I was a teenager fishing on the Walla Walla River at the time (1985ish). It was early February and cold as heck.

In order to get my line where I wanted it, I waided out to the tipy tops of my cheap-o Hodgeman rubber hib boots (no felt on the boots). The water was moving really fast at that point, and I decided to move to shallow water.

At the same time, I felt the sand/rocks get sucked out from under my feet. Next thing I knew, I was bobbing up to my neck in the Walla Walla River.

Fighting back panic and extreme cold, I started to swim towards the nearest bank. Unfortunately for me, I floated/bobbed past another fisherman on the bank. After getting over the initial shock of me floating by, all he said to me as I passed by was "You're suppose to catch the fish, not swim after them!".

Caught a real nasty cold after that episode. That's the closest I've come to dunking while fishing.

Now, I had a friend who pulled a "River Runs Through It" and literally kept only his pole out of the water as he fought a steelhead - while underwater and floating downstrea. Funniest thing I have ever seen on a river. The best part was that both he and fish washed up on the bank downstream - both exhausted has hell.

Parker