Wade fishing HORROR stories?

[BuckNasty]

I am going to try some wade fishing soon but have heard some crazy stories. Has anyone got any good or bad stories to tell. Also looking for tips or advice on what kind of shoes or feet coverings ya'll recommend any other advice would be great as well.
Thanks

[Onelastcast]

I wade as ofen as I can, which isn't often enough for me but too much for my wife, and I love it! Never had a bad experience to say. Sure, I have sunken up to my whazoos in muck from a bad entry spot...but thats to be expected and is a lesson learned to me, but other than that...it's a great way to get out and spend a day.

For shoes...I wear a pair of $14.00 wading boots I bought at Bass Pro and they work just fine. One neat thing I do is tow my belly boat behind me. I clip it onto my belt loop and drag it as I walk. I found a round cooler that fits pretty good in the center, mounted a few rod holders on it...works fine.

Happy fishing to you!

[BuckNasty]

What about stingrays and such. If you get hit by a ray how bad is it really?

What kind of soles are on those $14 boots?

[RiverOtter]

What about stingrays and such. If you get hit by a ray how bad is it really?

What kind of soles are on those $14 boots?

Buddy of mine got hit by a ray that was brought up on the pier...sent it's stinger all the way through his ankle and he was on crutches for quite some time. Easy way to keep that from happening...shuffle your feet. If you bump one that way, it'll just move on along and leave you alone. Stepping on one is a sure way to get nailed.

[mountain man]

I shuffle my feet, but they still send chills up my spine when I don't see them until the last minute! Anyway get a good vest with lots of pockets, some old wading shoes, make sure the bottom is firm and give it a try.

[KodiakZach]

Not that I'm the one to give input since I don't wade, but I remember a thread on this that was pretty in depth on another fishing forum once, and here are the 4 points I took away from it:

1.) Most important was to get some sort of device/contraption where you could cinch up your waders (I think around your chest) to keep them from filling up with water and making you a (drowned) bottom weight.

2.) Always wear (i think it was) Neoprene booties for wading.

3.) Always shuffle your feet when walking to avoid stepping on a stingray or the like.

4.) Never tie your stringer of fish to your belt and keep wading unless you can have a quick release knot to let the shark have your stringer when he comes to eat it. :D

[big country]

i can't agree more on the shuffle your feet part.. and as far as sharks me and a buddy of mine were out wading simmons park in ruskin and had a real good size shark come out of the channel we were fishing well i looked back and seen my (good friend) all ready at the shore which was about 100 yards away telling me to watch out for that shark,well before i could respond this shark cuts in front of me about twenty yards away then cuts back in my direction and about thirty feet from me he turned and headed back to the channel....talk about scaring the sh*t out of ya.....

[Onelastcast]

Probably should have mentioned that little annoyance called sting rays...but I don't even think about them anymore. Yes, when I first started wadding there were streaks of "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" screaming up my spine everytime I kicked something bigger than...um...well...bigger than a grain of sand. But, it passes. The "shuffle your feet" thing is probably the best advice you can get. I don't know if I shuffle...I think I most likely "drag" my feet. :-) (Side note...cast behind you as far as you can once in a while. Fishies will come into the stuff you kick up to see if there are any munchies in there.)
Any fish I plan to keep go right into my cooler. I don't hook any to me or drag them around. No shark experiences as yet, and thats the way I want to keep it.
The water I wade in is usualy clear and only 2-2 1/2 feet deep and fairly warm. It's like fishing in an aquarium and seeing the bottom is not an issue. Rays, especially the big ones, usualy stir up quite a bit of silt as they feed and you can see thier cloud a long way off. Just don't wade where it's stirred up.
I don't wear wadders...just shorts, long sleeved shirt, and neo wadding boots that come up above my ankles. Oh...and don't forget the sunscreen! Put that stuff on everywhere...including the parts under water. If it aint covered in cloth...cover it with sunscreen.

[BuckNasty]

Oh...and don't forget the sunscreen! Put that stuff on everywhere...including the parts under water. If it aint covered in cloth...cover it with sunscreen.


I can never forget the screen I am what you would call super whitey!

[mountain man]

Kodiak Zach wrote:

1.) Most important was to get some sort of device/contraption where you could cinch up your waders (I think around your chest) to keep them from filling up with water and making you a (drowned) bottom weight.

2.) Always wear (i think it was) Neoprene booties for wading.





I typically don't wear waders, but I do know that cinched or not they will fill up like a bucket if you get too deep. Best advice for that is don't get in over your waste in chest waders and don't get in over your knees in hip waders. Even if you step in a hole you still should have some cushion.

They say that neopreme waders will actually float you even when filled. I've not tried this to find out. . . .

[VICIII]

I fish the trout streams all over the country from midwest to out west...in to California. I would not have waders connected to me to the point that I could not swim out of them. If they fill you want out. I would think if you put a belt so they don't fill fast it is ok as long as you know how to get out fast with quick release belt or something. If you go under in waders and you can not walk your way with out drowning you leave the waders behind and swim out of them. Just hang on to your expensive rods...

[BuckeyeJake]

I wade alot of streams and rivers for small mouth bass, etc. Except in the summer months I wear neoprene or nylon breathlite waders. I usually carry a knife around my neck, the kind that scuba divers will carry. That way if I go under and am unable to get back up I can either cut my straps or cut my waders off all together. I couldn't imagine having waders fill up on ya, might as well fill them with concrete.

Jake

[mblanken]

RE: Your waders filling up with water and pulling you under...trust me...it won't. That's an old wive's tale.

To call me a clutz is being polite...I have absolutely NO coordination at all. And having done the inadverdent plunge a few (dozen) times while doing some early spring trout fishing up north, I can honestly say that the worst thing about the whole experience is the shock of hitting cold water and the pain of bouncing down a rocky waterfall before you hit the water!

But you float just fine in water-filled waders. I mean, it's not like the water inside your waders is heavier than the water outside your waders. Your body is naturally buoyant...you'll float.

Now it is harder to swim with wading boots on and the bulged out waders do make it harder to swim against the current (as you have more surface area for the current to push against), but you won't sink like a rock. And there's not going to be a lot of current on the flats, so don't worry about it. You'll float fine.

But I don't know why you'd need waders in FL anyway unless you're wading in the 6 weeks of winter we have. The only advantage to waders is that they allow you to keep a layer of warm, dry clothes between you and cold water. They're certainly not going to keep you from getting zapped by a ray. If the water temperature is over 65 and you're not going past your waist, you'll be fine without them. They're just something else to clean up after a long day of fishing.

Now the stingrays...different story...these guys are dead on...drag your feet! That'll ruin your day...week...

[KodiakZach]

I don't think that a safety wader belt was invented for capitilizing on an old wives tale. Here is an article on wade fishing talking about the use of them:

http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/dgwading/index1.html

Several of the guys on the west coast forum I read it on had had it happen to them while wading the flats around Tampa. One said he was wading along and stepped in a hole that put his head about 2 feet under water and the waders filled up almost instantly. The difference was they weren't wearing neoprene waders which closely adhere to your body and don't let all the water in so rapidly. Neoprene is the same thing surfers use for wetsuits so it let's water out, unlike rubber. For wearing the wading belt, I'm talking about with the old time rubber waders.

For those that don't think having water in your rubber waders would be a problem for you to swim since the water is the same weight inside and outside: tie a rope to a 5-gallon bucket, swing it around, it is light. Now toss it over a pier, fill it up with water (like your waders would be) and then handline it up. The difference in weight multiplied by 10 would likely be representative of what you would experience as you tried to escape.

[derekxec]

im in south florida i dont use waders or even wade boots.....i use a pair of shorts and a shirt and a old pair of work boots and i havent had a problem

[mblanken]

Kodiak...what you say makes sense. And it WOULD be hard to walk around on the bank with your waders full of water. But get IN the water with that bucket and fill it full of water. Is it still heavy? No...it's not. Does it drag you to the bottom...no, it doesn't.

A five gallon bucket full of water while your IN the water doesn't weigh 40 lbs like it would on land. In fact, it's almost neutrally buoyant and doesn't really weigh anything more than the bucket. Drag that bucket through the water while you're in there, though, and you'll feel lots of resistance, just like I said you would if you were swimming with your waders full.

This type of thinking, however, is EXACTLY why people think waders full of water make you sink. And for the same reason that the bucket doesn't make you sink to the bottom, your waders won't make you sink either. I think the guys your read about on the west coast fell in the water and freaked out. The same thing that would've happened if they hadn't worn waders. They panicked and thought they were drowning.

Besides, I'm not telling you what I read; I'm telling you I've done it...a lot...and you don't sink.

The wading belt, however, is a big seller with fishermen who think they'll sink if they take the plunge. They cost about eight bucks to buy and probably are manufactured for about 25 cents. That sounds like a better reason to sell them than safety if I run a bait shop. And it might keep cold water out a little bit and help prevent hypothermia if you're fishing in cold weather, but it's really not going to save your life in warm florida water as you're not in any danger anyway.

And come on Zack...as a fishermen, you should know that retailers sell lots of fishing crap because stupid people buy it. Look at the Pocket Fisherman.

[KodiakZach]

Come out to Ponce Jetty with some rubber waders on and jump in, I'll take notes and post the results of the experiment :D

[VICIII]

When I had cheap but they work rubber waders.:cool:
Water in waders do not make you sink... Not being able to swim with your waders full makes you not float. I have never filled my waders in the calm of a lake or IWC.
I have filled them up in fast moving current of rivers out west and in the mid-west. When they get full your better off walking out of that hole. (Unless your feet get snaged then take them off) I filled them during the spring run off in Michigan and would have drowned if I tried to swim. I just kept on walking till the deep hole went back up to walkable depth. I would not have been able to swim with the current at all. When I got to shallower water I weight an extra 80lb. with all the water in the waders. Sloshed over to the bank and laid over a log to get all the water out... Full waders do not help out of water in making you nimble...

[notso]

Here's another little article about waders etc. This guy did some tests in a pool wearing breathables, both w/ & w/o a belt. enjoy..

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.outdoors.fishing.fly/msg/419476eae1638469?&hl=en

[Onelastcast]

Good article. Next time I am fishing in my pool with waders on...I am definatly using my wading belt! J/K...:)

Back to the original question of "Also looking for tips or advice on what kind of shoes or feet coverings ya'll recommend" I checked at Bass Pro and my $14.00 wading boots are now on sale for $19 and some change. They are neopreane with a rubber sole. I got the tan ones (increased stealth factor I thought) but they also come in black. Whole sizes only. First time I wore them I did get a blister on each foot but now I wear light socks and that seems to help. Look for a pair that zips up to close, as you want to be able to easily remove sand/shells or whatever works its way inside.

[KodiakZach]

FINAL ANALYSIS:


Until about an hour ago, I was one of those who theorized that there really
wasn't much difference between wearing a belt or not. I am now a complete
convert: I am even going to retrofit the belt I have so that it has a backup
buckle in addition to the velcro. I will *never, ever* wade without a wading
belt! Although swimming is not greatly affected, I now know first-hand that
it would indeed be a life-threatening situation trying to get out of a
steep-sided river with waders full of water.


Please, everybody, WEAR A WADING BELT!! If you think somehow its not as
graphic as I just wrote about, go to the neighborhood pool and jump in.
Hell, I dare you to lay down in your <bathtub>, then try to get out! Its
frightening!


--riverman


Add current and/or steep or rocky entry back to the shoreline into the mix and you just might be in trouble...