Went out a fishing hole late this afternoon ... it's a marl pit that they dug out years ago for making the road beds in this area. Of course, filled in with water and kinda deep in spots, too - and there's good bass & bream fishing to be had. Have fished it for years and great for trying out new fishing equipment & flies and such. Went out there this afternoon to try out some new poppers a fellow fly fishermen sent to me.

Got out the Radison canoe/boat and launched it at the pond. Loaded it with my usual gear ... canvas creel where I tote extra leader and tippet material, flies & poppers, a pair of great fishing pliers, a small bottle of water. The Radisson looks like the one below, which is a 14 footer, only mine is a 12 foot model ... and mine is painted green. Have used it for years, in many rivers and small lakes and ponds. Know it like the back of my hand.

Well, of all things I rolled it over while in the pond this afternoon! As best I can remember, while sitting in the rear seat, I turned around to look backward and meant to place the palm of my hand on the gunnel as I leaned back - however - the heel of my palm slipped off the gunnel and I rolled right over the side with the boat rolling right with me! Did a side swim stroke holding onto the canoe and headed for the shore which was maybe 40 feet away. Oh, did save the bucket, too, which I use to bail the remaining water out
after I turned the boat upright when we reached shore.

Did manage to save the fly rod! Grabbed that and placed in on the upturned bottom, along with some fly containers, a roll of tippet material and my fishing hat. However, lost the canvas creel which was weighed down with those nice fishing pliers!

Chalking this up to lesson number "eight-B-4-1" (LOL), plus saying a big "thank you" to the Higher Power for my being able to post this experience right now! AND, seem to remember the reason why we use to tie a small line from the thwart to things like that canvas creel ... just in case you might roll over or something!