How is the water

Okay this was brought up and it got me thinking of all the different situations I have encountered.
Who all have taken a swim while fishing…specially in waders.
Did it scare the heck out of you, were you freezing afterwards, could you walk with 50 extra pounds…that kind of stuff

I would like to hear HOW it happened also.

Years ago, Pere Marquette in Michigan, late Feb or March, steelheading, high water, ice floes in the water, really tough wading. About a foot from the bank I ‘knew’ I was okay and relaxed. And took a fall. Only soaked what wasn’t covered by waders, down jacket really took on water. Was able to get to the car, but it happened so fast I was not prepared. Obviously survived, but it was scary.

Ok, I have one from which I learned many lessons.

I was fishing the Delaware somewhere near New Hope many moons ago. I was wading down stream on a gravel bar. When I turned around to get back to shore I was unable to wade upstream. The force of the water was too strong and each time I tried to take a step the gravel just gave way and I kept getting deeper and deeper. I realized the inevitable so I cinched up my wading belt and made a decision to bob along in the current while trying to get to shore.

When you?re chest deep in water the water actually pushes the air out of your waders and helps create a seal against water getting into your waders. This prevented me from floating and allowed me to push off the bottom. I envision it like walking on the moon. I would push off the bottom and the current would carry me along a fair distance. Then I would sink up to my neck and push off again. I thought for sure I would wind up swimming but I was determined not to give up my gear easily. I was very fortunate that the water only reached my mouth on one bounce and I made my way to shore with only minimal water getting in my waders and after a few minutes I fished my way back to the car. It was a warm day chasing bass in warm water so hypothermia was not an issue. I did so many things wrong and yet lucked out in that the current pushed me to shore, the water wasn?t too deep and it was a warm day. Had the current taken me into the main channel I would have became fish food or hit one the low head dams. But hey, I would have died with my boots on and my rod gripped firmly in my hand.

Things I learned:
? Don?t wade large/fast streams without a wading staff. This one alone would have prevented the incident.
? Wading downstream in fast currents can get you in trouble.
? Always have a $hit happens set of clothes in your car.
? A PFD is probably a good idea on large swollen streams although I still don?t use one.
? Waders fill up slowly with water which worked for me but it makes them very difficult to get off. So, you should know how to swim with them on which can be done well enough to keep you afloat for a while.
? God is more forgiving to young & stupid than old & stupid. So don?t continue to count on luck to save your butt.

I’ve done other stupid things while fishing but this is the only real dunking I?ve taken so far.

Many years ago my dad and my youngest brother and I had planned to fish the Henry’s fork of the snake river while we were at my brothers place in Idaho in late September. The day we went the temperature plummeted and it was a balmy twenty degrees when we reached Last Chance. The folks at the fly shop said the only chance of success in those conditions was nymphing in the box canyon so that was where we went. After about an hour and a half of pure misery I finally hooked the only fish we got and quickly learned why all the books said to use a heavy tippet in that water. I could do nothing with the twelve inch rainbow in that current with with my four pound test leader. I finally got him close to me and took a single step forward to get the net under him. I was immediately twenty yards downstream before I could lodge up against a boulder and regain my feet. I had lost my hat and sunglasses but still had my fly rod and the landing net with the trout. Something had torn an eight inch gash in my waders but I was uninjured except for some bruises. I don’t know how cold the water was but I had ice in my hair( quite long back then) and beard by the time we climbed out of the canyon and even though I changed to dry clothes my teeth chattered all the way to Bozeman where we were supposed to fish with an friend living there in the morning . I didn’t stop shivering until we stopped at a buffet there and I drank several bowls of hot soup. I guess I got off easy with just replacing some gear which isn’t too difficult to find in Bozeman.

I am quite experienced at wading and generally very cautious, but…

An amazing thing I learned on the Tongariro in NZ last year. It is amazing in that this obvious truism had never occurred to me. If you wade deep enough, you begin to float: and once you begin to float, the current takes you somewhere else. Somewhere else probably means deeper.

Hair-raisingly startling?

I never thought about it. Once you lose traction on the bottom and the current has you, you are half way to dead already. The water was 4 degrees and so cold that there is no way I could have entertained the thought of actually swimming.

Luckily I had one stumble in me, and a mate to reach out, or I would be dead.

i had a fall in the trinity river in early january back in 1999. my waders filled up and i was caught in the current. i could not get myself up on my feet and was washed down river. i was able to grab hold of a post of an overpass and pull myself out. i was freezing cold, snow was falling and hypo was setting in. i made it back to my car and stripped down and got into some dry clothes i keep in my trunk. i warmed up in my car till i could drive then went to a cafe in town were they could tell what happened. they gave me coffee to get my core temp back up. it scared the hell out of me. i will not wade a river alone again ! and i always have a wader belt now!

Pere Marquette in october for the salmon run. My very first wading experience. The “Green Cottage Pool” thought me that you can’t swim worth a dam in waders. I’ve got an eight weight rod and reel that have gravel scars on them from being used as a wading staff. Once your feet are floating its darn near impossible to get them back down to the bottom without some assistance; wading staff, buddy etc.

FatBill

Two events, both while duck hunting (thankfully with a partner!). The first one was at a small pot hole in the middle of a cornfield. It was late November around freezing. The pothole was about knee deep, maybe mid thight. There was a willow tree in the middle. Two mallards we shot wound up drifiting to the willow tree and hung up. I decided to wade out and get them. I got about ten feet away and the water was right at the top of my waders. I was doing the “moon walk” due to flotation. Eventually, I went over the top and the water came in despite the belt. It felt like two gallons of water in each leg buy the time I got out. I had enough sense to get out of the water and by the time I got to the truck which was about a hundred yards away, I definately had the shakes and teeth chattering going on. I went home, changed and got a float tube…The second was when we were wading around the edge of a slough breaking skim ice. I was carrying a gun case, decoy bag and a flashlight. I got my foot caught under a tree root and went in face first into water about two feet deep. Soaked my coat, shirt, waders and feet (got everything back but the Maglight). Fortunately, again, I was only a hundred yards or so from the truck. I was lucky both times that I had a partner, a heater, dry clothes and not too far to go!

The only time that I went for an extended dunking in fast cold water I was lucky enough to be wearing neoprenes. They helped float me through a boulder field and I ended up fairly dry (and warm) underneath,
Neoprenes aren’t very fashionable nowadays, but this is a situation where they excell

my one oopsy happened (Thank God) in June, when a rock rolled under my foot and i landed facing upstream. wader belt or not, in came the water. it taught me two things:

waders full of water are impossibly heavy. stop and empty them before trying to climb up the bank.

always have a towel, a hot beverage in a thermos, and a change of clothes in the car.

and if i’m alone, i never go more than knee deep when it’s cold. an active imagination can keep you safer!

The first time I ever tried Fly fishing I drove 2 hours to the stream, spent 40 minutes setting up my new Rod and new reel with new line and new backing, tied on a new leader and a lovely fly sold to me by the flyshop. I moved in to the water and started to move out to the main chanel, I carefully unhooked the fly from the holder and as I began my very first real backcast with my lovely new rod I lost my footing, did a somersault and landed on a nice hard rock, shin first with my lovely new rod between my shin and the rock. Smashed it just above the handle! Luckily I could not afford waders in those days so it was only a short swim to the bank and a 2 hour drive home, I think it must rate as the shortest life span of a new rod ever!
All the best.
Mike.

If you put on waders, you are entering into a great cosmic pact and you are committing to share one day in the baptism of the brotherhood of the angle. In other words, sooner or later, you’re going for a swim.

I’ve taken a few. One that I thought was particularly funny was when a buddy and I were fishing a brook trout stream in central Wisconsin.

Calling this spring creek a “stream” is being pretty generous. In most places you can stand on one bank and touch the opposite bank with the tip of your rod. Your 7 foot brook trout rod.

So I was working my way up this stream on a really hot August morning and I was walking just in the ankle-deep margin along the edge, so my wading boots were barely over the tops. I took a couple of steps into the edge of a deeper pool and discovered there was fine silt that had settled there and my foot sunk in almost to the knee. Then my other foot sunk in up to the knee and I began to lose my balance because both feet were suddenly cemented in place.

At this point, it’s important to have a mental picture of where I am. I’m standing facing upstream just inches from one bank, and the “far” bank is 3 feet to my right. The deepest part of the stream is just under my right hand and it’s about 10 inches deep.

I desperately tried to pull my feet free, but I had already began one of those slow motion face-first falls in much the same way that a giant pine tree falls when a logger cuts it down. Tim-berrrrrrrrrrr!.

While I was descending toward the ice-cold surface of the spring creek, I had some time to think.

I thought, this is just about the dumbest thing ever as far as falling in while fishing goes. Oh, wait, I should throw my rod so I don’t fall on it. Ok, that’s done, now where was I? Yes, this is going to look incredibly stupid, I probably stepped right into the only silt bed on this entire creek that was deep enough to trap my feet and now I’m doing a 5/8 pike position dive with a 3/4 twist. . .

Splash. I landed face-down, In the middle of the stream, and I got completely and utterly soaked from head to toe. As an aside, can I just say that spring creek water feels really cold if you get dunked in in on a 82 degree morning. Because I was facing upstream, my waist high waders got filled with a nice 50/50 mix of water and fine silt, so that was a nice touch.

I clawed my way out of the water and dragged myself the whole 3 feet back onto the bank. I had just dropped trou and dumped the water out of my waders and my buddy came through the brush from around the bend.

He looked at me for some time as I stood there with my waist-highs around my ankles. A stream of water ran from my position on the bank, back into the stream from which it had come.

He didn’t show any surprise at all. Then he looked slowly at the creek and considered the 10-inch-deep water, and the 4 foot wide stream. He looked back at me as I started to wring out my hat. A crow called somewhere off in the distance.

He thought about it for another moment, as he watched the water run out of my fly vest from those little drainage holes they put on the bottom of fly vest pockets for just such an occasion. Finally he spoke.

“It must be a little deeper than it looks right there.”

Grouse

I am so glad to read similar accidents. I thought for sure it was just me being a light weight.
I went fishing the Snake with my nephew. Flow was a bit fast. A shallow stretch with smaller rocks than in Utah so much easier for me to walk on, or so I thought.

I walked out from shore about 20’ or so and made my cast. The water was maybe up to my knees but pushing me good.

First cast, FISH ON! I turn my upper body around to show my nephew I had a fish already, when all of a sudden I see the water coming close to my face.

My feet slipped right out from under me, so rod in left hand, I extended my right hand to stop the fall. Water was deep enough that my head went under water. I did stop my fall, but in the process, half my head was wet and the water shot down, regardless of how tight my belt was, my waders like a garden hose. I waddled to shore. This was in December so quite cold.

Surprisingly, as long as I kept the waders full of water on, I was not freezing. The minute I took them off…OMG!

I turned them upside down after removing and about 5 gallons of water came pouring out.

My lesson…wading staff and CHANGE OF CLOTHS!:smiley:

Lets see, It was early November and kglissmeyer(pops), my freind ryan and myself went on our first ever trip to Silver Creek Idaho. I had decided previously that i wasn’t going to wear the pair of waders I had been using for last few months. I decided that the pair i was taking might have fewer and smaller leaks. Early that morning I realized how wrong I was. Pretty soon with ice in my guides and most likely ice on my toes I figured it was going to be a long day. It turned out to be a good day for some, a great day for others and a cold day for myself. I didn’t fall in but I might as well have.

I took a spill early April. Water temp was about 32 degrees air temp was about 25 and light snow falling. Actually cold is what saved me. I had a jacked zipped right up to my chin under my vest. Water got into the sleeves but the jacket prevented it from going down my waders. My hands got a bit chilli but I was able to continue fishing. And that is how I have learned to use a wading staff.

Being a connoiseur of the impromptu dip, I can closely identify with most of the methods used in these posts. I have a repertoire dating back 50 years, of ways to take an unplanned bath. Several have been somewhat harrowing, and a couple downright dangerous. One memorable dip happened on a duck hunt on the Teton River on a cold windy day in Novembler. I was young, and broke, and wearing a pair of cheap vinyl stocking foot waders. I shot a duck and started wading out to retrieve it. Placid water with a mud bottom, and muskrat holes, one of which I found with my right foot. Dropped the shotgun, ripped the crotch out of the waders. Retreived the shotgun by dunking myself in 3 feet of coooold water. Wrenched my feet loose from the mud and made my way to shore. Made the mistake of cutting the waders off with a knife, instead of draining and leaving them on. Quarter of a mile to the pick-up. Did I mention cold wind blowing? When I got there, everything was frozen stiff, including myself. That truck heater shure felt good after awhile.
Lessons I’ve learned. 1. Don’t wear vinyl waders. 2. Go prepared for conditions. 3. Use a staff in fast water. 4. Match your footgear to the stream you’re fishing. 5. Don’t count on your companion/s to be of much help if you fall. About all they can do is tell them where to retrieve the body. 6. Tell somebody where you’re going. 7. Slipping and falling in 4" of water can hurt you bad in a rough rocky stream. Vigilance pays. 8. Slapping your rod horizontally downstream into the water a few inces can help you regain/maintain balance, and won’t hurt the rod, if done in thigh-deep or deeper water. Prudence here. 9. You ain’t invincible. Don’t let your head get your whole body in trouble. Use it for what it was designed. There’s more, but that’s enough for now. Experience will help. Good thread Joni.

A couple of years ago my brother-in-law and I took a late october trip to the white river in arkansas. If you were to see us together next to each other its like a scene out of that movie Twins…he’s 6’4" and Im 5’8". Needless to say, we dont make good wading partners. He’s able to cross water much deeper than I can.

So we headed out one crisp morning, ice on the windsheild, the banks frosted over from the dew and crunching under our feet…smoke trailing out of our mouths as we spoke, it was a cold one. The water was fairly low and slow, certainly wadable so we decided to head for the far bank where there was a pretty good sized pool and a fallen tree providing some fishy cover.

i had opted not to wear my wading jacket because it was supposed to warm up. So here I am in my flannel shirt (can you say ‘soaks up water like a sponge’?) and my chest waders, heading across the river next to my B-i-L. As we head across the water was getting deep. We were wading across a trough. Water that was only waist high to him was quickly encroaching my chest. “Its too deep, Im going to find another way across” I said. Cue me slowly turning to head back towards the bank from whence we came.

as I turned however, my foot kicked a rock and my momentum from the turn was carrying me one way where I no longer had a foot out in front of me to stabalize my movement. Its amazing the contortions you can do when in waist-deep water. I was able to take the leg that had kicked the rock and flail it around to and fro to keep my balance as best I could and avoid a dunk. My B-i-L later told me it was the best mid-river rendition of ‘River Dance’ he had ever seen.

Needless to say, after about a good 8 seconds of balancing and counterbalancing, using my arms and flyrod to try and keep me up, I was unable to keep myself up and was promptly dunked up to the shoulder before I could regain my stance and stand up straight. Fortunately, my wading belt kept MOST of the water from my lower extremities. I was able to make my way to the bank, making enough sloshing sounds on the way that I could only just make out the hysterical laughing of my B-i-L and his “That was AWESOME” giggles.

As stated earlier, lesson learned, carry an extra set of clothes with you in the car. After hiking the 2 miles or so back up the bank and the trail to the truck we came in, my wet flannel shirt had allowed just enough to seep down past my waist and to my socks. But it didn’t totally ruin the day. Back to the house and clothes changed and returned to the river, took about an hour. I did get the last laugh though, because on the way back to the car, as we headed up a slope on the bank, my b-i-l’s felt boots failed to grab on the icy grass and he slipped and fell.

I go swimming every year at least a couple of times. I don’t particularly like it either…especially in November and December.

You’re getting a string of good advice here. All I’ll say is DON’T BE STUPID!!

Expect that you can and will take an unexpected swim. A heavy backpack is not something I would be wanting to carry while I’m fishing. If I have to cross a river with a heavy pack on my back. The rod goes away. The trekking poles go into full press. ALL concentration should be on the task of getting from point A to point B in the shortest, safest way possible. Jettison the pack on the bank, THEN go fishing. It’s even better to have something that can float the pack. Take it off before you get into the water and float it. Personally, I use a canoe pack if I know I’m going to hit that sort of thing. I really don’t want a heavy load on my back when I’m in the water. The biggest threat is getting swept off your feet. You won’t be able to right yourself if the water is deeper than your arms are long, or if you are going down belly up. You can get pushed or pulled under (depending what the load is and how fast it gets wet) or swept into a strainer. Kiss you butt goodbye. I also have a rescue knife accessible for cutting out of webbing that might I might need to get out of in a hurry. I also have quick release clips and buckles on my packs.

I’m not nearly as worried about getting my waders under. The belief many have about waders being drowning machines is a myth. Water pressure holds most of the water out. You can swim in them and they will remain rather buoyant. It’s the walking out on shore that’s a bit hard, if your legs are full of water, it gets heavy out of the water, but you have to work at getting that much water in your waders in the first place. I do wear a wading belt in any event, so that has not been an issue.

Wading in cold weather or winter conditions has hazards of it’s own. You’ll need to have a way to get yourself dry in a hurry. That extra set of emergency clothes within a reasonable distance is invaluable. Do NOT continue to fish after a swim in those conditions. Immediately make a beeline to the clothing and change EVERYTHING…pack it in and get to a warm dry place unless you have another full set of clothing and you don’t have to climb back into wet waders.

A good way to keep from doing stupid things is to put a nice expensive camera around your neck while your out there. :wink: (but that doesn’t always keep you dry)… Remember…never step backwards.

A couple of years ago my brother-in-law and I took a late october trip to the white river in arkansas. If you were to see us together next to each other its like a scene out of that movie Twins…he’s 6’4" and Im 5’8". Needless to say, we dont make good wading partners. He’s able to cross water much deeper than I can.

So we headed out one crisp morning, ice on the windsheild, the banks frosted over from the dew and crunching under our feet…smoke trailing out of our mouths as we spoke, it was a cold one. The water was fairly low and slow, certainly wadable so we decided to head for the far bank where there was a pretty good sized pool and a fallen tree providing some fishy cover. The spot we were headed for was a good 30 yards or more across the river (the white is pretty wide in some spots)

i had opted not to wear my wading jacket because it was supposed to warm up. So here I am in my flannel shirt (can you say ‘soaks up water like a sponge’?) and my chest waders, heading across the river next to my B-i-L. As we headed across the water was getting deep for me, maybe 10 yards or so from the bank. We were wading across a trough. Water that was only waist high to him was quickly encroaching my chest. “Its too deep, Im going to find another way across” I said. Cue me slowly turning to head back towards the bank from whence we came.

as I turned however, my foot kicked a rock and my momentum from the turn was carrying me one way where I no longer had a foot out in front of me to stabalize my movement. Its amazing the contortions you can do when in waist-deep water. I was able to take the leg that had kicked the rock and flail it around to and fro to keep my balance as best I could and avoid a dunk. My B-i-L later told me (between fits of laughter) that it was the best mid-river rendition of ‘River Dance’ he had ever seen.

After about a good 8 seconds of balancing and counterbalancing, using my arms and flyrod to try and keep me up, I was unable to keep myself from the inevitable and was promptly dunked up to the shoulders before I could regain my stance and stand up straight. Fortunately, my wading belt kept MOST of the water from my lower extremities. I was able to make my way to the bank, making enough sloshing sounds on the way that I could only just make out the hysterical laughing of my B-i-L and his “That was AWESOME” giggles.

As stated from an earlier post, lesson learned - carry an extra set of clothes with you in the car (and dont enter water above your waist of course). After hiking the 2 miles or so back up the bank and the trail to the truck we came in, my wet flannel shirt had allowed just enough to seep down past my waist and to my socks. But it didn’t totally ruin the day. Back to the house and clothes changed and returned to the river, only took about an hour.

I did get the last laugh though, because on the way back to the car, as we headed up a slope on the bank, my b-i-l’s felt boots failed to grab onto the icy grass and he slipped and fell. neither of us was hurt but we both left with a pretty decent story to tell about another great trip together.

:slight_smile:

Where do I start? Oh yes, cold and wet, no, that’s where I ended.

Most stupid fall
I was wading a stream I thoght I knew. It was October so the stream bed was covered with leaves. I was trying to get into position to cast under some roots hanging out over an undercut bank. I was in about knee deep water and was steping very slowly due to the slick leaves on the stream bed. Two more steps and I’d be where I wanted to be. Unfortunately about 1.5 steps in front of me was a ledge that was hidden by the leaves in the water (it was a slow moving smallmouth bass stream). BY the time I realized the water dropped off from knee deep to about 4-5’ deep, I was committed to the step. Really stupid move. If that water was deeper, I may not be typing this to you today.

Worst I’ve been hurt:
Wading in one of the tailwater streams, I slipped with a fish on. No big deal, mid shin deep water, middle of summer and was wet wading. Like anyone would, I braced my fall with my right hand while rod was held high with my left hand. When my hand hit the stream bed, my pinky finger slid between two rocks. I ended up with a really deep gash in my finger. I was leaving quite the “chum trail” in the water. I had a bandanna in my vest so I wrapped the finger as tight as I could to stop the bleeding and fished for another half hour or so until it started throbbing and I noticed the “chum trail” still leading downstream from the blood soaking through the bandanna. I probably should have gone to the hospital for a few stitches but it eventually stopped bleeding and now just a small scar as a reminder.

Most Athletic fall:
I was in the Smokey Mountains right above the Chimney’s picnic area. It’s full of house sized boulders and smaller rocks the size of pickup trucks. As I was “boulder hopping” down to the water, I lost my footing. It was quite the balet show as I stumbled across three or four boulders trying to keep my balance before finally splashing down in the pool I was hoping to fish. Got wet, looked around to be sure nobody saw me and went on fishing without anything more serious than a damaged ego.

Only one of those falls would have been prevented with a wading staff (the deep hole) but I’m still buying one before the spring fishing season starts. Better to be safe than sorry.

Jeff