Just read an account by a new tenkara angler who on his first trip with his brand new rod slipped, fell and broke the rod on a rock. One of the nice things about tenkara is that your other hand is free - to use a wading staff. I don’t know if having a staff would have prevented his fall, but mine has prevented me from falling many, many times.
A wading staff doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be expensive. I make them frequently because they are cheaper to make than they are to check as baggage. A shovel or hoe handle, available at any big box home improvement or farm implement store, along with a bit of parachute cord makes a dandy wading staff that is both strong and quiet.
The biggest advantage that a wooden, non-folding wading staff has over the folding aluminum ones is not the stealth factor, though, it is that it will not be folded and holstered on your belt when you start to fall. I don’t care how fast a draw you are, when you have started to fall you will not have time to deploy your staff before it is too late. And funny as it may sound, you don’t always know you are going to fall ahead of time!
Most people with the folding staffs only seem to use them in deep, fast current, but consider this: The rocks are just as slick under 2" of water as they are under 2’ of water. If you slip and fall in knee deep water you’ll get wet. If you slip and fall in ankle deep water you can break rods - or bones.
I too use a wooden staff with a wrapped handle. As I have grown old, my balance and strength have significantly diminished, and my staff, which I formerly viewed as an occasional wading aid, is now a full-time wading (and hiking on rough ground) necessity.
My current staff is a piece of found wood (from the banks of the Beaverhead in Montana) whose bark looks like cherry wood. I drilled a hole through it at the top so I could add a short length of para cord as a tether; when I am using both hands in the stream, I can release the staff, and it, tethered to my belt, floats beside me, ready when needed.
I attach the tether to the staff by a loop-to-loop and remove it when hiking.
For me, my staff reminds me of that old AMEX-card slogan, “Don’t leave home without it.”
I got several wading staffs that I haven’t been using but should - a point I will make during this Winter or at the latest next Spring.
The question I have though, what is the “right” size of wading staff, i.e. what is the right length compared to one’s physique? Are there any guidelines just like there are for ski poles?
Because I use mine for hiking as well as for wading, my handle is located so that when I grasp the staff my forearm is horizontal when the staff is vertical and its tip is resting on the ground. Some may prefer a longer staff for wading, but I do not.
A dear friend made me a custom wading staff out of a closet rod. He put a plastic tip on the botton with a metal carriage bolt run up the center to keep it from splitting from use. I’ve never slipped on a rock when applying LOTS of pressure on it - and I’m glad it’s there.
The handle is wrapped paracord which I attach to myself when wading and it floats next to me when not needed or I fling it over my shoulder and it’s just there waiting for me to need it.
The trick to wrapping a paracord handle is to (1) remove the inner core and (2) SOAK the paracord in water before wrapping the handle. Then as the Paracord dries, it shrinks just a little bit to firmly adhere itself.
As to length - I like my wading staff a little long - so I have paracord wrapped from about 4" from the top down about 18 inches - so I have lots of room to grab hold regardless of the terrain.
Think about it - the creek or trail is seldom level - and lots of times I’ve put my wading staff into an area much lower than my feet and then used it to help balance myself in/out of uneven terrain. Having the little bit of extra length has been very handy.
If you have a friend with a wood lathe - have them turn a “knob” that you can glue over the end of the staff so you can put your weight on your hand and lean on the end of the wading staff - made a huge difference for me.
Also - my friend added “measuring lines” along the wading staff for me using rod wraping techniques. I have lines at 6", 8", 10", etc so I can quickly measure a fish since my wading staff is usally floating next to me and do a quick release.
