Dangerous moments are not always recognized fully in the moment. Several years ago while we fished the Wyoming Bighorn, the temperature dropped 25 degrees in a two-hour period. We drifted the Bighorn while stopping to wet-wade periodically. At the mid-point of the drift, however, we were shivering, unprepared for precipitous drop in temperature. In addition to the rain and wind was lightning, and we had to get out of the drift boat to wait out the weather. Fortunately, the squall passed, and we took out an hour or so later. We lived to fish another day. Some moments on the river are more dangerous than you realize at the time.
Listen now to “Our 5 Most Dangerous Moments on the River”
Great Stuff from Our Listeners. At the end of each episode, we often include a feature called “Great Stuff from Our Listeners.” It’s the last portion of each episode, where Steve reads one of the comments from our listeners or readers. We enjoying hearing from you, and appreciate your advice, wisdom, and fly fishing experience.
We’d love to hear at least one story from your “most dangerous moments on the river” archive. Please post your most-dangerous-moments story below!
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Great podcast as always. One safety tip that I too often ignore: make sure someone knows where you are going and when they should expect you. Last year, a friend of a friend went fishing on a small stream in the mountains by himself. It’s a very small stream and during the week you might go the whole day without seeing another person. He slipped on a rock and broke his leg and had to drag himself up the bank to the trail. This was on a Friday afternoon and he spent the night on the trail until a hiker found him Saturday morning. No one had any idea that he had gone fishing or even where to start looking for him. Fortunately, he survived the encounter and hopefully learned from the experience, but that could easily have been me.
Whoa, that is a good reminder!
Thank you for posting!
Dave
So fishing Slough Cr. In UMP by myself about 5 miles in from trail head. Not a great day. Couple storms rolled through and eventually headed back. I wear hearing aids and had them cranked up pretty good in case something snuck up on me. Headed back to car as I’m going up the hill and see Momma grizzly and cub. Actually I hear her sniffling when I look up and she and cub are on trail about 50 ft in front of me. I stopped of course in somewhat of a panic. Cub decides he wants to come check me out. Yikes. I know not to get between mom and cub but not sure how I’m going to prevent it. I did the stuff I have read about…. raise my backpack over my head to make myself seem bigger. Make so big noise. Grab a branch and hold it up and bang on rod case. Cub keeps coming….
Luckily momma bear slaps him on the top of his head and they disappear off trail. I wait several minutes to let them clear out and resume my bike. They totally disappear leaving no signs they were there. You can bet that I heard heard in the woods for the next 5 miles as now I had hearing aids turned up to the max. Pictures available
That is an absolutely crazy story. The notion of a curious cub is a something out of a nightmare. Thank you for posting!
Dave
An all too important podcast. I always let someone know exactly where I will be fishing due to the inherent dangers of the sport we love. My most dangerous moment on a river came on the Chatahoochie River in Georgia just below the Buford Dam. When the dam is about to release (which it does a few times per day), a series of horns will sound indicating the need to get out of the river and too high ground. I was down stream on the opposite bank when I heard the first horn sound. I immediately began wading across the stream to get to safety but was impeded by a deep pool when the second horn blew. I had to work my way back upstream and find another place to cross and was mid-stream as the third horn made its call. At that point, I had to tighten my belt and swim across a pool now made deeper by the addition of quickly flowing 45 degree water. I did make it across safely to high ground but still had to run through the woods to avoid being cutoff from my party by small tributary now gaining depth. After this final test, I looked at the river which had risen 10 feet in just under 15 minutes.
Tight Lines.