Ok…today was my first fall! We we’re about done for the morning, but I might have stayed a little longer if I hadn’t taken a dip. I’ve never fallen before while wading, and it actually wasn’t that big of a deal, but I do realize that it could have been if the water was a little faster, or deeper. Anyone have any stories about filled up waders, etc… It sure was a good laugh for my buddy. I got tripped up because of lack of movement in my waders, I guess I’ve picked up some weight since I bought them a few years back, I guess it’s time for some newer, larger, breathable ones, maybe some Simms G3 any opinions?
Welcome to the club!
I’ve been “baptized” at least half a dozen times and it always seems that it’s at an unexpected place or time. I crossed a good moving, rocky river one time - picking my way accross, got to where I wanted to fish, feeling good about how I had got there and then after awhile decided to move to an easier location, went to turn and tripped over a big rock!
Another time I kind of laughed on how my buddy tripped over a rock and got a little damp … then promptly did the same thing myself! Does not pay to snicker at someone else getting wet as “what goes around comes around”!
Dale
All my falls [that I’m willing to admit to!]happened after I started wearing bifocal glasses. <G> It’s really hard to estimate distance if you happen to glance thru the lower part of the lense.
Donald
I?ve gone in several times. The best one and for me the scariest was one time during a very steady rain fall, I was trying to look over a bank into a fairly large pool. The bank was about 4 feet off the water. While I was peering over the edge I spotted some very nice fish and I was trying for a better look and then the unthinkable happened, the whole bank gave way and in I went. The pool which looked to be about 4 or 5 feet deep in very clear water ended up to be over my head. Filled up the waders and I almost started to panic, but I remembered someone telling me that if this kind of thing happens do not panic and just relax (ya right, the water was about 55 degrees), well I did sort of relax and sure enough I was able to gain control of the situation and actually float, getting back out of the stream proved to be quite the work out with waders full of water. Once I was out I just took them off, dumped out the water, put them back on and kept on fishing as there was one h**l of an olive hatch happening.
Happily ( or unhappily, depending on how you look at it), no one was around to see this event.
Mike
[This message has been edited by Magneto (edited 30 December 2005).]
Just a comment about waders filling with water. I will not get into the details because it is embarrassing, but once my driftboat was blown off a gravel bar with a elderly client in it and not me. (The caribiner holding my anchor snaped earlier in the morning or I would have had it dropped).
Anyway,I jumped in the river after her. My waders did fill up with water but they did not even come close to pulling me under. When waders fill up with water, neutral bouyency occurs. The worst part was trying to walk in them on land before I was able to drain them.
The client did survive and I got my boat back. Rob
Ahhh! At last a topic that I’m wholly informed in. And even more-so since my knees have gone south. My bath ratio on the last half dozen wading trips is about 90%, which I attribute mostly, but not entirely to the lack of response in the lower limbs. Paying attention, and common sense, even with bum wheels goes a long way toward staying dry. In fast water, always try to anchor the foreward moving foot firmly before moving the back one. In sleek rock conditions, a wading staff is in order, as well as exercising caution. One of the worst dunkings I ever took was in a wide shallow river that got about thigh-deep toward the bank. The footing was good (almost)all the way to the bank, with the exception of a few smallish boulders on the bottom. I was in a hurry, and didn’t slow down as the water deepened. I stepped on one of the rocks, which promptly rolled, and I found myself up to my neck, with a thumbnail torn off and screaming kneecaps which contacted the rocks. It’s not good to fall in shallow water. I saved my rod, but baptized a good digital camera. Best wading tool you have is right between your ears.
Yep, fell in the water many times… sometimes a big surprise and sometimes not. I do a lot of shorts and sneaker wading when small mouth fishing.
Way back, maybe 20 years ago, I had a nasty fall in the Susquehanna River. Late October, walleye fishing, coffee in one hand, spinning rod in other… stepped into a “safe” spot right over my head… bad karma. Floated downstream quite quickly, no one to help. So scared I couldnt utter a word, I grabbed an overhanging branch and it pulled me to the bank. Hypothermia was chasing me as I took off my waders before exiting the water. I am forever careful and nearly always use a wading staff, even when fishing small streams. As I am now nearly 50 years young, I dont take the chances I used to. As I grow older and less agile, I have found that roots and rocks sometimes just jump right up to trip me. Call me careful, I dont care. Im still fishin.
It’s only a bad cast if it spooks the trout…
I was sight casting for bass from a small boat . My 2 nieces were in the boat and they spotted a turtle in about 12 Inches of water . I decided to catch it and show it to them . I stepped out of the boat right thru a layer of suspended sediment that I thought was solid bottom . It was 15 feet deep under that layer . Needless to say the turtle got away .
You have been baptized. I expect all or most of us have fallen before and some more than once. I did not fall once in 2005, and tomorrow I start the 2006 season on the Gunpowder, I just hope my luck continues. Now 2004 was far different; I fell in 4 times that year, broke a rod, lost a camera, became embarrassed thanks to Colston and his good natured ribbing (actually I broke two rods that year and he was there both times). Most of the falls were not all that frightening, except the one I had on the Selway at the 04 Fish-In. Les was up stream and had his back to me, I had waded pretty far out trying to reach a spot I wanted to cast too. The water was moving pretty fast and shortly after I got there I was not so comfortable so I was turning around to head back closer to shore and down I went. I was floating down river pretty quickly and heading towards the deeper water and Les had no idea what was happening to me. Fortunately I was able to slow down, with the help of my staff, and get back on my feet before I reached that deep water. I learned my lesson and now I don?t take risks like that anymore.
bwagner, I hope to see you tomorrow on the Gunpowder.
Jerry
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I have been real lucky so far fishing 4 years. only fell in some shallow water or trying to get down to river. The river nearby has too many class3/4 rapids so i am little more careful as I wear a hearing aids, so needs to be more alert. It cost too much to fix anyways.I kind of think to myself now that “water looks deeper than it look and fish are smaller than they look”!
Welcome to the club!
It is easier to wade in breathable waders, provided you have the appropriate boots for them, and Simms G3’s are the best. Also, if you do get water inside them, you can just turn them inside out and they’re easy to dry.
I’ve fallen in so many times over the years that some friends I used to fish with nicknamed me “Bobbing John”. I also have the tendency to wade too deep and get water over the top of my waders.
Last summer I fished the Columbia River near Castlegar, British Columbia and there were some really large rainbows rising pretty far out in the river. I could just manage to reach them when I waded out to where the water was right at the top of my waders. About every other cast I’d make one step farther out, the water’d seep over the top, and I’d take a step backward to the shallower water. Then, I’d try to get closer for the next cast and in came the water again. Big fish can do that to you! Oh, well, it’s only cold water!
John
Years ago I made my first trip up to Esopus Creek on a cold and rainy early spring day. The river was running pretty high and fast due to all the rain, and it took me awhile to find a spot that I thought was remotely fishable. I stepped off the bank into water that looked to be 2 or 3 inches deep. This would have worked out well except that it turned out to be 2 or 3 feet deep. Did I mention that I did not have a change of clothes with me?
[This message has been edited by gadabout (edited 31 December 2005).]
I have fallen only one time in my short FFing career. I was wearing the old rubber waders, and it was cool breezy mid April day. The river was still a bit high and fast. A bowling ball size rock snuck under my foot when I wasn’t looking, and rolled as soon as I put my weight on it. My wader belt kept most of the water out, enough got in to fully wet my clothes. My fishing buddy’s truck was nearby, but he wasn’t. I couldn’t find where he stashed the keys, and didn’t want to bother him, so no truck heater for me. I sat on the ground in my wet clothes for a few minutes to spare his new truck seats, and you wouldn’t believe how cold you can get when the air temperature is in the low fifties, and a breeze is blowing. Just remember it doesn’t have to be freezing out to get hypothermia. I ALWAYS carry a change of clothes with me since that day.
I always seem to go for a swim in the winter.
You’re cold, stiff, shivering. Maybe you have snow caked on the bottom of your felts.
When my father had to give up fishing I inherited his Folstaf.
It’s a great thing to have when things get a little hairy.
“too much of anything is bad, but too much whisky is just enough”
Mark Twain