So I’ve been thinking about posting some stories from Team Lightning’s many fishing adventures or misadventures. As you may know Team Lightning consists of myself and @christophalves. It seems like every time we go fishing something happens that we can look back and laugh about. It usually starts horribly but by the end it’s usually something we laugh about as soon as it’s over. I think maybe once a week I will post one of our many fishing stories and see how it goes. Today’s post is going to be about one of my favorite stories, and probably the closest we ever can to dying.
Last year I heard about a fishing spot in Norton, MA that seemed like a pretty good place to throw some casts. This spot is actually 3 ponds which all served as a water supply for cranberry bogs that were now abandoned. This spot is now simply called either Norton or “the pits”. I had heard from a family member that one of her friends takes her kids there to fish and that they actually caught bass so I figured why not. There’s usually a bunch of kids there in the summer either fishing and swimming and it’s an overall nice place to go.
The day started out like usual with us going fishing in the afternoon when we both got out of work. By this time both Chris and I had waders for a while and had waded into every pond at the pits. I think it’s safe to say that we felt that we knew each pond pretty well in terms of where and where not to wade. When we go the pits we usually hit every pond in order, with the most productive pond being last on our list, then we backtrack and hit them all again. We had already hit the prior 2 spots when we came to the most productive pond. This pond is almost square-shaped with reeds on the far side that almost always produce good topwater bass. We usually wade out as far as possible before a big ledge and hit the reeds from there. The water is probably about 4 ft. deep on one half and 8-10 ft deep on the ledge. So like usual we waded out to the rock which we know marks the ledge and hit the reeds. After catching a couple of fish we decided to wade back and hit the other ponds on the way back to the car.
As is the norm we are shooting the shit about anything and everything. Just basically not paying attention. We are only about 10 ft away from the shore and the water is probably only 3 ft deep. I’m probably walking 2 ft behind Chris when all of a sudden he just drops down into a huge hole out of nowhere. This hole must be over 8 ft. deep and is in the middle of a flat. We had never even noticed it before. I will never forget the look on his face as he turned his head to look and scream my name. For some reason that I still to this day don’t know, I proceed to take the same path and drop into the same hole. Now all I can hear is Chris screaming. When he panics it’s not so much a scream but a continuous high pitch yelling of “Oh My God”. So now we are both flailing towards shore with waders full of water and I’m not even sure if I’m going to make it. I’ve heard people talk about how heavy waders get when you get water in them but you don’t really know until you experience it. By this time we have both “swam” to where we could stand up. We get out of the water and are both soaking wet. Let me tell you that there is nothing worse than having water inside your waders. Your wet clothes make it so that it basically suctions to your body. We had water up to our waists. After we got the swearing out of our systems and realized we weren’t dead, Chris turns to me and says, “Why the f*** did you follow me?” to which I respond “We almost just drowned.” At this point I should know better than to think he is watching where he is walking. Needless to say we called it a day after that incident.
I really can’t remember a time that something bad has happened that hasn’t been followed up by us laughing our asses off after, or even while, it happened. Anyone else in there right mind would probably never go back into that pond, but we were back wading in that same spot the next week. Every time we go there, the day that we almost drown gets brought up somehow. I actually always keep a knife clipped on my waders just in case I ever go under again. Good times.
Next story: Jon Boat Battery Adventure
