alone.

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Bill

Not a river story, but I got caught not paying attention to the tide while fishing in a bay in NY. Turned to get out quick and stepped into a hole.
Reason I bring it up, lots of river fishing is in tidal areas. Someone on this bulletin board suggested setting an alarm on my watch. I always do that now.


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Many men go fishing all of their lives
without knowing that it is not fish they
are after.

Henry David Thoreau

A most unfortunate and sad event, the loss of one of our fellow fly anglers on the White River in AR. [url=http://p205.ezboard.com/fclarksclassicflyrodforumfishingbambooflyrods.show Message?topicID=2590.topic:81ef4]http://p205.ezboard.com/fclarksclassicflyrodforumfishingbambooflyrods.show Message?topicID=2590.topic[/url:81ef4]

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RRhyne56
[url=http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com:81ef4]http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com[/url:81ef4]
IM = robinrhyne@hotmail.com

Yes rrhyne56 in fact there is a post on it further down the list titled "Sad Day on The White River." A sad day indeed.