Tips on Safe Wading (13 of 35)

Safe wading is a really important part of fly fishing. You need to take care, you need to have the right equipment, you need to plan a little bit before you get in the water. So, I'm gonna go through some of the things that will help you wade safely, more confidently, and more comfortably.
Number one is equipment. You need a belt on your waders. You need to make sure that that belt is cinched tightly. If you happen to fall in, what could happen is that your waders would fill with water. You're not gonna turn upside down, but you are gonna act like a sea anchor. And plus, you're gonna get your wallet and your phone and everything else wet. If you take a quick tumble with a wading belt, you're not gonna get much water down below. So, having a wading belt is super important. The other thing is the soles of your wading boots. I'm gonna give you the pros and cons of felt in rubber. So, let's start with felt soles. Felt soles are an older, more traditional way of covering the bottom of a wading boot. Felt grips on slippery rocks really well. It grips better than anything on slippery rocks. So if you're in an area where you've got a lot of round, slippery rocks, felt soles are gonna make your wading safer and more secure.
Now, there are some downsides to felt. One is that hiking on a trail, it's harder because you've got a slippery, smooth sole. So, if you're doing a lot of hiking, felt soles can be a little tiring. Also, if you fish in snow or icy conditions, you can build up layers of snow or ice on the bottom of those felt soles. And a final negative point for felt soles, in fact, they're illegal in some places. You need to check the regulations where you're gonna fish is that felt soles don't dry quickly, and they can hold invasive species. Things like zebra mussels and New Zealand mud snails and Dinamo and whirling disease. And you can take them from one watershed to another. So, you wanna be careful. If you have felt soles, what you need to do is you need to wash them really, really thoroughly and scrub them with a wire brush. They say clean, inspect, and dry. You really should do that with all wading shoes. You should always, before you move to a different river, clean them with water, inspect them, look for pieces of debris or mud on them. And then if you see any debris, scrub it with a wire brush and then try to dry them as best you can because that's gonna kill those organisms.
Rubber soles are great for hiking. If you're hiking a trail, they're like a hiking boot tread and they're great for sand, they're great for gravel. Any place you don't have slippery rocks, really super slippery round slippery rocks, rubber soles are great, especially if you're gonna be doing a lot of walking. The disadvantages, rubber doesn't grip quite as well as felt on slippery rocks. You can put metal studs in rubber soles, and that can give you a little bit more purchase on the rocks. And it's almost, almost as good as felt on slippery rocks, maybe not quite. So, those are the pros and cons. Rubber soles are great in the snow. If you're fishing in the wintertime or early late in season and you might have snow or ice, rubber soles are much safer than felt soles. So, those are the pros and the cons. You got to balance what kind of fishing you're gonna be doing. But always check the regulations if you're gonna be using felt soles. And always clean, inspect, and dry your wading shoes before you go from one place to another.
The third thing you wanna have if you're unsteady on your feet or you're fishing a lot of fast heavy water is a wading staff. Most of them are collapsible, you just pull them out, put them together, lock them, and you've got a third leg or a tripod that gives you a lot more stability. Before you get into wade, there's a few things to think about. One is that you should have polarized sunglasses because you need to be able to see through the water. You need to be able to rocks and logs and things like that. And if the water is really dirty and you can't see into the water, then you have to be extra, extra, extra careful and really move slowly and carefully. But polarized sunglasses in most cases are gonna really help you see where you're going. The next thing is look for a shallow place to cross. Look for a place where usually a tail of a pool or riffle is where you're gonna find the shallowest water. So, that's important. Look for the right place to cross if you don't wanna cross in the deepest part of the pool.
When you wade and you're not sure if the water is quite fast or quite deep and you're gonna get a little bit unsteady, the best thing to do is to angle a bit upstream. You want to always move in upstream direction when you're wading. If you get into a situation where the water gets too deep or too fast and you're tired, you can always turn around and retrace your steps. You know you can get back in that direction. You've left yourself a trail of breadcrumbs where you got safe wading. If you start in a downstream direction, the current can get too fast and can push you into a deep hole or into really heavy water and you won't be able to turn around and come back. So, when you're crossing, just pick an angle and work upstream when you're crossing the river.
When you're wading, you wanna shuffle your feet. You wanna move and feel with your toe, and then go toe, ball, heel and move along slowly, shuffle. Just make sure that you are getting a firm purchase on each foot before you take another step, especially in fast heavy water. Another thing I've found is you need to be really careful not to cross your legs. You wanna keep your weight centered, you wanna have your knees over your ankles, and you wanna have your weight centered over your feet. If you ended up crossing your legs for some reason, it can make you really, really unsteady. So, be careful to keep those feet separated and don't cross your feet for any reason. One of the things you can also do is a buddy crossing where you lock arms or just hold on to each other and go across. Four legs are better than two. And a buddy crossing with the wading staff or both of you with wading staff is gonna make it even safer. So, that's another option for you.
If heaven forbid, you do fall in, easier said than done, but try not to panic. You can dog paddle pretty well in waders. If you're into heavy, deep water, just stay calm, paddle off to the side, try to get to shore as quickly as possible. It's really hard once you fall in to stand up again. It can be very difficult. So, you need to just get to a really shallow place. And if you have to crawl out of the water, it's not very graceful, but do it. Just get to a shallow place. Try to get your feet in front of you if you can. If you're going through a long stretch of water, you don't wanna bump your head. Try to get your feet in front of you, dog paddle, get to shore, and dry off.
One final thing. When you're using a wading staff, try to keep that staff close to your body and either a little bit downstream of you or even with your body. If you put that wading staff upstream, you can get pulled away from it. So, keep it here off to the side a little bit, keep it even with your body, or a little bit behind you so you can push against the current. So, safe wading can make your fishing more fun, more comfortable, and obviously safer. And if you can't swim because there may be a time when you have to swim in waders, wear a PFD, not a bad idea.