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The Importance of Footwear

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So, I'm fishing this wonderful creek somewhere in the Sequoia National Forest when I flip a hopper pattern under a log.  There's a splash, I set the hook, and this fiesty Brown takes off for the under-cut bank on the other side of the log.  "NOT SO FAST!", I yell while giving chase down the bank to try and turn him.  My eyes are on the water as my line goes loose, then tight again.  Only now the feel is wrong - I suspect he hung up my leader.  I am still rushing for a better angle, when *BAM* I stub my toe on an old semi-petrified tree trunk.  I'm down on the bank...

 

Toe injured fly-fishing

 

 

Day 1 - After hiking back to camp with a bit of t-shirt tied around the wound.

 

Fly-Fishing injury

 

Day 2 - Back home.  Blood has dried and looks black, really making it look worse than it is.

 

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Seriously, open-toed shoes are bad.  Don't wear them.  This is a newbie site - look what this newbie did.

 

Image 

 

Smartest thing I ever did was to marry a nurse!  She almost puked looking at it right after the accident.  She was bent over at the waist getting ready to revisit lunch, but pulled it together.

 

I also turned my ankle (MRI in two days) because I was wearing wading boots a size too big and slipped walking down a rocky slope.  The moral of the story: footwear for fishing is under-rated.  Nobody ever told me, but believe me, I know now!  Do yourself a favor and get closed-toe wading shoes/boots and never fish without them.  I'm going to Cabelas right now to pick out a pair.