Incredible—and True!—Fishing Stories by Shaun Morey

Author:Shaun Morey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

[ Classic ]

Robert Lindsey sat at the bow of the ski boat, watching his young daughter busily playing at the stern. It was an ideal summer day, and Lindsey and a group of friends were boating on the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, a world-class trout destination that meanders along the Wyoming-Utah state line.

The midday boat ride had been pleasant and uneventful. Suddenly, the slow wake of a distant houseboat welled up and crashed over the ski boat’s bow. The wall of water careened into Lindsey, knocking him off balance.

“All I remember is the wave coming over the boat,” Lindsey said. “It went right over my back and filled the boat with water. One of my friend’s daughters was sitting up front with me, and she was covered with water. Her mother was screaming, and as I regained my balance and bent down to help the girl, another wave came over the bow and threw me over the side.”

The boat traveled over Lindsey, pinning him beneath the hull. He was upside down and moving headfirst toward the spinning propeller. His eyes were open, and he saw the bottom of the boat passing overhead.

“I knew I had to get out of here,” Lindsey said. “I was trying to swim out from under the boat when I felt my hand go through the propeller. It’s hard to explain the feeling. I didn’t feel any pain, but I knew immediately that my hand was in bad shape.”

Lindsey kicked hard to distance himself from the boat, but the twirling propeller caught his right leg and tore a deep gash from his knee to his foot. Moments later, dazed and bloodied, he surfaced.

“The first thing I saw was my index finger and my middle finger lying alongside my wrist,” Lindsey said. “The only thing holding them on was a little piece of skin. Blood was squirting everywhere, and I couldn’t see my thumb.”

The boat had partially sunk and all the passengers were in the water. The children were accounted for while Lindsey treaded water nearby. He was without a life jacket and in shock.

“I was losing a lot of blood,” Lindsey said, “and I was beginning to feel pretty weak. Finally, one of the guys swam over to help me. I latched on to his life jacket with my good hand and held on.

“There was a boat off in the distance, and we started yelling and hollering as loud as we could. I wanted out of the water real bad, and when the boat pulled up next to us I yanked myself out of the water with my one good hand.”

Lindsey spent 17 days in the hospital and underwent reconstructive surgery to attach his two severed fingers. His thumb was gone, and his leg required numerous staples and stitches to repair the jagged wound.

Seven months after the accident, Lindsey’s wife was told of a local newspaper article recounting a story about an angler who had discovered a human thumb in the belly of a trout. Blake

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