My husband, dog and I were out fishing in a small aluminum john boat on a local reservoir. My husband was standing to cast and finally caught a small fish. He brought the fish back to me to release it. I released the fish and about that time my husband went to sit back down. He thought the seat was farther back than it was, and as a result he lost his balance. He sat down hard onthe side of the boat and Newton’s laws took over. The boat rolled and we all went in. Neither of us were wearing life jackets and he kept trying to climb back into the boat causing it to roll, I kept going under each time. Once we finally steaded the boat we remembered our puppy and he reached under the boat, and by the Grace of God, he happened to grab her color and pulled her out from under the boat. He handed me the dog and tried to move the boat again and rolled it again. He finally gave up and headed for shore - about 30 feet away. I stayed with the dog. The boat was upside down and I managed to grab our rods and the dog and layed on the boat. People on the other side of the reservoir came and helped us. We were stupid not wearing our vests, but fortunate that no one got hurt. All we lost - out of all our gear and miscellaneous possesions that we brought on the trip, was my husbands glasses off his face, and his sweatshirt. To this day, I always wear my life vest.
Had my family in a 12’ row boat with a 10 Hp. motor when we were over taken by a speed boat making wake for two jet skiers. We got hit by the wake from opposite sides just a beat apart. I was thrown out of the boat still holding the tiller. This pulled up the motor on the transom at a weird angle. I surfaced to see my wife vaulting my 9 year old to grab the tiller,and stop the motor right as I grabbed the bow as the boat had done a full circle. The speed boat came back and said “dude what happened” at which point I taught both of my children a whole new vocabulary.
While its not as exciting as the rest of your stories I too have had a scary experiance. While fishing down at my local pond minding my own business when I hear a chain jingling, its getting closer and closer and through the woods I could see two dogs running around. I thought nothing of it until they reached the waters edge and looked directly at me and got really excited. They start to run over and approach me the first one ran away but the other bigger dog stood there and started growling at me. By this time I had my pocket knife out and was ready for a scuffle. Luckly I yelled at it enough for him to back down. Wasnt that bad but not fun.
Well my story is this.
Was tubin on Hebgen Lake in Montona and the wind she started to blow and she blew and she blew. Ikept getting further out to sea and I was kicking and kicking and wore my poor butt off. Finally a boat passing by took pity on me and threw me a line and towed me in. This took over two hours and boy was I beat. Got my pontoon boat three days later because that was not goint to happen to me again.
Jon from Idaho
About 20 yrs. ago, my brothers and I were fishing Fayette Lake in La Grange, TX, in a johnboat. Well the wind kicked up (as it often does there–we just didn’t know) and we tried to get back to the launch. Problem was that we had to go perpendicular to the waves, which were now 3-4’ swells. So we had to turn into the wind toward the other launch. All of a sudden we were onto a point where the huge oak tree trunks, which are normally submerged, were now going from being 2 feet under to sticking 2 feet above the surface. We were in an underwater forest and kept getting stranded on top of the stumps! At one point, the boat was at such an angle that all our crap slid to one side and we almost flipped several times. The biggest problem is that I’m terrified of underwater branches and trees and I was completely freaked out. We finally got across it and to the launch and got a ride to the other side. More curse words in a 5 minute period than I’ve ever heard. I hate thinking about it.
This was scary and I remember details like it was last week.
About 40 years ago, I was offshore fishing for Tuna, approx. 20 miles south of Block Island in the Atlantic. Waves were about 5-6 ft which was normal for the area.
We were on a 36ft wooden boat with inboard gasoline engine. The engine quits and the mate opens the hatch, the Capt. keeps cranking and suddenly the engine compartment blasts up in flames. Everyone nearby is scorched with flames and one guy immediately jumps overboard. The mate was quick and threw the hatch back over the engine compartment. We grab extuingishers and open the hatch again and smother the fire.
We pick up the overboard man and radio for a tow which luckily was only 20 min away. One with minor burns and everyone (2 crew and 3 FF) lost their eyebrows and any exposed hair.
Apparently the fuel system was leaking into the bilge and ignited when the engine stalled and the Capt. was cranking trying to restart. We were lucky the hatch was opened and we only had a fire, not an explosion.
Regards,
FK
[This message has been edited by FK (edited 17 May 2005).]
24mileboy (Jon),
Not to make light of your plight but that story is priceless 
. I know what you mean about that wind current. Forgive me but I couldn’t help but chuckle 
.
BTW, if you don’t have one for the lake, you might want to think about a small anchor for your pontoon catamaran. I have one on my cat to stay in position and keep from getting blown and dragged all over the lake when I’m not using the fins or rowing.
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
[This message has been edited by dixieangler (edited 17 May 2005).]
I was squating down on a small ledge just beneath the bank of the Waikaia River in Southland NZ watching a 5lb plus fish in gin clear water consistantly rising to duns, while trying to tie on a size 16 Cul de Cunard Dun with fingers that didnt want to work. I was concentrating so hard on fish and fly that the small push on the back of my head scared the s**t out of me somewhat but heaps more when I realised the push came from a massive bull that was a bit curious. I leapt up forgettin about the fish, the bull snorted and stamped about and I went arse over head into the river…luckily it was only 6 foot deep and my hat stayed dry…
Summer of 2001 I was rowing my river raft on a 5 day float on the Talchulitna River here in Alaska with 2 friends from down south and my daughter. We pulled over when we saw a good sized grizzly bear so we could take a good look and take some pictures. We were maybe 40 yards away, across some water. The grizzly stood up on it’s back legs and sniffed the air and tried to make out what we were. We were quiet up to that point, not wanting to spook it away. My friend thought it would be exciting to grunt like a moose. I didn’t think it would be a good thing at all. We finally made some noise and it sauntered off. We got back in the raft and started down stream, towards where the bear had been. The stream narrowed a lot at this point to where my oars, if I let them go straight out the side, would have been in the bushes. At that point we saw another bear on the same side of the river as the big one had been. I almost touched it, at the very moment that we saw it, accidently, with my oar. It was a grizzly cub. The big one had been mom. We drifted by silently, didn’t say a word for about a minute…and got the heck down the river. We were lucky.
Happy Trails,
Dean
[This message has been edited by Alaska Dean (edited 18 May 2005).]
Guys and Girls,
Unfortunately my tale ivolves stupidity on my part. Cold water lake (V. Cold actually)start of trout season (early spring) and I am fishing baits with my father (68 at the time). I managed to hook a fish which promptly went into the drowned tree that the bait ahd been near. Snagged again, curses… Unable to skull drag it out, it’s time for a little patience. Go and chat with old man and his friend, wander back about fifteen minutes later. Well the fish is not free, the line is still snagged and I’m now out of patience. Time to bust off and move on.
I bust off the line, wind in the tag end and lo and behold a brown trout appears on the surface, about thirty yards out. It is clearly in a great deal of trouble and cannot swim off, but flops about a bit.
Now I was always taught not to waste food… So off clobber, brace myself by backing up and then run full tilt into FREEZING water. I get about fifteen yards before I realise hopw cold it actually is. At this point it becomes one of those silly questions between stubborness ans the clearly smart alternative. Unfortunately instict lost and I determined to continue on. By the time I got to the fuish i was hurting badly, the fish was recovering and I was not happy. So literally tossing the fish in front of me I paddled back toward shore. By the time my feet reached bottom, about 3yds from shore I could no longer actually pull my arms over my head in a normal swimming motion and was ‘dog paddling’. Clearly I survived, the fish was delicious but it scared me witless. I had been so stubborn as to risk my entire future with my wife and then two, now four kids, for a silly fish. I still don’t like to lose at anything but would like to thinmk I learnt a “Life Lesson” that day and I thank the Lord that I’m here.
R
dave
Hey Alaska Dean,
I laughed for about five minutes when I read your line about your friend thinking it might be exciting to grunt like a moose!
Anyway, last summer, on a small river here on the southern plains, striper fishing…I get to the river to meet my guide and I’m pleasantly surprised to see the river high and flowing fast. So many other trips we’ve been confronted with low water and little to no current, and slow fishing.
Well, we get in the boat and although I’m fly fishing, my “guide” makes for his bait tanks, which he keeps in the river. The current is flowing so fast that it’s all we can do to pull up and take a dozen or so baitfish out of the tank. We’re slightly out of the current, near a tributary mouth, and I’m holding onto the tree limbs trying to steady the boat so this guy can get his baitfish.
We get them and head off. We pass areas that I’ve previously wade fished and the water is so high they are barely recognizable.
We arrive at the fishing spot, pull into a calm pocket off the side and throw out the anchor. We are three feet or so off the fast-moving current, in some slower, murky water of unknown depth. I start casting and then a few moments later I notice a hot-water heater floating down the river at a rapid pace. In fact, the water appears to be moving faster and faster. It’s up into the trees now. There is all sorts of debris coming down the river and I can barely keep my fly down in the strike zone long enough to get a three-second drift through the productive areas.
No luck and we pull anchor and motor off. We come to another area where he throws out the anchor, only the anchor rope breaks due to the pressure of the current pushing against the boat and we start drifting downstream, and out into the main current. I grab some treelimbs and hold on tight, while he starts the engine. Except, he motors back to where we’d been and tells me to hold the throttle while he tries to fish out his lost anchor!!!
This is supposed to be a full-day trip and we’re barely two hours into the day when I tell him to take me back to the ramp, that I have a family to think about and that I really don’t want to catch a striper that bad.
On the way back he tells me we’re screwed if we should hit something and break our prop, the current is so fast and strong that we wouldn’t be able to guide ourselves and we’d be at the mercy of the current.
Somehow we made it back and I’ve not fished with that “guide” since, nor will I ever. I was foolish to go out on the river, but he was absolutely crazy to have not called off the trip due to the conditions. Never have I felt so helpless and terrified while on the water.
Fred S.
sheesh where do I start?Leopards?Crocodiles?Buffalo?The funniest(in hindsight)was the crocodile sized monitor lizzard that run,submerged,through the shallow riffle I was wading across.I could hear splashing and rolling rocks but couldn’t see what to run from and therefore where to run to.I stood still(frozen actually)trying to anticipate the still unseen creatures next move.I nearly wept with relief when I saw the pretty harmless,though HUGE lizzard climb the far bank.If that had been a croc I’d have been toast!
Adam, I’d love to hear about the leopard…
Fred
One sunny afternoon I went down the field toward the wee stream. keeping low so I could not see the river I crept through the hole I had made years before in the fence, perfect, soundless, no fish would know I was coming… creeping like a vole, I slid through the reeds and took a look at the pool. Suddenly the sky darkened and the most horrific raucous scream issued from three feet away as the heron which had been fishing there took off for lonelier places.
I did check my pants but I was OK.
then…
a couple of weeks later I was fishing the same hole, having arrived via the same route. the trout were obliging, I had returned a half dozen, when I realised that I was not alone. I stood stock still.
Averting my gaze from the trout, just for once, I realised my old pal Mr. Heron was just alighting beside me. I remained still and he landed about five feet away and started studying the current. This was too good to be true
I turned round and screamed ‘I was here first’
The heron was stunned, stood staring at me for a good second, then evacuated and left screaming.
I never saw him again, not even a feather.
Scared the bejaysis outa me first time though. Well I was only about thirteen at the time, ok!
Roy
Roy, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long, long time. That is classic!
JB
John,
the hairs stand up on my neck every time I laugh about it,
thanks
Roy
Well my story holds far less peril than the tales most of you have told. As a matter of fact, if I didn’t know myself better I would say that I would qualify as a yellow bellied chicken. Anyway, I was fishing a favorite pool of mine with a very close friend, we were fishing and chatting for a couple of hours side by side and before I knew it it was pretty dark out. However, as is usually the case, the rises were increasing in intensity as darkness fell so we fished on, growing more and more silent as it took all of our concentration to try and spot our flies on the dark water. All of a sudden I felt something bump into me and start crawling up my leg. My reaction was that of an 8 year old girl spotting a nasty spider in her bed, I began to splash around and brandish my 4 wt rod like a sword. By buddy had no idea what the heck was going on, so he just stared at me. It took me a minute to realize that I just had a close encounter with a muskrat, I see them in that pool almost every time I fish there and I guess I was standing so still for so long he figured I was something he should climb over. My pal still gets a big kick out of that story.
[This message has been edited by parachutteadams (edited 18 May 2005).]
[This message has been edited by parachutteadams (edited 18 May 2005).]
this is a great thread! one time i was fishing the surf very early in the morn, like 5 am, and not 15 feet in front of me a seal popped his head up. I jumped a mile, thought it was the creature from the black lagoon or something.
I was about 13 and fishing by myself at a state park we were camping in. I was using a fly rod with bait at the mouth of a stream and decided to take a short-cut back to the camper. As I rounded the corner, there was a large section of decaying leaves covering the ground, I started to walk accros when I fell through the leaves up to my chest. It felt as if my feet were still not toucking the bottom, I managed to get out and noticed I was wet from my chest down. Turns out the leaves collected there during the winter and as the lake receded in the summer it left this big “pile” with holes in it. Went up to my waist at least once or twice as I made my way back to the hard land. I’m always leary of big areas of fallen leaves near a body of water now.
Brad
“Work like you don’t need the money;
Love like you’ve never been hurt; and
Dance like no one’s watching!”
Lamar River
Yellowstone NP
Trekking in our group sees a Grizzly across the river — running
We split up
I go up a steep embankment to be able to folow the river. My nose is down I am going up a very steep incline and
"BRIGHT (from berries) RED steaming scat rolls down the incline I am trying to climb
Thank goodness, I was armed with a 6#
2Fly