The Line That Should Have Pulled Me Under

My uncle has a story almost identical to this one from decades ago and hearing him tell it again last month is what finally got me to write mine. Fishing alone off the coast near Portland, my line snagged in a way that should have pulled me overboard in the current. Instead I felt something hold the boat and hold me, steady and deliberate, for exactly as long as I needed, like a hand had closed around the moment before it could go wrong. I've fished that same spot since and never felt anything like it again, though I go back hoping to.