Worst (or funniest) Fall-in situation

[6xAdams(Jones)]

After posting a fall-in story, on a stream report, I got curious about how often it happens to me as compared to others. I searched for an existing thread to revive but
couldn't find one.
I know there have been serious injuries and even fatalities involved with falling in and I have no intent of making fun of that side of it. Still, we all can benefit from hearing that "I'm not the only one this ever happens to" and how we can possibly avoid having it happen (too much) in the future.

Worst for me would be:
I recently tripped over a shin-high rock, in knee-deep water, while walking downstream, when it was just getting dark. I tend to fall in more when the water is shallow and slow than when it is high and moving - probably because I'm more aware and cautious for the latter. I got away with a bruised shin and knee, and scraped knuckles from breaking my fall.
Funniest (also this year):
I fell head-first from shallow water into deeper water while entering calm water. The backside of my waders instantly filled with air and held my feet off the bottom - so that I had to hand-crawl back to shallow water.
Funniest (that I witnessed):
I was fishing close to mid-channel on Pine Creek, about 50 yards downstream from one of my sons. I saw him casting in waist-high water and looked away for about 20 seconds (probably to look at a bird, or my fly, or something). When I looked back upstream, he was neck-deep in a hole, with a look on his face that seemed to say, "Okay, now what?!" No splash or struggle... just waist-deep and then neck-deep in a matter of seconds. He was easily able to walk out of the hole he stepped into and the water wasn't so cold that there was any danger.

 

[JeffP]

When I was standing on a bank on the Hammer, the whole high bank collapsed. I ended up in the creek with the dog at the top with me still holding the leash. I guess that doesn't count as legacy sediment removal since it all ended in the water! We were fish Elk creek and a friend slipped into a suprisingly deep hole right next to the bank. For a split second, all you could see was his hat floating on the water.
1st time kayaking ever we were on the Swatty and a friend tossed me a beer. That was it. We were in some deeper water late in the fall and I was chilled to the bone but got my stuff back and finished the day fishing and even ended up at Iron Hill in Hershey still soaked.

 

[scs]

My son and I took my grandson fishing in the canoe. On the way back, he decided to reach out and touch the water. Grandson fell in and son jumped in after him, flipping the canoe. Luckily we were in shallow water. Put the kid back in the canoe and walked it to shore. Good thing he had a life jacket on. That was a Fathers Day I’ll always remember

Steve

 

[wcosner2]

In my family, we call it "doing a jig". Figured it comes from the movement you do as you attempt not to fall in but not exactly sure of the history of the phrase. I usually do a jig once or twice a year.

Apparently as a kid, probably 2 or 3 years old, I was standing with my dad and brother fishing off of a dam in the Poconos. The dam has an inch of water running over it and on the back side, it is probably 4 or 5 feet deep. I guess baby me wanted to find out how deep so I took a step over the side and quickly ended up on the bottom looking up at my father as my mom yelled at him. He quickly jumped in and scooped me and my inflated water-soaked diaper up as a cried and said "I'm all wet."

 

[Swattie87]

I’ve had some funny ones and/or been around some funny ones, and some potentially bad ones, that fortunately didn’t end up that bad, but could’ve. It’s a fine line between what you can laugh at later, and what could’ve been a trip to the hospital, or worse…

1. Just funny on this one. When I lived in Lebanon I’d sometimes go over to the DHALO section of the Quittie after work for a quick hour or two. I’d often just throw on an old pair of junky rubber hip boots to not have to deal with gearing up full waders and boots. There rarely were other fisherman there, but often there were lots of joggers and the like. On this particular evening there was a group of young women, probably LVC students, who at the time weren’t all that much younger than me, in my mid 20’s. They were in the lot stretching and presumably getting ready for a run. I smiled, said hi to them, and headed down to the creek. Upon getting to the creek, admittedly possibly distracted from the “jogger hatch”, I didn’t pay close enough attention to the stream bottom where I stepped in. I immediately sunk in over my left boot in that smelly, icky, creek muck that forms from decomposing plant matter in slow moving holes. My momentum carried the rest of me, face first, into the muck. So, less than 60 seconds after leaving the parking lot, I returned, to a lot of giggles from the group of young women. I proceeded to strip to my underwear, get in the car and go home. Look before you step.

2. Mostly just funny here too. Just recently, a couple months ago, I was fishing in the upper Skuke watershed with pcray. Over the course of about 15 minutes I proceeded to slip and fall, all of them minor fortunately, four separate times, all in relatively benign shallow water with little current and boulders. Had some minor scrapes and bruises, and between the four of them managed to completely soak myself. pcray likely thought I was a drunk, but otherwise all ok.

3. I was fishing with a college buddy in the Narrows section of BFC. He stepped from one big boulder that was completely out of the water to another big boulder, also completely out of the water, or attempted to anyway. I didn’t see him fall, but he called for help, and I found him wedged between the two boulders, up to his neck in water, propping himself up against them with his elbows. He claimed his feet weren’t touching the bottom either. Some BFC regulars may know this exact spot. He was fine, other than being soaking wet. While sitting on one the rocks collecting himself, I proceeded to pull a 16” Brown out of the head of the run above the boulders. Probably didn’t help matters at the time.

4. This one could have been bad. Took a cabin fever trip out to the Allegheny Front area with my neighbor a few Winters ago. We knew there’d be snow out there, but we didn’t count on the inch of icy crust on top of it. The kind where unless you didn’t deliberately step hard to crunch through it, you’d just slide on top of it. Throughout the course of the day we both slipped and slid numerous times. But one particular time, I went down and there was just enough gradient beneath me that I couldn’t stop myself. As I was sliding I came to realize that there appeared to be a significant drop off ahead of me, and there were two trees between me and the drop off to try to stop myself with. I chose to straddle the one, and did manage to stop myself, at the temporary expense of my “equipment”. Turned out to be the right move, as beyond that tree there was about a 30 ft drop down to the creek bed below. Probably wouldn’t have been fatal, but I woulda been in bad trouble.

5. Also serious. I fish with board member salmonoid a lot. And anyone who has fished with him knows he is part mountain goat. I’ve switched to the same boot set up as him, Korkers with studded soles, yet I never seem to have the traction he is capable of. A few Falls ago we were having a really good day on a remote NW PA stream, and we kept fishing well past our turnaround time to be able to hike out in daylight. It’s one of those streams that has nearly constant good habitat, and around every corner there was another juicy hole or run, and we just kept catching fish. We finally turned around just about when we couldn’t see to fish anymore. We both had headlamps (always a good idea to carry one, even when not planning on fishing until/past dark) with us and we started the hike out. After about 2 miles or so into the hike out, and in complete darkness now, a road comes relatively close to the stream on the one side, but it’s a couple hundred feet up a pretty steep hillside/cliff. salmonoid decided to try to shortcut it up the hillside to the road, and I told him I’d rather just keep walking the woods along the stream back to where the road comes down off the hillside, maybe another 1/2 mile or so downstream. I was watching his headlamp from down below and quickly realized he wasn’t making much progress vertically anymore, but was just traversing the hillside from left to right at relatively the same elevation (maybe 40 feet or so) above the stream bottom. I decided I’d just keep parallel with him in case he got into trouble. Next thing, I hear a good bit of crashing and rocks sliding and can see his headlamp coming down the hillside. I shine my light over to find him prone against the hillside in a somewhat controlled, but still too fast to stop, slide down the hill. I start to run over figuring at best he’s gonna land hard in the creek, and will likely need help, when by chance he comes to a complete stop, standing, on a rock ledge protruding out, maybe 6 or 8 feet above the creek. I see his headlight shine down to the creek and he slowly climbs down, crosses the creek, and finishes the walk out along the creek with me. Coulda been really bad. Here’s the funny part…I could tell he was kinda shook by it and we didn’t talk about that experience at all the rest of that multi day trip, or the next few times we fished together. Then, out of the blue, a year or more later, when fishing one day he says to me “Sorry, yeah, I probably shouldn’t have tried to climb that cliff on the way out of XXXXXXX Creek.” I said, “yeah, probably not.” Haha.

All’s well that ends well, but simply falling is probably the most dangerous part about what we as FFers do.

 

[tomgamber]

First let me say that wading belts are the best. I am way more likely to be injured on land than in the water. I've dunked, misstepped, been over confident, whatever many times. Wet is wet. I trained lifeguards. I can swim. Uneven, slippery ground is where I do my best damage. With that said, I can connect every blood-drawing event to a good day of fishing. It's like dues but as soon as my *** hits the mud I know I'm getting paid.

 

[Swattie87]

Good point. In the water falls are usually self limiting in terms of damage. Assuming hypothermia isn’t an issue. Otherwise yeah, my most dangerous moments have originated from being on land outside of the stream.

For in the water falls the most common element for me is stepping on a rock that I think is flat, or relatively flat, but actually slopes away from me. Your lead foots slips down the rock and you end up beyond the point of being able to balance yourself.

Also, for the in the water falls, once a I realize I’m going down I toss my rod away from me, and try not to land on top of it. When ever possible, the best way to stop an in the water fall is to simply sit down, or try to land as much as possible on your butt. As opposed to knees, elbows, or hands. Not always possible, but if you can manage it, it’ll save you from banged up knees and sprained wrists.

 

[tomgamber]

For in the water falls the most common element for me is stepping on a rock that I think is flat, or relatively flat, but actually slopes away from me. Your lead foots slips down the rock and you end up beyond the point of being able to balance yourself.

Yeah. That. But not so much balance as that step you thought was there is just more water. Little J is one that comes to mind. And nearly all unexpected incidents occur in rather benign water. Regardless, any damage is from the waist , up when you wear your belt. I got more shirts in the car. Anywhere currents or undercurrents would be dangerous, I'm not a participant.

 

[krayfish2]

Alby and Bruno witnessed me hop out of the boat, roll my ankle on a rock that moved and disappear underneath the boat. It happened in about a foot of water or less and the only thing dry was the top of my hat

 

[pcray1231]

My worst was in NW PA. Was in inches of water walking between holes on a medium sized stream, and I dunno what happened, but I went down in an uncontrolled way, smacked my face off of a rock on the way down. Bloody lip and face, cracked tooth, and a lost camera.

Swattie, I remember the 4 falls, lol.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

In the snow in February in the Narrows is the first that comes to mind. Did a double dip too, which is a rare feat. Usually I can get one arm wet and right the ship. This particular time, I had to go in with both arms because a log had freed itself and took out my legs. That is not even the double, as it was the same log that hit me again. I think I unwisely stepped on it, and it was snow covered. Thought it was a rock, I guess. I must have pushed it upstream when I stumbled and it came back to get me again.

I always carry extra cloths with me when winter fishing for this reason. I am three hours from Clinton County. We finished out the day after a long sit with the car heater going and a change of clothes.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

Carefully scanning the water on the East Branch of the Delaware near Margaretville (above the Pepacton Reservoir where it is small water), I spied some rises 25 yards ahead of me in a bend pool. I was inching along the bank in about a foot of water, making my way down to the pool. Never taking my eyes of the risers, the next thing I know I stepped on a rounded slick rock the size of a bowling ball and immediately slid forward as I landed on my back in about 18 inches of water. Filled my waders quickly with the stream's cool flow. Nobody was around, but I still felt embarrassed. Dusted myself off (or I should say wrung myself out), proceeded closer to the pool, which had settled by then, and took the 15-inch brown that was the distraction that caused my soaking. Lesson learned: watch where you are walking.

 

[KeviR]

This one happened on the Yampa river in Steamboat Springs. There is a nice walking trail along the section of the river just above town and I had finished up for the afternoon (July I think). I was walking back along the trail and getting hotter and hotter in my waders. I walked up to the edge of the river and looked over the bank at a run that looked about waist deep and not too much current. Rather than sit down on the bank and slide in, I decided to just jump in. (I was hot!) Well, the water was MUCH deeper than it looked. I didn't slip or anything, just full vertical dunk, over my head. I cooled down in a hurry. Popped right back up and crawled up the bank. There were several people walking/jogging by just then, so it was kinda embarrassing.
On another related topic, I nominate the Lehigh as the worst/most dangerous place to wade. I have gotten dunked there way more often than any other stream/river. It seems like certain days I'm cursed and I might stumble and dunk 2-3 times in one outing. Other days I might be paying closer attention or not is as much of a hurry and have no problem. I've been using the Korkers aluminum bar soles the last few trips and they seem to work pretty well. About as well as felts in terms of stability. And much better grip than felt on muddy banks.

 

[Peyton]

yesterday I took the wrong step on some loose dirt on a steep bank and fell down into the creek, landing in the deeper part of the pool and flooded my waders. luckily it was on the way back and a buddy was able to help me get out of the creek and empty them.

 

[Troutmeister]

Wading across the Salmon River in N.Y. at the lower part of a pool maybe thigh deep or so, between the current and slippery rock my feet went out from under me, waders filled up and I was washed downstream a bit before I could right myself and make it to shore.

The scary part was there was 100 yds. of rapids below the pool. If I would have been washed into those I would have been in trouble. This was with felt soles on Korkers. Before the next year I bought the felt soles w studs. Much improved traction.

 

[laurelrun]

I'm just back from the Salmon river, which usually results in one swim per trip. Sunday in steady rain, I broke off a nice male coho on the rocks and was dejected. Walking back to my hole, I tripped, did the dance and fell backward on my butt, with a good audience. Other than telegraphing some water up my sleeves, I was pretty buttoned up for that one. Next cast, hooked and landed a giant hen king. So, the dues payment worked out.

Funniest that no person witnessed, I once I was working my way back to the car on the Yellow Breeches after a good day, and a heron kept high holing me as I worked up the run to finish up. We got even with each other and I tried to shoe him downstream. Wasn't watching where I was stepping and tripped on a submerged log. Splashed down in about six inches of water. Bloodied and wet, I succeeded in scaring the heron... upstream.

 

[DaveKile]

I think 2020 was one of my best years with three fall-ins in a couple of months. I was at Bald Eagle slipped in the slate rocks of the western bank and landed backward early in the morning. Rest of the day with my backside all wet. Next was Spring Creek by the bridge upstream from the handicapped parking lot. I was fishing in front of a woman and her two-year-old child toddling along the bridge. In 18" of water, I tripped up over my boots, fell in and had the child laughing and clapping. Finally that year at the Jam I was on Penns Creek. Caught a very nice brown and decided to get out my iPhone for a fish picture in the net. I was juggling too much, lost my balance and threw everything in my hands and tucked under my elbows in the water: fish, net, rod, and iPhone. I retrieved them all and didn't get hurt, as I landed on some rocks. Of course, got water down my front. I need to get a Day-Glo orange bumper for my iPhone and a change of clothes at all times. It was pretty tough finding my iPhone at the bottom of Penns creek.

 

[MeBugSlinger]

Years back, after a good outing on the Little Pine, my buddy and I gleefully retreated back to the truck. This new trail back led us to a side channel with what looked to be about two feet of standing water. On the opposite side of the channel stood a young lady with her toddler hitched to a backpack carrier waiting for us to cross.

Still feeling giddy, I went first, jumped right in from the high bank and found myself in about four feet of muck. Young lady screamed, kid screamed, my embarrassed buddy went around me as fast as he could and I just stood there stuck in the muck😆.

 

[albatross]

At medical appointments, they often ask me "have you had any recent falls?", a sign I'm getting (looking) old I suppose. I tell them I fly fish and fall often, but nothing significant for their medical record...

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

This one happened on the Yampa river in Steamboat Springs. There is a nice walking trail along the section of the river just above town and I had finished up for the afternoon (July I think). I was walking back along the trail and getting hotter and hotter in my waders. I walked up to the edge of the river and looked over the bank at a run that looked about waist deep and not too much current. Rather than sit down on the bank and slide in, I decided to just jump in. (I was hot!) Well, the water was MUCH deeper than it looked. I didn't slip or anything, just full vertical dunk, over my head. I cooled down in a hurry. Popped right back up and crawled up the bank. There were several people walking/jogging by just then, so it was kinda embarrassing.
On another related topic, I nominate the Lehigh as the worst/most dangerous place to wade. I have gotten dunked there way more often than any other stream/river. It seems like certain days I'm cursed and I might stumble and dunk 2-3 times in one outing. Other days I might be paying closer attention or not is as much of a hurry and have no problem. I've been using the Korkers aluminum bar soles the last few trips and they seem to work pretty well. About as well as felts in terms of stability. And much better grip than felt on muddy banks.

The Lehigh seems to be one massive strata of greased bowling balls. Trickiest river I've ever waded. Cleats and wading staff a must, IMHO.