[Backwoods]

Back in the late spring a friend and I went on a float trip down the Poorfork. If you've never seen the Poorfork,it is a small river,not more than 1 to 2ft deep in most spots but with some deep holes here and there. We were fishing for smallies and redeye. We floated from Totz to Puntney in a 12 ft flatbottom. The river was clear but up about 1 and a half feet above normal. We caught a whole stringer full of fish and were about a mile from our designated landing spot when we came apon the Putney bridge. I could see the bridge coming and could tell that the water was pretty rough going by the bridge pileons. There was also a very large clump of brush piled up at the pileon,about the size of a small house where we would have to pass through. My friend was manning the paddle and I had just caught a nice smallie when we hit. My friend had gotten us sideways going through the rapids. When we hit the brushpile the rushing water caught the edge of the boat and sucked us both out and we went tumbling on the bottom of the river underneath the brushpile. I could feel the limbs poking and scratching at me as I tumbled through. I can remember seeing daylight and dark,daylight and dark as I tumbled. Finally,I struggled to the top about 40ft on the other side of the bridge. When I came up I couldn't find my friend and I started to freak out and then he came up about 15 or 20ft down from me. He said he was alright and said "didn't you just catch a fish" and I lifted about a 3lb smallie up out of the water. I hadn't let go of it. We both wanted to laugh but we were just lucky to be alive. Later we had a good laugh. The rushing water had pinned the boat to the brushpile and we liked to have never got it off. Somehow we were able to struggle with it until it came off the pile. We were able to recover nearly all our equipment except a pole or two and a tackle box. We did recover that stringer of fish and I added the 3 pounder to it. We had to walk about a mile to where the truck was. When I got home that evening I went into my bedroom and got down on my knees and thanked God for sparing my life. All it would have took is for one of those limbs to grab my shirt as I went under that brushpile and I would have drowned. The Lord is good and He watched over me and my friend that day. It just goes to show you how things can go wrong in the blink of an eye when you are on the river.