Death by Fly Fishing (almost) #1

[Cougarbaby]

I came Across a black bear cub on a stream in elk County last summer. I never did see mom but I just booked it out of there in case she was around I trip midstream filling up my hip boots lost my phone along the way .drove home drying my clothes on the dash board

 

[JSky]

I had a few close calls, most were out west. Last summer I hiked down the side of a massive canyon in Idaho. First sign this was a bad idea was somebody had chopped the head off a rattlesnake and left it at the top of the trail. I encountered one more alive rattlesnakes hiking down, 2 along the bank while fishing down in the canyon and one more on the hike back out. The hike out was straight up the side of the canyon, about a mile and in 100 degree heat.

Another time in Yellowstone I got distracted fishing and an entire herd of bison decided to cross the river about 10 yards from me. I knew they were in the field a ways behind me, but lost track of them until they moved right next to me. They are big, dumb and unpredictable so I slowly moved downstream and just hoped they wouldn’t be threatened by me. I couldn’t do much else. Got a good picture out of it though.

The last one was in Washington state. I was young and had just moved there from PA. A local gave me a tip on a wilderness cutthroat stream in the middle of nowhere, like 2 hour drive down a dirt road off the back side of Mt St Helen’s and Mt Rainier. I get there, no civilization like houses, gas stations or anything for over an hours drive from this stream. I hike in and get caught up in fast action of some small native cuttys. In the distance I hear a stick break, then a few minutes later a roar of sorts that reminded me of the sound they play at Penn State games. I started doing the math in my head, Washington State’s mascot is cougars, are there mountain lions in Washington I wonder? Anyway, another few yards working my way downstream I see a wet paw print in the mud along the bank that looks like a cat. I’m fairly certain it was a mountain lion and knew I was there. It just crossed from one side of the river to the other. Fortunately it left me the hell alone. I immediately left and never went back. My friend informed me that area was well known for mountain lions after the fact..

In PA the closest encounter I had was working my way downstream around a bend and coming up on a black bear literally taking a dump on a rock on the opposite bank from me at a well known NW PA stream. He ate berries that day. Don’t ask how I know that.

 

[MJMFlyfisher]

I've had one true "almost died" experience as a result of a flyfishing trip.
Heading back across I-80 in around 1998? Coming back home to Schuylkill Co after a long mid winter fishing day on Spring Creek.
I was heading eastbound and it was around sunset and I was right around the rt 15 exit and was passing a tractor trailer...... Clipping right along and glancing at his front wheels to make sure he wasn't leaning into me as I passed.
Got by him , looked in my mirror to get back into the right lane and just as I did a car came at me in the passing lane going the wrong way on I80.
We almost brushed mirrors.
I was a split second from a high speed head on collision and I never saw it coming. Took a minute to recover mentally from that one.
😳😱

The others were just your run of the mill bear encounters, falling trees or your garden variety stepping on a rattlesnake. LOL
As a matter of fact I almost legit got bit twice in one day on the Bighorn River in Montana last summer.
Stepped ON the one in the picture, and almost sat right on another later that evening.
Be careful out there, they're thick and have very quiet rattles.
That one I stepped on never did rattle once and the second one had a very quiet rattle. I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't a foot away in the high grass!

 

[dryflyguy]

I've had one true almost died experience as a result of a flyfishing trip.
Heading back across I-80 in around 1998? Coming back home to Schuylkill Co after a long mid winter fishing day on Spring Creek.
I was heading eastbound and it was around sunset and I was right around the rt 15 exit and was passing a tractor trailer...... Clipping right along and glancing at his front wheels to make sure he wasn't leaning into me as I passed.
Got by him , looked in my mirror to get back into the right lane and just as I did a car came at me in the passing lane going the wrong way on I80.
We almost brushed mirrors.
I was a split second from a high speed head on collision and I never saw it coming. Took a minute to recover mentally from that one.
😳😱

The others were just your run of the mill bear encounters, falling trees or your garden variety stepping on a rattlesnake. LOL
As a matter of fact I almost legit got bit twice in one day on the Bighorn River in Montana last summer.
Stepped ON the one in the picture, and almost sat right on another later that evening.
Be careful out there, they're thick and have very quiet rattles.
That one I stepped on never did rattle once and the second one had a very quiet rattle. I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't a foot away in the high grass!

View attachment 1641240243

That wrong way highway encounter had to be terrifying.

You actually stepped on a rattle snake and didn't get bit?
Did it try to bite you. and just didn't get through the waders?

 

[MJMFlyfisher]

That wrong way highway encounter had to be terrifying.

You actually stepped on a rattle snake and didn't get bit?
Did it try to bite you. and just didn't get through the waders?

I was walking on the streambank trail with my head and eyes looking at a side channel in the river as I walked.....looking for rising fish and only vaguely paying attention to where I was stepping.
Sucker was laying right in the trail and all I felt was a weird squish and movement under and between my boots and somehow my brain immediately processed what it was because I levitated the next 6 feet or so!
I actually think I stepped right on his head. 😳 I'm not sure though. He could have taken a shot at my boots but I think I pinned him for a split second.
You can see he wasn't thrilled!
The next encounter was seriously as bad or worse.
Last hour of good light set up waiting for rising fish. LAYING in the shin high grass with a buddy waiting for risers (Like a moron!) and a drift boat started to slide our way so I stood up to just make him aware that we were sitting there. When I went back to my butt depression in the grass to lay back down I almost put my hand right on it. Heard the rattle in the grass and he was literally 1 foot from where my right butt cheek was 1 minute earlier.
Learned a valuable lesson that day. Well 2 actually.

And yes that wrong way encounter on I-80 is the closest I've legitimately come to dying that I know of anyway. We missed by inches.

PSA: Don't do this in Montana on the Bighorn River! 😉

 

[dryflyguy]

I was walking on the streambank trail with my head and eyes looking at a side channel in the river as I walked.....looking for rising fish and only vaguely paying attention to where I was stepping.
Sucker was laying right in the trail and all I felt was a weird squish and movement under and between my boots and somehow my brain immediately processed what it was because I levitated the next 6 feet or so!
I actually think I stepped right on his head. 😳 I'm not sure though. He could have taken a shot at my boots but I think I pinned him for a split second.
You can see he wasn't thrilled!
The next encounter was seriously as bad or worse.
Last hour of good light set up waiting for rising fish. LAYING in the shin high grass with a buddy waiting for risers (Like a moron!) and a drift boat started to slide our way so I stood up to just make him aware that we were sitting there. When I went back to my butt depression in the grass to lay back down I almost put my hand right on it. Heard the rattle in the grass and he was literally 1 foot from where my right butt cheek was 1 minute earlier.
Learned a valuable lesson that day. Well 2 actually.

And yes that wrong way encounter on I-80 is the closest I've legitimately come to dying that I know of anyway. We missed by inches.

PSA: Don't do this in Montana on the Bighorn River! 😉

View attachment 1641240246

You should have played the lottery after those encounters!

 

[wildtrout2]

I've had one true almost died experience as a result of a flyfishing trip.
Heading back across I-80 in around 1998? Coming back home to Schuylkill Co after a long mid winter fishing day on Spring Creek.
I was heading eastbound and it was around sunset and I was right around the rt 15 exit and was passing a tractor trailer...... Clipping right along and glancing at his front wheels to make sure he wasn't leaning into me as I passed.
Got by him , looked in my mirror to get back into the right lane and just as I did a car came at me in the passing lane going the wrong way on I80.
We almost brushed mirrors.
I was a split second from a high speed head on collision and I never saw it coming. Took a minute to recover mentally from that one.
😳😱

The others were just your run of the mill bear encounters, falling trees or your garden variety stepping on a rattlesnake. LOL
As a matter of fact I almost legit got bit twice in one day on the Bighorn River in Montana last summer.
Stepped ON the one in the picture, and almost sat right on another later that evening.
Be careful out there, they're thick and have very quiet rattles.
That one I stepped on never did rattle once and the second one had a very quiet rattle. I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't a foot away in the high grass!

View attachment 1641240243

That's an awesome pic of that snake!

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I was at the 3 mile access on the Big Horn River a few years back, wading just off the lower end of the island on the far side of the river. A couple guys in a drift boat were fishing there when I arrived and told me they had seen a bear on the opposite shoreline awhile earlier, but he wasn’t in sight anymore. Soon after that they pulled anchor and continued on down the river.

I started fishing just off the end of the island, caught a fish or two, and began wading downstream until the water was near the top of my waders. Just about then I looked up and saw that bear, but he wasn’t on the far bank, he was swimming straight across the river toward MY island. And as he swam, the current pushed him slightly downstream so I began thinking he might not actually make the island. I thought he might see me standing in waist deep water holding my rod upright and he might latch onto me thinking I was a tree.

I evaluated my options, and they weren’t good. I could try swimming downstream. Nope. The water was too deep and it was a looong way downstream to where I could get out in shallower water. Or I could wade back upstream to the island and try to get there before the bear got there. Nope. The bear is obviously trying to swim to the island, and the bear and me together sharing the the same space at the same time also wasn’t a wise choice. So I decided to stay put, and pray he made the island.

Fortunately, he did make the island. Right at the tail end of the island, probably 10-15 feet from where I was standing. He stood on the rocks there for a few seconds, shook off the water, and rambled into the bushes on the island. I never saw him again. And I decided to walk around the edge of the island when I went back to my truck rather than going straight through the bushes on the island as I might have otherwise done.

See, bears are no big deal. Right?

 

[MJMFlyfisher]

I was at the 3 mile access on the Big Horn River a few years back, wading just off the lower end of the island on the far side of the river. A couple guys in a drift boat were fishing there when I arrived and told me they had seen a bear on the opposite shoreline awhile earlier, but he wasn’t in sight anymore. So, they pulled anchor and continued on down the river.

I started fishing just off the end of the island, caught a fish or two, and began wading downstream until the water was near the top of my waders. Just about then I looked up and saw that bear, but he wasn’t on the far bank, he was swimming straight across the river toward MY island. And as he swam, the current pushed him slightly downstream so I began thinking he might not actually make the island. I thought he might see me standing in waist deep water holding my rod upright and he might latch onto me thinking I was a tree.

I evaluated my options, and they weren’t good. I could try swimming downstream. Nope. The water was too deep and it was a looong way downstream to where I could get out in shallower water. Or I could wade back upstream to the island and try to get there before the bear got there. Nope. The bear is obviously trying to swim to the island, and the bear and me together sharing the the same space at the same time also wasn’t a wise choice. So I decided to stay put, and pray he made the island.

Fortunately, he did make the island. Right at the tail end of the island, probably 10-15 feet from where I was standing. He stood on the rocks there for a few seconds, shook off the water, and rambled into the bushes on the island. I never saw him again. And I decided to walk around the edge of the island when I went back to my truck rather than going straight through the bushes on the island as I might have otherwise done.

See, bears are no big deal. Right?

That 3 mile access sounds like the most dangerous 1/4 mile in flyfishing! LOL That first rattlesnake I stepped on was just above the 3 mile ramp on the side channel before it bends to the right. Maybe 100yds from the ramp.
I had no idea there were bears in that area.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

The most recent (aside from numerous falls): I had hooked and landed a half-dozen big fish on dry flies in about 45 minutes just downstream of the campsites at Black Walnut Bottom on Pine Creek. A thunderstorm came up and I stupidly refused to leave the water until landing the last one. I had just set foot on the shore when there was a danger-close flash/bang directly overhead. I almost collided head-on into a fawn while I was running-crawling through the path in the jungle along the creek, but that probably wouldn't have killed me.

 

[wildtrout2]

I was at the 3 mile access on the Big Horn River a few years back, wading just off the lower end of the island on the far side of the river. A couple guys in a drift boat were fishing there when I arrived and told me they had seen a bear on the opposite shoreline awhile earlier, but he wasn’t in sight anymore. So, they pulled anchor and continued on down the river.

I started fishing just off the end of the island, caught a fish or two, and began wading downstream until the water was near the top of my waders. Just about then I looked up and saw that bear, but he wasn’t on the far bank, he was swimming straight across the river toward MY island. And as he swam, the current pushed him slightly downstream so I began thinking he might not actually make the island. I thought he might see me standing in waist deep water holding my rod upright and he might latch onto me thinking I was a tree.

I evaluated my options, and they weren’t good. I could try swimming downstream. Nope. The water was too deep and it was a looong way downstream to where I could get out in shallower water. Or I could wade back upstream to the island and try to get there before the bear got there. Nope. The bear is obviously trying to swim to the island, and the bear and me together sharing the the same space at the same time also wasn’t a wise choice. So I decided to stay put, and pray he made the island.

Fortunately, he did make the island. Right at the tail end of the island, probably 10-15 feet from where I was standing. He stood on the rocks there for a few seconds, shook off the water, and rambled into the bushes on the island. I never saw him again. And I decided to walk around the edge of the island when I went back to my truck rather than going straight through the bushes on the island as I might have otherwise done.

See, bears are no big deal. Right?

What kind of bear did you encounter?

 

[Bamboozle]

True story...

One spring many, many moons ago, I went fishing with a buddy at French Creek in Chester County. As usual, we split up with plans to hook up at the end of the day.

Hours later I saw a guy 100 yards or so downstream from me get chased by a Canada goose which I assume was guarding a nest. The guy was running full tilt across the creek with the goose about a foot behind him, flapping its wings and making all sorts of racket.

After a few yards the fisherman fell flat on his face in the water which I found pretty hilarious since I don't take any $#!+ from geese; never have, never will.

Anxious to tell my friend the story at the end of the day, I walked back a little early to the car and there was my buddy standing there soaking wet with a broken rod in his hand...

Does this count? 🙂

 

[mt_flyfisher]

What kind of bear did you encounter?

That was a black bear. I think, but I’m not positive, that is beyond the grizzlies normal range.

 

[wildtrout2]

True story...

One spring many, many moons ago, I went fishing with a buddy at French Creek in Chester County. As usual, we split up with plans to hook up at the end of the day.

Hours later I saw a guy 100 yards or so downstream from me get chased by a Canada goose which I assume was guarding a nest. The guy was running full tilt across the creek with the goose about a foot behind him, flapping its wings and making all sorts of racket.

After a few yards the fisherman fell flat on his face in the water which I found pretty hilarious since I don't take any $#!+ from geese; never have, never will.

Anxious to tell my friend the story at the end of the day, I walked back a little early to the car and there was my buddy standing there soaking wet with a broken rod in his hand...

Does this count? 🙂

That's funny! Geese can be very aggressive at times.

 

[Bamboozle]

That's funny! Geese can be very aggressive at times.

In all serious, one thing I discovered about geese & ducks, especially if they are trying to swim past you with the kiddies behind or if you come on a nest...

Don't look at them, especially if you are wearing dark sunglasses.

I turn completely around and wait until they swim past (they always do when I turn around) or I'll turn around on an aggressive goose on or near a nest, wait a second or two until they quiet down and walk around without looking at them.

I ain't Marlin Perkins, but I think they freak out when something they perceive as a threat is looking right at them. All I know is in my experience, it calms down the geese & ducks and on a few occasions has the same effect on deer I'm come across grazing along a stream.

If the deer don't spook initially and I look away, they will often just keep feeding. The deer below was feeding barely 6 feet from me one dusk on the Francis Branch. It stayed there for quite a while while I fished until I decided to take some photos.

 

[wildtrout2]

If the deer don't spook initially and I look away, they will often just keep feeding.

Agree. If a deer doesn't believe you're aware of it's presence and you appear not to pose a threat, it'll often stand it's ground, allowing you to continue on past.

 

[Weikertgal]

That's funny! Geese can be very aggressive at times.

Geese are mean SOBs!!!!

Rattle snakes, in real life, sound nothing life I imagined prior to encountering one. I am absolutely terrified of them and see several each season. There is a particular spot where they like to cross the road not far from our place.

A friend encountered (on Penns) a very aggressive fisher while fly fishing with his father in law. He fended it off with his rod.

 

[wbranch]

Continuing with the rattlesnake events.......The very morning of my unpleasant encounter with the rattlesnake I met a fellow fly fisher walking towards me. He was wearing, what from a distance away, looked like high leather boots. When he got near me I could see they weren't boots at all but Kevlar bite guards. He told me his nickname on the Missouri River was "Rattlesnake Rick". A few years prior he had been walking along the bank (just as I had been doing) and had been struck on his calf. He'd been wet wading. He was air lifted via a helicopter from Craig to the nearest hospital with the antivenom. He told me by the time the helicopter had arrived his leg and face had swollen to double normal. I don't know if he was exaggerating but he said the combined bill for the helicopter and the hospital stay was $100,000. He preferred to wade fish so he bought the Kevlar bite guards. I'm still spooked by my experience and will never wade fish there again.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Speaking of rattlers, I understand this is actually pretty common in Outer Banks:

 

[Swattie87]

I observed one swim straight across Penns one time. Right at Poe Paddy CG.