Anyone can make a big splash

YAKIMA -- As the lady in the parking lot walked by me, I could see she was doing everything she could not to laugh. She shot a quick glance at me, in my drenched clothes, dripping all over the pavement, and I could see by the smirk on her face she was about to bust.

"Go ahead and laugh," I said to her.

And she did.

Fishing buddy Doug Jewett had already had a good chuckle over it. As did the anglers in several of the boats at Drano who witnessed it. So there was no reason for the lady not to enjoy a good snort.

It wasn't the first time others have found humor at my misfortune. In fact, over the years, it has happened on a fairly regular basis.

Until my most recent unplanned dousing, however, I had built up what was for me a pretty impressive string of days on the water without falling in.

Some people never fall in. Others, including me, can't make that claim.

Actually, it has been years since I last fell in. For a while there I was plopping and plunking in this river or that lake on a semi-regular basis. But with age has come some caution and it has probably been 10 years or more since I made my last unwanted splashdown.

The fall out of Doug's boat into the water at the docks at Drano a couple of weeks ago was the end result of a combination of clumsiness, indecision and a wind gust just a second before I was to step onto the boat.

I have made the same step off of Doug's boat a hundred times before, all without incident. But this time was different.

We were done fishing for the day, and as Doug idled the boat up to the dock for me to step off, I started to make that step. But just as I did, a wind gust pushed the nose of the boat away, and I got caught with my body going one direction, the boat going the other and the dock getting out of reach in an instant.

It is in that millisecond you know: No matter what you do, you're going to get wet. You want to do something else. Your brain is processing all kinds of information. Should I jump and risk breaking my neck, or an ankle? Should I fall back on Doug's gigantic anchor with the double sharp ends sticking straight up? Or should I just take my medicine and get wet. Heck, a little water never hurt anyone, right?

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the decision was made for me. As I went over, I caught myself on the railing of the bow of the boat, but by the time I halted my descent into the lake, I was in up to my chest. My cell phone, wallet and a few other necessities were totally underwater.

The good thing about falling in during the summer is the water is not cold and being totally soaked for a time won't put you into hypothermia. When I fell in the Columbia during January several years ago, that was not the case.

Actually, I have been in the waters at Drano several times before. I have gone swimming during the sweltering summer afternoons just to cool off, and one time I jumped out of my moving boat, to save a $350 fishing rod that had slipped out of my hands.

That time was more of a concern because I was in the middle of the lake, with no floatation devices and my boat was motoring off into the distance with an inexperienced boat driver trying to figure out how to get the thing turned around to pick me up.

I am hoping my latest soaking will be my last. But if history is any predictor of the future, it most likely will not. Unless I totally stop fishing, which I can tell you for a fact isn't going to happen, I will probably end up in some other lake or river one of these days.

And when I do fall in again, I am sure there will be an audience deriving some kind of enjoyment out of my misfortune. Which is okay by me, I guess. What can I say? I'm a klutz.

* Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

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