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Re: NFC: Re: New Contest



Quoth Joshua L. Wiegert regarding NFC: Re: New Contest:


> Most Adreniline Pumping Story -- Tell us about the time you caught
> eighteen mocassins in the net, or stepped on the Alligator!

Well, I haven't really had any close encounters that were 
bothersome (except maybe with Ol' Sheriff One-Eye), but I'll never 
forget a very close call I had when I lived in Athens, GA.  This is 
when I was a student.  There was a local fishing spot called "The 
Georgia Power Dam" on the Oconee River.  Just below the dam the 
river was bifurcated.  The overflow formed onw branch, and the 
spillway formed another.  The two branches were seperated by a 
land mass and reunited about 100 yards downstream of the dam.  
Well, I liked to collect just below the overflow area, which was quite 
rocky and filled with pools which often became isolated if there 
hadn't been a lot of rain lately.  As it happened, in order to get to 
this area, I had to cross the spillway branch.  Transit was 
accomplished with help from a nylon rope which someone had 
thoughtfully stretched across the river.  At its deepest, the water 
was maybe chest high.  Anyway, on this particular day when I made 
the crossing the current was moderately fast but manageable.  I 
spent several hours on the other side of the divide and it was late in 
the afternoon when I attempted to recross the channel.  About 1/4 
of the way I noticed that the current was MUCH stronger than 
before.  They had opened the floodgates!  I told my friend who 
hadn't started crossing yet to stay where he was.  About halfway 
across I was in real trouble.  The rope was stained to the breaking 
point and I was sure it would snap at any moment.  If this had 
happened I would surely have drowned. It was very difficult to keep 
my footing (keep in mind I was carrying collecting gear in one hand!) 
and I had to turn sideways to the current to keep from being swept 
away.  A couple of times I was so close to losing it that I almost 
tossed my gear.  After about 1/2 hour of this exhausting battle I 
made it to the other bank, gear and body (just barely) intact.  My 
friend met me there minutes later, having hitched a ride on a 
friendly fishing boat!


Prost,

Martin
------
"Cry to it, nuncle. as the cockney did to the eels when she put 
'em i' the paste alive; she knapped 'em o' the coxcombs with a
stick, and cried 'Down wantons, down!'"
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