I was just curious if anybody has ever gone under and had difficulty regaining footing and getting back up on the beach? What did you have to do to avoid distaster/drowning? Any sugestions for the newbies when wading.

Once,I was fishing for salmon in Paluski,New York.way up state.I took a real nice digger tumbled and rolled & completly submerged, rod in hand the whole time.The scuba session lasted only a few seconds (I shoulda broght the spear gun instead)& I traveled maybe 30 feet or so,It felt like forever.Some how I landed on my feet.
I was also totaly green to wading in fast water,after that I was a quick study to wading in fast moving water.Somebody ( :angel: )was looking out for me that day.
Alot of people are using PFD's now a days.

Some how the rod didn't brake :jump:

5/0

a couple times this season, in water up to about the top of my stomach fishing a boulder feild.

basically i just tripped. having a wader belt on over my skinz helped alot, would have been bad if i didnt have the belt. basically, i just swam out of it and stood up and continued fishing. no water made it below the belt.

im switching to a wet suit next year because this type of thing scares the crap out of me and i know ive wading way too deep to be safe in waders.

years ago i was swept into a deep pool while trout fishing in georgia. even with a wading belt, waders fill very fast and provide zero flotation. it's possible to swim, but you wouldn't want to do it for long. i now wear a simms dry top. i was completly submerged by a wave last sunday and popped up dry as a bone except my head and hands of course. i still wear a wading belt with the dry top, sort of an insurance device, and on the jettys i also wear a manual inflatable pfd. a dry top is a very good investment in your comfort as well as saftey.

If you have to bring a cell phone, make sure you wrap it in two zip locks. Shorted mine out a few weeks ago going for an unexpected dip off of WH. Waders will float when you are submerged (the water on the inside weighs the same as the water on the outside) The problem is that as the waders fill up, current or big surf can pull and drag you, making it hard to get back to shore. Always wear a wading belt. Even though I don't use one, PFDs are the safest bet.

Tripped up at Carpenters one night . Wearing waders with belt plus aquaskinz with belt. To my suprise I was horizontal and had a hard time gettin upright and on my feet again because of the air in my waders. Quickly used the rod as a stick to hoist me up.

I took a dump off a rock in the Westfield about 10 years ago just below the Chesterfield Gorge...it happened in 3' of water...in January. I gained a new respect for why people drown...I got the wind knocked outta me from the shock of the 38 degree water...I could NOT stand up again. My buddy was 10' away on the enbankment and saw the whole thing and had already put his rod down to go in after me when I was finally able to stand up again. THREE feet of friggin water. I literally could not get my feet under me. THAT is the scariest feeling I have ever had in my life. Always bring a change of clothes when it's cold...I had all I could do 10 minutes later at the truck to get my cold wet stuff off.

this spring i went down and my plug bag strap got stuck under a jagged rock. Damn near drowned :wall:

i don't know mikey. i figure bootfoot waders, korkers, large plug bag, plus assorted other stuff that i'm wearing none of which has any inherent flotation and together weighs 20 or so lbs...gravity wants to put that stuff on the bottom and me with it. it's possible to swim encumbered like that but not without a lot of effort. if you get the wind knocked out of you you're in even deeper trouble.

First off one word a WADER BELT....
And to answer your question, it's an old wisetail , your fine in waders. Might be a harder swim and cold as hell and getting back up to shore with your waders full but you will be fine.
Frank D did a whole report for an insurance company and proved that you will float and swim with waders on. And I am sure the waders now adays are much lighter then the waders Frank used... Frank is old ...lol

ps. as Frank said they never went to court :)

VB

I got knocked over twice by a dead shark in the surf on a dark night. I had 5 mil neoprenes, a Healy top with dry sleeves and a wader belt plus the bag belt. I went to just my ears backward and thanks to the tight neoprenes and belts I got about two cupfuls of water on my neck and that was it.
Like someone has posted, you won't drown or get pulled down or whatever. But that doesn't mean a thing when you have to drag the extra weight around in the wash while getting the crap beaten out of you by waves, or waves and rocks or waves and rocks and current. That's why you don't want any water on the inside.

how did you get knocked over by a dead shark? :huh:

i try to avoid it at all costs...

Once i got knocked over in a trout stream that was raging....and even though i was in less than 2 feet of water...everytime i tried to do ANYTHING the current just beat the hell out of me....as my waders were full.

a good friend of mine who sadly just died at age 39 of a super rare disease
....gave me a helping hand up and out and if not for him i think i would've drown in just 2 feet of water...he saved my life that day.

but the worst event was when i was duck hunting out on a salt water marsh in December ......to get to my blind you had to cross a river that was frozen over even though it was brackish water (1/2 salt....) i crossed over fine in the morning, but by late afternoon that ice had softened a bit...just not noticable on the surface....and so i went right through carrying two ducks and my shotgun...

all i heard was, Crack! valoooosh and i was looking at ice right up to my nose........
as Luck would have it i just stepped up on a mud bar and broke through the ice almost in hypothermic shock....and tossed my 12 guage up on the snow bank and then crawled out...Since it was several miles to get home frozen and soaken wet....
i quickly retrieved my saftey stick matches covered in wax in a water proof container (Eagle scout trick) and started a fire but i was shivering so bad it wasn't too easy . I had to get completely naked of all wet clothes dump out my waders then i put them back on for warmth...

i stayed there until all my clothes were 3 times rung out and semi dry and hot
before i trudged on home, minus the 2 ducks it took all day to get. :doh:

WHen I got a hook through my finger the fish dragged me around a bit and i think i went completely under. Thanks to my aquaskinz I was completely dry. :kewl:

WHen I got a hook through my finger the fish dragged me around a bit and i think i went completely under. Thanks to my aquaskinz I was completely dry. :kewl:
I was watching....saying to myself..."what the ^$@# is he doing???" :rotfl:

I remembered what winch told me about water not being able to hurt me. Soooo I let em fill and I made my way (swam) to the nearest rock pile. Then I took em off flipped them upside down to drain, put them back on and put my dry top on :beat:

I was working as a roofer years ago. Any roofer knows that the only time you fish during the week is on rain days. If it was raining, I was taking casts for trout, largemouth, etc., as this was before I discovered surf fishing. We used to fish this outlet for rainbows. A cast with a spoon w/ a leader and worm retrieved slowly would produce nice rainbows, bass, pickeral and an occasional catfish. Well, this one rain day was a total washout, and several inches of rain had fallen. A buddy and I had decided to try our luck, We got there and noticed the outlet was double in size and roaring, some brush was submerged in water already. We decided to give it a try anyway. Well, the fish were not around and we were soaked and decided to call it. I was fully clothed and had tackle and gear in hand, heavy boots, and a jacket, and the outlet had grown quite a bit since we'd arrived. At this point, small trees were barely visible in some spots, and the outlet had grown from 10 to about 40 feet wide. We were attempting to wade across the inlet to get out of there, and I stepped in a pocket and was up to my neck in water. Shortly after, the current got the best of me, and I was dragged out. My buddy extended his fishing pole, which I grabbed in desparation and managed to pull myself in. I'm not sure that my life was in danger, but was thankful to get out of there without having to shed my clothes and lose my gear. Thanks Matt.

First off one word a WADER BELT....
And to answer your question, it's an old wisetail , your fine in waders. Might be a harder swim and cold as hell and getting back up to shore with your waders full but you will be fine.
Frank D did a whole report for an insurance company and proved that you will float and swim with waders on. And I am sure the waders now adays are much lighter then the waders Frank used... Frank is old ...lol

ps. as Frank said they never went to court :)

VB

You don't sink but you're not going to float, and it is what kills you. You get tired and you go under, thanks to your waders. Being burnt out due to your waders, speaking from experience, is what will scare the hell out of you and kill you. Just because water doesn't "weigh" anything underwater doesn't mean it doesn't have "mass".

Pete G.
Not saying your wrong , but head over to Frank D's web page. He just wrote
all kinds of info on waders filling up and I also remember seeing on tv a ad and a guy ran and jump off a dock with waders on.
Trust me I think it's "the mind" telling you your in a bunch of trouble.
I am sure you would get tired as hell of a lot quicker if your way out or stuck in a curent, I would say the cold would get you faster .


VB

I wear a conversion kayak dry top when I do wear waders, actually wear it with my wetsuit sometimes too. I can swim in it with waders on and stay dry. The 2 things that will kill you when ur in trouble is panic and strugling. If you get in trouble don't panic till ur s#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g up water tring to breath, then you have a reason to. Relax its only water work with the waves and current untill you have to put out effort to get where your going. It is amazing how quick you tire when your strugling.

sadly people drown in undertows & strong currents wearing only bathing suits never mind waders! if your in a strong current and go in wearing anything its not good.
wearing waders wont make you sink like a stone as some suggest [myth]
or float upside down [air in lungs prevents this].
a guy who does this as a party piece in frank d's thread says he just floats like on an air bed in water...due to water pressure trapping air in the waders, why ....A BELT .
I never go out without my wader BELT, when I store my waders I snap the BELT to the suspenders so i dont misplace it.
A good bit of experience is to wear a light jacket [goretex]waterproof etc...
over the waders this acts as a primary water blocker , giving you [and me on a few occasions] time to recover yourself . Usually so little water is taken in due to the jacket, you only get a little soaked.... :eek5:

trying to get out of water soaking wearing jeans is bad enough so waders full of water isnt going to be easy so back to ....BELT. :spidey:

I was out on the end of the reef at Weakapaug last year, incoming tide. Water started to get a little snotty so I decided to get off the rock and head in. My Korkers got all tangled up in the bubble weed and I did a perfect 1 1/2 gainer off the rock into about 5 feet of water. I was luck in that I landed feet first and had on a Grunden top with the neoprene sleeves. I was belted off tight and just got a little wet. Scares the crap out of you at 2 in the morning though.

If I don't fall every time I go out it isn't a good trip
I am very clumsy and go down fast. I have never had a problem yet but keep every thing snug and tight.
just make sure you havve your wader belt and A knife to cut your self out if need be. and by all means don't struggle thing and don't panic

Its happen to me while trout fishing. The worst time was when I was wading a river during the spring thaw. I was in about waist deep water when I suddenly step in to and deep hole the was over my head the only thingthat saved my but was the current was so strong it drifted my back to the shallow section. and I got my footing back. It all happen in seconds no time to react. Now I allways wear a pfd .

breathable waders, which most of us are wearing these days keep the water out, or in, and due to their breathability will not trap air in for long. no air, no float. probably the best advice aside from wearing a belt is not to panic until you can't breathe....

Where would you cut the waders in case of an emergency ?

Also, would you use a blunt tip scuba type knife or point tip knife ?

I would cut the straps first if that didn't work just make a hole so the water would flow threw instead of filling and pulling you down. and it has been proven that waders under water don't fill fast and most people die because they panic and struggle and drown due to being worn out and then can't swim once and if they get out of them. If you notice when in the water your wader will get really tight around you, almost like reverse suction. I really don't think it is a big problem unless you panic and struggle. and if you are in nonmoving water I don't think there would be a problem.

I've been dropped a few times at Montauk. Sometimes, when you're trying to wade back in from a rock or a reef, a wave catches you just right in the back of the knees and you fold up like a cheap card table. I usually wear neoprenes there, and while I'm not portly, I have enough of a gut that my neos fit snugly. I've had problems from time to time getting back up, as other waves don't stop while you try to get your feet flat. I've never taken water into my waders---only the clothes above the waders get wet.

Of course, we're talking about knee to waist deep water here, not over-the=head deep.

When I got my Aquaskinz Evo 1, I put it on over my neoprenes, snugged it up and floated around my pool for a spell. Stayed dry.

probably the best advice aside from wearing a belt is not to panic until you can't breathe....

thats very good advice!!,,,when i first got to california ...having not had access much, to say horseneck beach or rhody beaches (with surf) ....i went body surfing quite often until one day i stupidly got caught in the undertow...and what a nasty feeling that is...i'll tell yeah...first your having fun catching waves and its exhilerating as hell, then, you get up on a wave and it slams you down and then sucks you back out underwater....and your first instinct is to fight the ocean and swim with all your might to reach the surface...but its better to relax and not struggle so hard and wait...and the ocean will bowl you up the beach like a round rock. i was able to just wait it out and ended up getting scraped up....sure, but i survived where most people would've sucked in water in a PANIC and died.Having practiced holding my breath underwater for years saved my own life.When i ocasionally swin in a deep pool i jump in and swin to the bottom and take a nap....much to the horror of the life guards :confused:

how did you get knocked over by a dead shark? :huh:
It was in Montauk. Here's a post about it on another sites "Montauk thread";

Again, I am remiss in not saying that ALL my fishing is/was at night. That's what I meant by having the 'nerve'. It's one thing to wade or crawl to a rock in the day with some surf. It is much different at night. A true story; One night during a rainy new moon in the fall, I am by myself and, up to my chest when the waves heave, close to North bar. The fishing is OK with a pick of small fish with a nice one every now and then. The wind is out of the NE and the tide is on the way out. The fish are hitting on the swing to my right and the waves are hitting me on my left so my attention is focused to my right with an occasional peak to my left. As usual, every once in a while a larger wave will show up and one did. But I saw it coming and so I stopped my retrieve and jumped up in the air with arms raised. The usual move. At the peak of my jump as the wave is passing, I am struck in the side by something very heavy that knocks me backwards and I go under. No big deal, I touch bottom and start to get up and am knocked down again by this 'thing'. Now I'm like WTF ? And I am looking while turning on my light. It takes me about 2 seconds to see the underwater outline of about a 6-7 foot shark. I FREAK while scrambling/crab walking backward through the surf and rocks dragging my rod and screaming like an 8 year old girl (I am in tears laughing while I type this !). I finally get back to near the waters edge and I am scanning the water while checking myself for some 'horrible' wound. After looking frantically at the water (my horrible wound search turned up nothing) I spy the shark rolling around in the wash. It is a blue shark that has been 'finned' and it's as dead as Terrel Owens is to the Eagles. I damn near died at first with fear and then laughter but I have to say I was PRETTY skittish the rest of the night ! Stuff happens.

Stepped into what I guess was a clam diggers hole at Stinky Beach - it was more like a pit. Went from waist deep to eyeball deep in one step. I jumped out real quick - but it was last time I put all my weight on my lead foot while wading.
Old-timers always adivise to "pick your way out" I found out what they meant that day.
Interesting how most everybody has been lucky in one way or another with their close calls - makes you wonder why more people have not been killed.

There isn't a brook or river in Western Mass that I have n't taken a swim in. the best one was a brook never my house I was about 13 at the time slipped and fell backwards floated down the brook about a 100 feet or so before I could get my feet under me filled up my wader to about mid thigh waddled out to the bank layed down and let the water run out the way it ran in. THomT

Very interesting replies to my inquiry. I never went under but I have comeo out of the wash more wet than dry a few times. Sounds like a few of the guys had some hair raising moments while wade fishing.