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#94753 - 08/21/00 09:13 AM Your worst dunking
steely_head Offline
Alevin

Registered: 12/05/99
Posts: 17
I just took my worst dunking ever over the weekend getting full head under water. What is the worst dunk you have ever experienced?

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#94754 - 08/21/00 05:54 PM Re: Your worst dunking
EricW Offline
Juvenille at Sea

Registered: 04/22/00
Posts: 104
Loc: Aberdeen,WA
The first time I ever floated the north fork nehalem on the oregon coast. We put in at the hatchery and had just got far enough downstream that you couldn't turn back. End of december. 20 degrees out. In I went...up to the neck! I was only wading in 3 feet of water but when your sitting on your ass floating down the river the water goes up to your neck.

To this day I thank the heavens my buddy had a heater in the boat, it's the only thing that saved me. It's the only time I've ever had SERIOUS hypothermia and I'll always remember how long it took and how hard it was to warm up even after a hot shower and steaming hot coffee and stew.

No fun!

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#94755 - 08/21/00 06:31 PM Re: Your worst dunking
The Moderator Offline
The Chosen One

Registered: 02/09/00
Posts: 14486
Loc: Tuleville
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
_________________________
Tule King Paker

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#94756 - 08/21/00 09:29 PM Re: Your worst dunking
steely_head Offline
Alevin

Registered: 12/05/99
Posts: 17
It will wake you up in a hurry won't it?
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Michigan Fishing and Hunting Forums

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#94757 - 08/22/00 01:23 AM Re: Your worst dunking
RPetzold Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 11/04/99
Posts: 1143
Loc: Everett, Wa
Which one? It seems as though everytime out on the river I take a dunking or two or three or four...
Anyone who knows me knows what I am talking about.
My worst one was up on Kodiak Is. I was about 12 or 13 in a pair of hip boots and got caught in some fast water. I could not move back or forwards and I could feel the river starting to get a hold of my legs and if I didnt do something I was going to end up down river. There was a large branch hanging over the river so I decided to make a jump for it. I heived my rod onto the bank and jumped. Well I did not think about the physics of the river, the very thing that was about to take me downstream. If I jumped the river would obviously get a very easy hold of me but I didnt think about this so I JUMPED. The river grabbed me and flipped me on my back but I did have just enough time to throw my arms up and back and grab the branch...THANK GOD! So there I was just holding on trying to gain my strength back but my hip boots were now full of water. There was no way I could lift myself out of the water so I slowly made my way towards the bank by sliding my hands along the branch toward dry land. The bank was steep there so I just held my place for about 10-15 minutes before I could pull myself up but there was too much water in my waders so I kicked them off slowly, threw them onto the bank and managed to pull myself up. Everthing was there except for hat which floated downstream but some nice man fished it out of the river for me, left it on the bank and walked away.
On a side not I also managed to get myself stuck in the mud fishing lake up on the island. I sank nearly waster deep and began to scream and yell for help but no one came. After about 2 hours of yelling and struggling I managed to pull myself out of my waders and crawl to solid ground caked in mud.
The following spring I took my floattube out for the first time. Fearful I might over inflate it and I played it safe and underinflated. When I looked at it I sorta thought to myself "hmmm the ones in the store and books look so much bigger and the canvas is tight to the intertube." Well it was grossly uninflated. I took it out to Crabapple lake and barely managed to stay afloat. I shipped huge amounts of water into my waders and could barely stay afloat. Its amazing how much work it takes to power a floattube when its underinflated.
Those are my stories and I do know for sure that people who know me are not at all surprised by this...
--
Ryan
_________________________
Ryan S. Petzold
aka
'Sparkey' and/or 'Special'

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#94758 - 08/22/00 01:38 AM Re: Your worst dunking
Steelheader69 Offline
Spawner

Registered: 12/14/99
Posts: 817
Loc: Tacoma WA
This isn't my worst dunking, but a VERY recent one. Was fishing the Hoh this weekend and was fishing in the canyon on the upper float. Well, was fishing off the bank and was trying to free up a snag. Well, come to find out my feltsoles were on a moss covered rock. I pulled back on rod and feet came out from under me. I instantly went under up to my hat and bobbed back up like a cork (thank god for neoprene). Still had alot of fishing to do, so was a bit cold, especially with the downpours we had this weekend. Wasn't my worse, but very memorable.

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you haven't lived til you've rowed a cataraft. Friends don't let friends run Outcasts.
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#94759 - 08/22/00 09:07 PM Re: Your worst dunking
Anonymous
Unregistered


Let me tell you about my BEST dunking. It was April in Alaska, air and water were 40 degrees, and my buddy and I were floating the river. Slick was on the oars and I was side drifting through fishy-looking water. I hooked up and put a lot of pressure on a nice buck to keep him out of a root wad. Slick made hard for the far bank (small river) and I hopped out. There wasn't a good place to land the fish below me, but the buck was hell-bent on heading through the short rapids 80' or so downstream. The smart move would have been to get back in the drift boat and follow him down. But I'm a tough guy, so I was going to bring the fish back up to me. Uh huh.

Three minutes later, the fish is in the sweepers 50' below directly me and my line is getting tangled in the branches. I waded down in the swift, mid-thigh wader, reeling up on the fish and trying to figure out a way to get Brer Rabbit out of the briar patch. Less than a rod length of line out, I can see him, nose to the shore. He's so deep in the bushes I can't reach him. I put maximum pressure on him, and out he bolts around me and down another 30' to where a big tree has fallen in at a right angle, extending half way across the river. The tree also defines the start of the short rapids.

I yell for Slick to bring the boat, wade out to the end of the tree and try to pull this wood-seeking missle out of his latest home. I'm now up to the tops of my waders. The buck is still trying to get under the base of the tree at the bank. I figure I've got one chance: horse him along the trunk, tail him, release him, and then get the hell out of Dodge.By some miracle, I do just that making a backhanded, one-try grab on a 12lb rainbow-colored fish as pretty as you'll ever see. The fish wriggles like crazy, so I end up with both hands cradling him and my rod. With no hands free, and no way of getting to my pliers, I leaned forward and bit the leader close to the hook. I then dropped him back in the river. The current had pushed me out and down a little during this episode, and water is now seeping in over my waders. Another boat drifts past with laughing occupants and I get a "Nice release!" comment from them. "Thanks" I think, "here I am near to drowning and you guys compliment me on my release". But I'm too tough to ask for a hand. Besides, Slick is on the way, and like the Wolfman he'll think of something. We'll, Slick didn't make it in time so I was going to go for a swim one way or another. I put the rod handle in my teeth, made a lunge/ paddle for the end of the tree and managed to grab hang on till Slick arrived. He grabbed the rod out of my teeth, helped me aboard and laughed his butt off as I stripped off my top layers and tried to wring them dry. Fortunately I was wearing a wading belt because everything from the chest up was soaked, and it was a long, long way down the river to the takeout. I also had wickaways clothes that did, eventually, dry out that day.

But I landed the pretty buck, and that makes it a lot better than most of my other dunkings!

PS It also promoted me to spend $70 via Bass Pro on a belt-mounted (waist pouch) SOS-pender CO2 life vest. This is cheap insurance, and I sufficiently out of the way and low weight I don't even know it's there. I wear it everywhere these days. Highly recommended.

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#94760 - 08/22/00 10:18 PM Re: Your worst dunking
Anonymous
Unregistered


Worst dunking would be when I missed a stroke in the puma during spring steelhead season. Hit a big Rock and over I went losing one of my rods, breaking two of my co-pilots favorite rods and my prescription sunglasses. I was pinned under the boat on the high side of the rock. I was able to put enough pressure on the raft to push it off me. I made it to the beach to throw up water three times. Of course I had my float coat with me but it was spring and the sun was hot so I had taken it off. Probably wouldn't have helped in this case.

Next worse was salmon fishing in PA when we were headed in. We were on the inside of the hook in flat water by the hangar when my brother lost control of the tiller handle. I was sitting in the bow of the boat and it sent me flying out of the boat with out touching anything. I was staring up at the sun from 5 feet below the water in hip boots in the seated position before I knew what hit me. When I came up I flogged in the water until the boat (now half full of water came to retrieve me). The water was actually quite warm that day. Just lucky I didn't get hit by the motor on its way by.

The coldest would be one of the several times I took a dunking at normans on the lyre in mid december with frozen banks.
I was at the fence hole trying to step up from the beach wearing black lacrosse hip boots. The boots were to stiff to make the step so I was left in limbo halfway and fell straight back for the full dunking...bbRRRRrr

Tight Lines and sticky boot bottoms

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Marty
Steelheader.net marty@steelheader.net

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#94761 - 08/22/00 10:19 PM Re: Your worst dunking
Rivernut Offline
Juvenille at Sea

Registered: 12/06/99
Posts: 135
The worst dunking I have ever had...It was on my birthday last winter. My buddy and I were launching on the P.U. up by the carbon. It was 0'dark and the launch was not as smooth as we had hoped. The drift boat splashed into the water just as the rope my buddy was holding broke.The boat and all are gear started down the river with out us . I did not even have time to think about what just happend I just reacted. I leaped of the rocks after it and got drenched from head to toe inside my waders, but I got the boat . I spent the rest of the drift in front of the heater not really excited to be fishing. It is good to be able to sit back and joke about it now. It could have been worse.
Shaphooks.
Rivernut.

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#94762 - 08/23/00 07:59 PM Re: Your worst dunking
GutZ Offline
The Original Boat Ho

Registered: 02/08/00
Posts: 2954
Loc: Bellevue
Reading all these stories makes me wonder about those of us who are not here to post stories of there worst (last!) dunkings. I think the moral of all these stories is to wear your life jacket when your on the water. (and maybe bring some extra clothes)(and a heater). Better yet, just stay in the damn boat!

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I Wish I were standing in a River, (notice it sez standing not swimming)
In the Rain,
Catching Steelhead.

[This message has been edited by Fishguts (edited 08-23-2000).]
_________________________
It's good to have friends
It's better to have friends with boats
***GutZ***

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#94763 - 08/24/00 02:54 AM Re: Your worst dunking
Hohwaiian Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 07/06/99
Posts: 481
Loc: Seattle, Washington, US
This is not really a dunking, but it's certainly the coldest I've ever been on a river. Feb on the Upper Quinalt I forgot my rain gear. The Hefty with head and arm holes punched just didn't cut it. The heater literally saved my life because my two partners were firmly against rowing for the takeout. As I recall we C&R'd over ten natives that day though.

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#94764 - 08/24/00 11:28 AM Re: Your worst dunking
Idono Offline
Fry

Registered: 10/03/99
Posts: 30
It was about 1992. I was on the North Umpqua during August. I was very much aware of the Oregon's fish and game enforcement officers on the river. In fact, I was preoccupied with them. One officer that I noticed on the road I thought I would see again. I did; he checked my hook. I was in compliance: it was barbless. After he left, I was standing on a rock rather shaken in full regalia: waders, vest, 10ft. fly rod, and wading staff. The next thing I know I'm entering the stream head first. Apparently I slipped on the rock, having lost concentration. I took a full dunk upside down. I was surprised I had not broken the fly rod. Needless to say, I lost interest in fishing for the afternoon.

[This message has been edited by Idono (edited 08-24-2000).]

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#94765 - 08/24/00 12:28 PM Re: Your worst dunking
Doug Kelly Offline
Spawner

Registered: 02/22/00
Posts: 752
Loc: Bothell WA
one i'll never forget, was up in alaska on lake illimna being shuttled over to the alagnak by float plane well the weather was not so good 54deg 30mph winds, 3-4 ft waves on the lake the pilot decided to take off in the lake instead of the river waves comming over the prop couldn't see out the windshield well couldn't get on a plane so decieded to turn the plane around to get closer to the river where it was a little calmer the plane went uo on one float the wing half under the water water was coming through the emergency door one hand on the latch one hand on the seat belt release well he proceded to try again same results this time the plane blew all the way over luckly there were some people at the village to help out 3hrs of soaking wet had to fly back to anchorage a buy all new gear every thing we owned was under water

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#94766 - 08/24/00 02:22 PM Re: Your worst dunking
GutZ Offline
The Original Boat Ho

Registered: 02/08/00
Posts: 2954
Loc: Bellevue
About 10 years ago, on a rainy, crappy day, a friend and I were fishing the island across the river at the Barrier Dam on the Cowlitz. We had rowed his drift boat over. Up the river from us were a couple of fisherman who had rowed a Seyvlor Kyak over to the island. The river came up about a foot during the couple of hours we were standing there. Eventually these two clowns jump in the Seyvlor with all there gear and start to paddle back across the River. About half way they run out of gas and begin to drift down past the launch. As you may know there is a clay bank there with lots of fallen trees. Anyway as they go past the launch they begin to paddle back up the river, loosing ground the whole time. They made it through the first tree, but came out sideways and were dumped by the next. By this time I'm yellin for help, as there are a few sleds around. One of these guys scrambles up the bank, but the other one just disappears. One of the sleds that was on the backside of the island comes around and heads for the Seyvlor, just as the guy bob's (no offense) to the top. They gather him and the Seyvlor up, and head up river with that stupid little kyak flying behind them like a kite. That's the worst (dumbest) dunking I have ever seen.
WEAR YOUR LIFE JACKET!
Jeff "fishguts"
_________________________
It's good to have friends
It's better to have friends with boats
***GutZ***

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#94767 - 08/25/00 11:25 PM Re: Your worst dunking
Griz Offline
Parr

Registered: 03/16/00
Posts: 69
Loc: Gold Bar, WA, USA
The coldest dunking that I took was on the Kalama back around 71. My Dad and I were fishing the lower river and I deceided to move down to the tail out. I had to cross over some ice that I had one over on the last outting. It ended up being deeper then I remembered. Dad started the car to warm me up. It did little good and he was not ready to go due to the bite being on. I was so cold that when I went to bed that night I was still cold.

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#94768 - 08/25/00 11:46 PM Re: Your worst dunking
Anonymous
Unregistered


I wasn't fishing, but duck hunting. It was about 20 years ago and I had shot a duck with a .22 off whidbey (look, I was 14 and I was shooting down on it...). The tide took the duck out. It was Jan 1st (my parents were watching the rosebowl game) and I rolled a log into the water, hooked a board under a bent railroad tie looking thing and paddled with another board, stripped to my underwear and started to paddle. As the current was taking the duck out, I had a long way to paddle. As I reached for the duck my home made outrigger canoe rolled and I dove into the water. I surfaced 10 feet from the log, 10 feet from the duck and as I glanced back about 600 yards from the shore...

I got back on the log, put the "canoe" back together got the duck and paddled back. To this day my parents have no idea how stupid I was. I am still amazed I am alive after this...

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#94769 - 08/26/00 02:45 AM Re: Your worst dunking
8 FOOT LEADER Offline
Juvenille at Sea

Registered: 08/18/00
Posts: 187
Loc: Seattle, WA, USA
I was in the process of reeling in a fish on the Skykomish river when someone took the rock away I was standing on. Uh, yeah. I was underwater reeling the fish in, funny as heck. Everyone was laughing when I came up for air. I filled my neoprene chest high! Thank god my cell phone still worked afterwards, and I landed the fish too!

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#94770 - 08/30/00 08:59 PM Re: Your worst dunking
T Dodge Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 01/05/00
Posts: 270
Loc: Tacoma
This is the only time I have ever been really scared on, in, or around the water. On the Kalama, May 6 of this year. I was below the red barn. There is a little gravel island and a gravelly stretch that looked shallow enough to wade, except it dumps into a deeper stretch. I had waded it before and I tried again. I got almost to the bottom end of the island, but I had not started far enough upstream to hit the island comfortably and if I was going to get the rest of the way over, I was going to have to push upstream. I tried, but the water was so fast that I was just pushing gravel out from under me and losing inches with every step. I could stand still o.k., but I could make no progress. I didn't feel I could reverse direction because turning broadside in the maneuver seemed dangerous. I was stuck!

Finally, I decided I had to make the turnaround and go back. As soon as I brought my upstream leg down and around, the force of the water blew my legs out from under me and I went down. As soon as I went down, the water started pouring into by waders. I was going down the swift water, feet first, couldn't get my feet under me, and I was all the way under, kicking to try and find the bottom. I was into the deep water in an instant. At this point, I actually thought that this might be the end. If the water was too deep or too fast, I might be found near the Columbia somewhere.

I grabbed my belt to pull it tighter with my left hand. I had my prized rod and reel in my right hand. As soon as I pulled the belt, the buckle came out of the hole and it was now loose, only being held tight by my grip. I couldn't let go of that. And I didn't want to dump the rod/reel. But I was just about to that point.

Luckily, once into the deeper water, the water velocity slackened way up. I did get my feet under me and I found the bottom. The bottom was firm, not mucky, and I was able to bob to the surface and get a breath. Only then I realized that the water wasn't overly deep and I could bob back toward the shore. I got to where I could stand and the water was slow enough to move toward it, slowly being pushed downstream, but out of real danger.

When I got to the shore and started to wade out and when I got to about knee depth, I tried to take a big step, but my waders were so full of water, my foot wouldn't lift. The momentum of the attempted step just carried my body forward, with my legs anchored, and I fell flat on my face in the water again! I turned my butt around toward the shore and elbowed my way up onto the bank, then got my legs around uphill to dump the water out of my waders with me still in them.

I figure I may have lost my membership in the mammal family. We are supposed not to have to learn by experience. I guess I did about every stupid thing I've read not to do in all the articles I've read in my life. But I was sure glad to be alive. I took off my waders and my shirts, sat down on the river bank and just thought about all the stupid stuff I've done in my life.
_________________________
Tad

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#94771 - 08/30/00 11:55 PM Re: Your worst dunking
that guy Offline
Fry

Registered: 08/30/00
Posts: 28
Loc: lacey
last oct on the satsop below the s curves i had a great day hooking kings silver and steelhead i got about 20 fish that day but you have to cross the river. there is a little sand bar that makes it possible. i stayed to long it was raining hard that day and the river got dirty and i couldnt see bottom and there was these kids camped out above the s curves and i thought they were helping me but they guided me into a big old hole on purpose i went over my head and lost one fish and half of my gear went floating down the river. but i made it luckly those kids will gets theirs someday. i learned the same lesson once again never trust any one over ten.

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#94772 - 09/02/00 01:14 AM Re: Your worst dunking
stlhead Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 6830
About 20 years ago I was summer run fishing on the North Fork of the Sky standing on a big boulder. I leaned over to spit on a spider and went straight in and on a wild ride. The worst part was a buddy saw the entire thing. Now if this ever happens to you at least fake death so that you get to ride in the ambulance and not have to sit next to some guy who thinks he's funny all the way home. LOL
_________________________
"You learn more from losing than you do from winning." Lou Pinella

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