Uncle Jesse - Crash Test Dummy
The photo below is in the middle of my most frequent trout fishing trips. The white water is caused by a foot and half or so drop creating the small rapids shown. I have gone through every section of this in several float tubes, probably hundreds of times with no problems. Yesterday I floated though it again and at the bottom of the small falls found myself stuck pushed against the drop wall by an eddy current. I had gone through feet first, which I have been told was safer than feet following, so my swim fins were pointed downstream, in the wrong direction. When I moved to get into the current, in a heartbeat, my Fishcat was flipped. I found myself tied to the tube by the casting apron, which also seemed to prevent me from finding the inflation tag for my pfd. The water is not deep, but is fairly swift. What followed was probably no more than several intense seconds, maybe minutes of kicking and clawing. Damage to the body restricted to a scratch on the back of my hand, sore spots on my knees and shins and sore muscles. More serious damage, two flyrods, of course they were my favorites, somewhere in the river. My TFO 3 wt. and a less expensive 5 wt. On a warm summer day, there may have been some wading in the current, sans waders, searching for them but not yesterday. Maybe when it quits raining I will go chunk a diving plug an hope the rods are in an eddy current, I''m not counting on it. I?m alive, the heart is apparently in pretty good shape, it got a pretty intense stress test.
Shakerag rock.JPG
Lessons learned; 1) Respect the water, it did not take much of a flow to flip a 4 ft. wide float tube and a 230 lb. fisherman. 2) Keep the inflation tag on my pfd where I can find it in an emergency. 3) Rethink the casting apron, it kept me attached to my float tube but I was under it. It was difficult to get free when I finally crawled up on the rock at the edge of the pool. If I continue to use the apron there will be a quick release feature added. 4) Feet follow going down the rapids, so I can propel myself downstream. 5) You are never too old to screw up.
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