I fish East Canyon a few times a year. That water is brutally cold and gets deep fast! He was lucky you were there.Was fishing East Canyon Reservoir here in Utah a few years ago with a friend . It was early spring ,just after ice off, water still in the high 30's. He was fishing out of his fishing kayak ,and me out of my pontoon boat. Headed back to shore after a day of fishing. I am probably 50 or so yards away from him, when I heard the splash . There he is in the water ,kayak upside down. I motor over as fast as I can. He has on neoprene waders ,and they are pretty full of cold water. He's hanging onto the side of the kayak, I grab the kayak ,and we manage to get it back upright, but he can't get back in , I grab ahold of a handful of waders, and butt, and we managed to get him back in. Big problem he is getting pretty cold at this point. His electric motor came off ,battery ,some fishing equipment etc are now in the bottom of about 80 feet of water . I hook up his boat with the anchor rope ,and we head to shore. Got him out of his waders ,and into the warm truck, and he finally started warming up . It was a memorable day for sure , not so much a good deed as just being there to be able to help him, not sure if he would have survived by himself, and there was nobody else around. He got outriggers for his next trip on the water for the kayak.
I fish East Canyon a few times a year. That water is brutally cold and gets deep fast! He was lucky you were there.
Doesn't sound like he was very apprecitive of your help if he was cussing you all the way back to his truck. Some people just don't realize or even care how lucky they were that you happened to be there to help him like you did. He could've been swept a long way down the river before he'd manage to get himself out of that mess. Good for you, that you were there and able to help him..Access to Mora bar was tricky in the late winter cause you had to cross an older beaver dam. Flood waters would wash out the middle often,also hide the breach if you weren't careful. Bout 20 yrs ago I was returning to my truck to warm up, this old guy, bout my age now was going to cross the dam. I waited for him and saw him go under. he was small built and I was able to drop my pole and grab his collar b4 he headed out to Rialto beach. He cussed me all the way back to his truck . Opened the cab and gave me a beer, drove off, no further discussions.
Were they wearing snug wading belts?I have two stories that are damned near identical that took place in 2019 up in BC, separated by a couple of weeks. In each case, my fishing companions were getting on in years (over 80 and high 70s), displaying prosperous bellies and wading in swift, but shallow water. Each man slipped, fell, took a lot of water over the tops and couldn't get back to his feet. The water was knee-deep in both cases (on the same river but about 40 miles apart) so they weren't in danger of drowning, but it was late fall the water was also below 40F. I put my rod down and went to their aid.
The first fellow, I helped to his feet with great effort, and we waded to shore arm-in-arm. Got the water out of his waders then hiked over a mile back to the truck before hypothermia set in. The day was a short one on the water.
The second angler was the same build as the first fellow, but I couldn't get him to his feet for love or money. I gave him my wading staff and then found a stout stick on shore, and he pulled himself across the cobble in ONE (!) foot of rushing water until he was on the shore, exhausted. I got his keys and drove his pickup down to the waterline (we were fishing a long gravel bar) and he finally got to his feet by pulling himself up using the front tire and wheel well as handholds. Again, all that cold water had left him exhausted and we headed for home dry clothes.
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Both fellows said, "If you hadn't have been there, I probably wouldn't be alive." I'm thinking, "Gentlemen, you were in 1'-2' of water. I don't think it was that dramatic." But if you've got bad ankles, arthritic knees, weigh 30-40lbs more than you did in your prime, and are close to 80 years old, even the little things can take you down.
I'm twenty years younger than those fellows, but I take fewer risks than I used to. It doesn't take much going wrong to ruin your day and maybe a whole lot more when you're no longer a young stud.
I agree on the elastic. I had a nice strong web belt from a cheapo pair of waders that I put on my new Patagonia's, which had an elastic one. I use pant-waders here in the Driftless, where streams seldom require wading past the thighs, and I need that belt to keep my pants up!Most people don't cinch their belts down tight enough or use elastic ones.