Wading Safety

[Jimmy Harris]

We posted this on our Facebook page and wanted to share it here. On most trout streams in the Southeast you won't need this advice but on some of them this information could save your life. Worth a few minutes to read it.

https://www.facebook.com/unicoioutfitters/posts/10158007181975159

 

[saltysenior]

used to laugh at those folks sittin and fishing at the ponds north of Cherokee...now after my last soaking,,I is one..

 

[Jimmy Harris]

It's just a matter of time.

 

[gunnurse]

Being caught in the ‘Hooch way too far out during a water release taught me to be really careful.

 

[trout maharishi]

Good advice. When I went for a swim I didn't have any problem while I was in the water. My problem was when I tried to get out of the water. My waders were half full of water and I could barely stand up. I couldn't get up just a small embankment. I couldn't get the waders pulled down to empty the water out with just one hand either. I finally found a place to sit the rod down and ended up cutting the lower legs of the waders to let the water out. Wear a wading belt!

 

[NCHillbilly]

The thing that scares me most around here with our grease-slick rocks is falling down and whacking my head on a rock.

 

[TurkeyH90]

The thing that scares me most around here with out grease-slick rocks is falling down and whacking my head on a rock.

My guide on the Madison this year told me his grandpa died fishing the Madison from slipping, hitting his head, and drowning.

 

[gobbleinwoods]

My guide on the Madison this year told me his grandpa died fishing the Madison from slipping, hitting his head, and drowning.

Hope he related this after you were done.

 

[flyrod444]

As a guide I see people "not my clients"falling at least a couple times a week on the DH waters we fish. The biggest problem I see is getting their feet back under them. Air trapped in their waders seems to make it hard for them to put their feet back down. If one is wading a deep swift stream they should really consider wearing an inflatable life vest. A guide I work with saved an older fishing in the tuck a year or two back. The river was up when he went down and Henry saw him really struggling so he rowed his raft over and gave him a lift to the bank.

 

[JonathanG2013]

As a guide I see people "not my clients"falling at least a couple times a week on the DH waters we fish. The biggest problem I see is getting their feet back under them. Air trapped in their waders seems to make it hard for them to put their feet back down. If one is wading a deep swift stream they should really consider wearing an inflatable life vest. A guide I work with saved an older fishing in the tuck a year or two back. The river was up when he went down and Henry saw him really struggling so he rowed his raft over and gave him a lift to the bank.

Great advise flyrod. I wear an inflatable lift vest belt myself. I need to get a wading staff also.

 

[boissage]

I was fishing Jack's River many years ago when my foot slipped between two rocks. Luckily, I was able to keep my balance and extricate my foot without any damage, but had I fallen, I would have been in trouble. There are a lot of ways to get injured, wading on slick rocks is one of them. Now that I have gotten older, I use a wading staff.

 

[TomC]

Simms Wading Staff was a game changer for me, should have bought one years ago!

 

[boissage]

I agree, a wading staff makes a big difference. I use a Folstaff folding staff.

 

[Taxman]

A wading staff is a must for me usually. I have used a limb a time or two when I reached camp and forgot my staff. My mishaps usually occur when I am finished fishing and backtracking out to my access point. Usually in a hurry to get out before dark and back up to camp.

 

[dtala]

The thing that scares me most around here with our grease-slick rocks is falling down and whacking my head on a rock.

I fell fishing the Cahaba River in central Al near 50 years ago. Hit my head, knocked me out and in the river I went. My youngest brother drug me out, and got me loaded in the car and drove to a pay phone. He was 10 years old then. I woke up as he was calling home, I was out for 45 minutes and dang sure would of drowned if by my self.

 

[Nicodemus]

Good advice. Sadly, we lost a good member of Woody`s a couple of years ago like this.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Good advice. Sadly, we lost a good member of Woody`s a couple of years ago like this.

Yes. We often think it can't happen to us, but it can.

 

[Nicodemus]

Yes. We often think it can't happen to us, but it can.

I came very close to drowning this past summer, in the Kinchafoonee Creek fly fishing. I think it will haunt me the rest of my life.