Hello all, I have to say I can relate to this story, I seem to fall in and have a swim more often than all my fishing buddies put together.
I once fell in an hour away from the car at 5:30am in the middle of winter when it was minus 6 degrees. I was soaked but the sun was due up and the fish were biting so we fished on and I did eventualy warm up!
So how often do you fall in, and what was your worst fall while fishing?
All the best.
Mike.
I fell one time while fighting a steelhead and broke my knee cap on a rock and went clear under aka a river runs through it… I got the fish though and I still have a nice calcium deposit on my knee to remind me.
I once fell in the Lower Illinois River in Oklahoma. The problem was that I didn’t hear the siren announcing that they were generating (KEY: Always pay attention to water levels). I was essentially washed away… as I floated down the river, fearing that I was a goner, a little kid yelled out to me… " You ain’t supposed to be swimming in there right now…"
This is more of a dive in than a fall in. I was fishing the Beaverkill with my stepson, Chris, 4 years ago in fall. I went to help the kid down from the bank because it was rather steep and accidently hit the bank mud with the rod tip. Wound up Pi@#$%g off a hive of yellow jackets. They were on me in seconds had to run out to deeper water and dove in, in the process breaking a favorite Edwards Bamboo. Recieved at least 10 stings and wound up soaked. Funny that the kid was untouched.It’s hilarious now but at the time it made for a really bad day.
Tom
I don’t find myself getting wet too often these days. I almost broke my streak last week on the Eagle River downstream of Eagle, CO. The Eagle has some incredibly slick rocks that are just the right size that you can’t get a good plant on them. I started getting a little too confident and started going down…landed on my knees up to mid chest. I didn’t get wet, but my knees didn’t appreciate it a whole lot.
My most memorable spill happened several years ago. Me and a buddy of mine were fishing for kings in a Great Lakes trib. He hooked a fish that was pretty hot and started peeling off line downstream into deeper water. I gladly grabbed the net and headed after it. As I was getting a little past waist deep I spotted the line slicing through the water back at me. Great, I thought I would be able to take a stab at netting the salmon…the fish had other ideas and went right between my legs without flinching. Pulled my upstream leg out and I went down…deep, all the way to the bottom, came up soaking wet and with a cut wrist that was bleeding nonstop. I ignored all the blood since the fish remained on the line through all the ruckus. Another 10 minutes and we had the culprit in hand. I still have the scar on my wrist to remind me of that little adventure.
The Snake River (Wyoming) along the rocky bank is one of my favorite places to take an unintentional dip. It seems to be so because in the last five years, I’ve done just that, three times. One day it was TWICE within 5 minutes. I had just gotten out of the water and was checking my camera, cell phone etc when I lost my balance and el dippo once again. Since we’re usually there in late September and early October, it’s not the time for a casual swim for sure. It’s these incidents that caused me to buy the Pentax waterproof camera too.
Mark
This last Feburary I was fallowing my buddy on the South Fork of the ClearWater river chasing some B run Steelhead up a water fall. There was ice in the water and Ice on the rocks and I do not have studs on my boots. My buddy in his studded aqua stealth boots climbed up the ten foot fall with no problem. I lifted my leg to the first stair step up the water fall, about waist high, found a sheet of ice and sat straight down in the water. My buddy heard me gasping from the cold since I had gone up to my neck NderdaFilm.
I would like to thank the makers of Under Armour and Neoprene. A couple of good products that insulate when wet. I fished the rest of the day after warming up the water that had collected in my clothes.
Tea Anyone?
The last time I fell in was about a month ago on the South fork of the Boise River. I took a step forward, lost my balance, did a little two step forward, two back, forward, back, forward and kneeled on all fours in the water to pray for fish. I didn’t go that far under the film.
I would like to thank the makers of Neoprene for how soft it is when you fall on the rocks, and how tight it fits so not too much water makes it to the toes. For the clumsy the thicker the better :oops: .
Can you say, “Wading Staff?” 
Back in the ‘olden days’, they used to make a wader out of vinyl plastic. Cheap things. I took a pair of them duck hunting, in a near blizzard, with the temperature about 10 degrees and the wind about 20 knots. It was a half mile to the river, across two or three barbed wire fences, and open pasture. My friend upriver shot a duck, and it was closer to me than him, so I ventured out into the water to play retriever. Stepped in a muskrat hole, splayed out forward, jamming my shotgun barrel into the muddy bottom, split those cheap waders from crotch to chest, and submersed myself clear to my neck. I made the mistake of ripping the rest of those cheap things off. They could have offered some protection on the long walk to the truck. You can believe me when I tell you that I was thankful for that truck heater. My wet clothes were mostly frozen stiff. Live and learn.
I’m 6’3" tall. I was wading into a small lake for bluegills and stepped into a muskrat hole. I went all the way up to the knee before catching myself, the water was right at the top of my hip wader, only caught about 1/8 cup of water in the wader.
The bluegill action was definitely worth a little dampness that day.
The first one was many years ago, before there were salmon in Michigan’s Little Manistee river. It was a wonderful steelhead stream. A good buddy, the Gypsy, and I drove through the snow to get to the stream in the early season, walked along the river looking for a good access point and I entered what looked like 3-4 foot deep water along a shallow bank. Wrong!!! It was more like 5 feet and a couple of steps forward put the water well over my head. My LL Bean Crusher hat floated, the bamboo rod in my hand was held above the water and I finally surfaced a few yards downstream. Wow!!! It was cold!!!
A trip back to the car, with heater roaring, and a change of clothes put everyting in order. Continued to fish with no ill effects.
A few years ago my wife and I circled Lake Superior, hoping to find some Coaster Brookies in the Nipigon River region. We fished to the end of the season without finding the object of our desires. One day on the big Nipigon river, I turned, took a few steps, and quickly found myself prone in the river! Slick rocks!! My digital camera was damp, a box of flies in my pocket headed for Lake Superior and I was again very COLD!! Managed to become erect, head for shore and empty my very full and heavy hip waders. Hiked the 1/4 mile back to the car, stripped, (my dear, sweet wife took photos!) and put on dry clothes. Our family has had many laughs about Dad standing nekkid in western Ontario while the big brookies remained out in Lake Superior.
Might sound poor, but it was a great trip. There are many beautiful streams on the north shore of Lake Superior. Might have to do it again!
Bill
Bill,
When you say “might have to do it again”… Are you talking about standing “Nekkid” in Ontario or “Feeshing”?
Bill :twisted:
Yes, JC, the wading staff is my friend and constant companion. The rocks on my favorite river are slicker than ice, and the current gets pretty strong in a few areas.
Still, I fell once when trying to retrieve a $1.50 fly from an shrub growing across the stream from me. A staff can only save you from a certain amount of stupidity. The worst part of the experience was the thought of someone watching me make a fool of myself. The second worse part of the experience was the sense of inevitability once I knew I could neither proceed nor retreat without being swept away. I stood there for a minute knowing what would happen when I lifted one foot or the other, reviewed my water safety training, then plunged in. Neoprene waders floated me to the next shallow spot, and I emerged with only a bruised ego.
Bananas once saved me from serious injury when a fall sent both legs up in the air, and I landed flat on my back. I was on a flat rocky shore whith no water to cushion the blow. I didn’t understand why I got away with only a few minor bruises until I got back to my van and took off my vest. That’s when I saw the remains of the bananas I put in the back vest pocket for snacks. They were right where I need them when I took my spill.
Midge Man, I think you know what Oklahoma river I’m writing about.
All the stories of falling in icy water makes me wonder if carrying one of those emergency “Space Blankets” during the winter would be a good idea.
Bill DeSavage.
“Might have to do it again”, definitely means a return to the north shore of Lake Superior and NOT a return to subaqueos Nipigon River. It’s just bloomin’ beautiful up there from ABOVE water. Pretty uncomfortable under water.
I’d recommend the trip to anyone. The season ends early to protect spawning fish but it’s worth the trip just to enjoy the many streams emptying into Lake Superior.
Ontario has drastically reduced the number of fish that may be harvested and the ruling has greatly increased the number of big fish available. Great!! Catch 'em, take a picture, then release 'em - gently.
Wonderful trip, even if we didn’t find the coasters.
Bill
:lol: I have started pricing wading staffs.
Do they make one with a bungee that will pick you up after you fall. I do seem to be clumsy.