I've always had a knack for not getting hurt during a fall. The only explanation I have for this is that I have had a lot of practice.
Funniest fall in while fishing. That had to be 25 years ago (give or take). I was fishing a remote spot on the Grand River in Ohio. Wife rode along and stayed in the vehicle to read a book. Water was up and murky and it was snowing that day, and there was nobody else around. So, I let my dog tag along. I approached the stream at a spot that looked like it would be wadable, but visibility was less than a foot. I backed into the water, expecting it to be maybe knee deep or so. I was wrong. The bank was undercut. Because I was backing in, I was able to catch myself on a large clump of grass on the shore, stopping with the water level right at the top of my waders. This freaked the dog out, and he ran up to me whimpering and licking my face as I was hanging on to the clump of grass trying to climb back out. I crawled back out and eventually entered at a tail out, but the dog followed me, still whimpering. He went in as far as he could and still touch bottom (he wasn't all that fond of water). I felt sorry for him and decided to call it a day.
I also remember another fall way back when I was living in Connecticut (1984 or 5). It was a small to medium size stream with a fair amount of brush. I slipped and fell and ended up under a brush pike with just my head out of water. It wasn't all that deep there, maybe three feet, but I was on my back pinned under that brush. So, there I am hanging onto that brush pile to keep from going completely under it, and laughing at myself. I was able to crawl out of there without any difficulty. I was wet wading, so waders filling up was not an issue.
One other fall, probably 30 years ago. I was fishing a remote spot of a wild trout stream in the afternoon of opening day with a couple of friends. It was over a mile walk to the stream, so, I wore hip waders with lug soles. It was also snowing that day, but that is somewhat irrelevant other than showing it was a cold day. Within seconds of stepping into the stream, I slipped and went down sideways, and got soaked to the skin on one side of my body. Hip boot filled up as well. I was pissed, but there was no way I was walking out of there without fishing, or ruining my friends' outing. So, I drained the boot and commence fishing. Besides, I knew the walk back up that hill would warm me up.
I've had falls while fishing in more recent years, but it seems as I get older, they aren't as funny.
Oh yea. At one of the jams, I fell in and got soaked. I walked back to the car and stripped to my underwear. A couple of the yahoos on here saw me and reached for their cameras, but I had a dry pair of shorts and I think I escaped that.
