I recal a chilly and rainy day in november a few years ago. I had spent the morning fishing the nicomen slough for coho and the only thing I succeeded in doing was chill myself to the bone. However being relentless fishermen that my partner and I were we decided to stop at the stave on the way home to bag a couple dogs for the smoker.
I was wearing my neoprenes and a converted pair of snow boots (insulated lining ripped out to make room for my wader feet) when I eagerly began to trot down the embankment underneath the bridge towards my partner who already had his line in the water. Not willing to let him get the first fish I quickened my pace with the less than adequate footwear and began to stumble on the rocks. I made the decision to go down rather than break an ankle
. When I looked down at the hand I used to break the fall I noticed my thumb in a 'less than natural' position but thankfully my hands were still frozen and I didn't feel much. I continued to fish and gave the only chum I landed to my friend and said goodbye.
In the car my thumb began to thaw out infront of the heater and started to throb and swell to make a long and painfull drive home to White Rock. It remained twice it's normal size for 3-4 days and turned colors not to different from the Chum I caught that day.
Moral of the story.. wear proper footwear.
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Topic: On the lighter side of fishing (Read 15118 times)