A Reddit user said the closest he may have come to dying while fishing happened on a Rhode Island jetty at night. According to his comment in the thread, he was standing on the point of the jetty by himself, which he said he normally does not do after dark because the spot is sketchy enough even in better conditions. He only stayed because he had been fishing there with a buddy, the bite was too good to walk away from, and the buddy had left early because of a family emergency. That left him alone on the rocks at night with the fish still going.
He wrote that the wind started picking up and the waves were getting taller, but he stayed. At some point he bent down into his surf bag to grab another plug. That was when the wave hit. He described it as a “big ass rogue wave” that came in before he had time to brace for it. He did not see it in time, and because he was focused on digging through the bag, the wave caught him completely off guard. It slammed him down on the rocks and then shoved him straight into the water.
He said the one thing that likely kept it from ending much worse was what he was wearing. He had a wetsuit on. He specifically added that full waders in that current would have been disastrous. Once he hit the water, the current took him. From the way he told it, there was no heroic scramble right back up the rocks and no easy handhold waiting for him. He was carried down the shoreline by the water and ended up making it to shore about a mile down the beach.
He made a point of saying that nobody knew he was still there except the buddy who had already left. That detail sat heavily in the story because it meant if he had hit his head when the wave slammed him into the rocks, that probably would have been it. No one was standing nearby to see it happen. No one would have noticed right away that he had gone in. He was alone on a jetty at night, in roughening surf, with the current already doing the rest once he hit the water.
He also said something that makes the whole thing feel even more real: he somehow did not lose the plug bag. He wrote that he was so focused on making it to shore that he never even thought to drop it. He did lose the rod, but later said someone found it and turned it in at a tackle shop. So while he was being swept a mile down the beach in the dark, what he had left on him was still enough to slow him down, but his brain was locked in on one thing only — getting to shore alive.
Afterward, he said the experience changed the way he fishes those spots. He wrote that he does not fish places like that solo anymore and always makes sure people know where he is fishing just in case. But the actual story he told was plain and ugly: alone on the point of a Rhode Island jetty at night because the bite was too good to leave, wind rising, waves building, one reach into the surf bag for another plug, a rogue wave he never saw in time, a violent hit against the rocks, and then a long ride in the current until he finally made shore a mile down the beach.
What do you think — if the bite was hot and your buddy left early, would you still stay alone on a jetty at night, or is this exactly the kind of story that would send you packing before the next cast?
Original Reddit post: Got any “I almost died” fishing stories?
