Alright, geez...I feel like there is this false pretense of build up and the story definitely won't live up to the hype, but here goes...
There is a lake in the neighborhood with pretty decent fishing. I had the RARE opportunity to sneak out one morning and fish solo. It was to be a perfect morning weather wise, cloudy and warm for late March. Normally I have both boys with me in a 14ft aluminum boat. I love my kids and they are great, young fishermen, but let's face it...the majority of my time spent with them in the boat is untangling lines and getting them unhung. Just this year I've seen a hat slung out of the boat 20ft attached to a whopper plopper and unhung a shakey head jig head from my oldest kids neck. So, needless to say, I was very much looking forward to slipping away for a few hours before work. Anyhow, back to the morning of the incident. On the way to the lake I saw my sunglasses hanging on the rear view mirror. (A new pair of Costas I had just bought after breaking another pair) I didn't think I would need them, so I stuck them on my hat bill rather than putting them around my neck. I have no idea why I did that, but it plays into the story. It was pre-spawn/spawn and the fish were pretty active. I caught several and had several more blow up on a topwater bait. I was enjoying the quiet morning just going along the bank and casting to structure. I had been fishing for probably 30 minutes or so, and I hung an overhanging mimosa limb. Nothing too terribly hard to get out, but I had to pop the rod a bit to get the bait loose. It started a long arch back to me, and I instinctively turned my head as I saw it coming back to me. As I turned my head, I heard, "splish." I immediately knew it was the pair of sunglasses I had lazily stuck on my hat bill that had gone in the water. For those that don't know, a pair of sunglasses sink like a friggin lead weight. About the same time, I felt the pop-r hit me in the shoulder. I quickly leaned down to grab the sunglasses that were 18" deep and plunging. As I did so, the seat bracket broke and I went in right behind the sunglasses. Cold doesn't really begin to describe the sensation that overcame my body. While the air temp was in the low 70's, the water temp was probably still in the low 60's and at 6:40 in the morning...it felt really cold. Instinctively I gasped for air but was determined to get the pair of glasses that I had gone into the water for. I felt my hand hit them, so I grasped them and then quickly made my way back over beside the boat. I had my rod in one hand and my glasses in the other. I quickly dumped both into the bottom of the boat and lunged over the side. This was the biggest mistake of all. My mind was telling me the water is incredibly cold and I needed to get out. The boat was safety to me at that point, even though the shore was only a cast away. Hindsight being 20-20, I should have grabbed the boat and swam it back to the bank in order to get back in. Well, when I lunged back in, both trolling motor batteries, all my tackle and the anchor came to my side. That, coupled with my frame getting in, caused the side of the boat to go under water. I rolled into the boat, happy to be out of the water but still in disbelief that a grown man has fallen out of the boat. I do a quick scan to see if any of the neighbors have come out to see this spectacle, but fortunately I'm still all alone. I do a quick survey and I'm ok, my gear is ok, but I know my trip is over. I see that there is about 3-4" of water in the bottom of the boat, but it's still solidly floating. I ease to the back where the trolling motor is knowing I had to get back to the ramp. When I did that, all the water in the boat came to the back and the stern dipped under. I knew at that point, I'm pretty much done. The front end went up in the air and the back began to sink. I grabbed my rods and bail out...my body once again shocked by the cold water and questioning why any grown man would subject itself to getting back in the water. Well amongst all the flailing around earlier, my rods/baits have gotten tangled in the anchor rope. The boat turns over and I'm doggy paddling in the lake beside it trying my best to get to the bank but unable to move since my rods were tangled in the anchor rope, which is tied to the anchor that is now sitting in 26 feet of water. (I know because my buddy and I went back to try to salvage my gear and he has a side scan depth finder)
So I'm trying to process all of this in my mind. My body is in shock due to the cold water, my mind is not wanting to let go of the rods because I know what kind of money I have in them but my survival instinct is telling me to get back to the bank. Begrudgingly I let go of the rods and swim to shore. I get to the bank (someone's back yard) and pull myself up and catch my breath which has escaped me due to the cold water and the fright of what's just happened. As I sit there, what sticks out to me, is that I have only one flip flop on. How the heck did I lose a flip flop in this ordeal?!?! The thing one's mind thinks about while trying to dig a pop-r out of his shoulder (remember the bait that hit me as I loosed it)
The magnitude of what I've lost hits me at this point as well. 4 rod/reels, two trolling motor batteries, a trolling motor, my cell phone, all my tackle, a hat, a yeti coffee mug, a flip flop...and let's not forget those precious sunglasses that caused all of this.
A small win for me was that my keys were in my pocket and I still had them. I started the walk of shame through about 10 yards back to the truck. Fortunately I only passed one man out jogging that must have thought of calling the cops after seeing a middle aged man that is soaking wet walking in peoples back yard early in the morning.
I figured I'd play the sympathy card when I walked back into my house. I stripped down to my boxers and quietly slipped back in. The unlocking of the door woke my wife as she came into the den to see who was at the door...she thought I was fishing. Surprised to see me soaking wet and in my boxers...she could only muster, "what the heck?"
"I almost just died" was my first response.
She simply rolled her eyes a little as I told her the story and wanted to know who all had seen me. Fortunately there was no discussion of the wallowing seal in the neighborhood lake on any of the local FB pages that day. She kept a close eye to make sure.
I'm slowly building my arsenal back up. I figured I lost about $1,200 in gear that morning. I was able to recover two of my rods/reels that were still caught in the anchor rope when we pulled it up. I also found my flip flop two days later along the bank. The trolling motor, batteries, cell phone, tackle box, hat, cup and two combos are still out there in 26ft of water. Oh, and that terribly cursed set of sunglasses too.
