Good to hear you're OK; too many such stories turn out differently. I've had some
experience with this myself, both in terms of witnessing and living through the dangers
of the watery addictions which we all have (and love).
Perhaps the most influential of these was the time a driftboat capsized on the "staircase"
pool just above the Oxbow on the Hoh River in the Olympic Rainforest. The noises caught
my attention and I looked upriver to see an empty boat crashing through the rapids. After
what seemed to be an eternity, one man bobbed up and clung to the rocky shore. He soon
began to look around frantically for his passenger. Many yards downriver, the other guy
popped out of the freezing February flows with nothing but a flannel shirt and his long
underwear. We helped him to shore and the first thing he said was "if my suspenders didn't
snap I'd be dead". His beltless waders pulled him subsurface like a parachute until he
grabbed a snag and his suspenders broke. The waders shot off like a canon, according to
the lucky angler. All their gear was lost and the boat was destroyed.
I saw them both the next day fishing from a gravel bar with brand new discount store rods.
Not only do I always wear a belt, but I only fish the outgoing tide in anything but the most
trivial areas. When I listen to most of these stories they are "incoming tide" stories -
mine included.
Safe fishing!!!
Juro Mukai
Blue Northern Trading Co.
www.bluenorthern.com