What is your comfort level....

[Tburg]

I have a pair of muck boots just to stand on a few rocks in the ditch. when they get wet I move.....

I do want to get a pair of waders or a wet suit to try new spots but I do not think I will be swiming out to any boulder fields to wet a line...

[bloocrab]

The rough-ness of the water is the primary factor in determining how comfortable I'm going to be. Next is my experience with the spot that I'm fishing. You don't want to walk out to a point that you saw on a map ...at 1am. You have to know your surroundings..that will also greatly affect my level. Fishing with a friend can give you false confidence but It's definately worth having someone with you in those extreme situations. I don't worry much on the beach... you can only go in as far as you're allowed to drop your rod...I don't worry about a deep-pitched beach because If it's that steep, I don't have to enter...(a bar is a different story in itself though......hello Mr. FOG ...and Mr. Tide....and Mr. Current )

[FittyPoundah]

Two situations have gotten me uncomfortable:

1) On the boat. I love fishing with my dad out there, but when the whales are breaking the surface and then dissapear, I always get real jittery.

2) There is a spot on the Cape (I bet everyone here knows it) where you wade out a long, long way to fish. There's been a time there when we wanted to stay out just a little longer, and I was worried about getting back. VERY uncomfortable.

[Flaptail]

On the Outer Cape I never wade into open surf. Usually I am twenty feet back. Lots of nights the fish are in the wash. It don't make sense to walk on 'em. There are bars that people wade out to at low tide as they feel they have to get outside to reach the fish. What they don't realize is the even forty pounders think nothing of wallowing over a bar in less than a foot of water to scrounge bait that inhabits the three foot depths inside the bar to the beach proper. Especially at night.

Big surf has a lot of dynamic forces that will try to drag you into Triton's realm. Looking up into a cold green wave at two in the morning that you only noticed coming as it blotted out the stars is unerving to say the least and if survived runs the whole experience.

Estuaries have there pitfalls as well. Mucky spots and my favorite the holes left by clammers who worked the low tide and down you go as you wade in the dark over the same spot at the high turn. Sedge bankings are fun and having witnessed along with Art Crago, a fisahing friend of mine, a section collapse into the creek that was where we were standing minutes before casting flies at Scorton one
day is really an eye opener. 30 feet by five feet wide by six feet high just tumbling into the creek. Scary.

I fish a lot of rocks on an island you all love in mid summer. Corkers on and out and up you go onto rocks 30 feet from shore in six feet of water. No problem getting up onto them but getting down is really hairy and when a dragger goes by and sends in a seven set of four footers where your boots are usually six inches out of the water and it's time to perspire while watching them come at you. Your going over, no question. A lonely feeling in the wee hours.

To wade safely, anywhere, you must know your turf and what can happen. Respect the law of averages and calculate the risk versus the gain and it never pays to walk through a school of feeding fish.

[Karl F]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

On the Outer Cape I never wade into open surf. Usually I am twenty feet back. Lots of nights the fish are in the wash. It don't make sense to walk on 'em. There are bars that people wade out to at low tide as they feel they have to get outside to reach the fish. What they don't realize is the even forty pounders think nothing of wallowing over a bar in less than a foot of water to scrounge bait that inhabits the three foot depths inside the bar to the beach proper. Especially at night.

Big surf has a lot of dynamic forces that will try to drag you into Triton's realm. Looking up into a cold green wave at two in the morning that you only noticed coming as it blotted out the stars is unerving to say the least and if survived runs the whole experience.

Estuaries have there pitfalls as well. Mucky spots and my favorite the holes left by clammers who worked the low tide and down you go as you wade in the dark over the same spot at the high turn. :

Yep, Well Said.. I know nothing of Rocks
As one of the regulars on my beach says.. we only wear waders, to keep our socks dry.

[gone fishin]

Yep - what Flap said, Karl - so true about the beach and keeping the socks dry. At my age anything above my knees gets hairy.
Anyone who even thinks of wading in the ditch is completely nuts. That includes the east end at low tide. I have seen a few screwballs taking a crack at Pips Rip with waders on at dead low. When a tanker comes through and you get sucked in you are going for a long swim.

[Nebe]

depends of im catching.. if theres fish there, and my bass fever is boiling, i am more apt to take stupid chances..... if its slow and im easily distracted i take less chances.

In my mako- im ultra cautious.

[Springer]

I fish mostly a low sloppy jetty flanking a hard running narrow inlet. Basically you walk out to the beach hop on the rocks and walk east 200-250 yds until you are at the end where a big rip sets up off the tip. You are pretty exposed out there. There are two types of waves you can encounter, Boomers and Sweepers. The boomers are the waves that come in looking all big and nasty and smash into the base of the rocks and send spray everywhere. They put on a good show. The sweepers are the waves that look totally innocent and small but at the last minute they come charging horizontally across the top of the rocks and put the fear of god in you. I got knocked down hard one night in the spring by a sweeper I didn't see coming because I was fiddling with my plug. It was 2 AM on a full moon dropping tide, luckily I was left high and dry on the rocks but had I gone in I would have been 100s of yds out before I even came up for air. I don't fish there without a PFD and don't go out when the surf is really up.

[Swimmer]

When and where I fish the rocks the danger level is minimal. However there are two places where I stand waist deep in moving water that is filling up a large area that gives cause for concern. Incoming tide, if you dont keep your left foot planted and think before deciding to move and replant the foot you are in serious danger. The same with the right foot on the outgoing. Thtas why I where the sospenders. I have stumbleb a few times but never went down. Ususally when I did get wet it because I had a fish on close and wanted to land it, so I did what I had to do to catch the fish. I am amazed at some of the pictures I have seen here and posted elsewhere of fishermen completely awash under or in a wave.

I lost quite a bit of weight a few years ago and had to be far more careful stepping into the current because of that. Less weight, less ballast. Bought a new Aqua-Skinz last year and while a I wore it a few times I never really put it to the test except in heavy rain and in that regard it performed admirably. Looking forward to drenching it this year coming though.

[decksweeper]

My comfort level isn't quite as "deep" as yours Jim so didn't benefit from that perch that night...Had fun listening to your reel whistle though...

[Goose]

I tend to feel more comfortable in a wetsuit vs waders whether its sand or rocks near deeper water, current is the thing I respect most. On calm nights most can push themselfs to farther points and rocks but its those fishy rough nights where you had best know the terrain and face the water at all times. Although I know there are never any garrentees, experience speaks volumes and how well you learned from people you've fished with. Something as small as knowing how to brace yourself at waves can mean all the difference in fish & ofcourse health wise. You don't have to be a surf junkie to fish rougher water just do it smart. I think to many guys are afraid to get wet. Don't get confused with...some place's you just shouldn't be in the water.

[caliman]

I recall as a kid surfcasting in Marshfield during an incoming tide. 1-2 ft swells were common, the tide was 75% full (about 1 hr from Hightide it was windy out of the SW (offshore). As we stood along shoreline were noticed and heard the rumbble and crackle of the rocks underneath the water being sucked out at a tremendous undertow....we were amazed as the ocean seemed to just want to go outbound...1-2-5- -6 ft out from where it was....we pulled in our lines..and as we did we saw on the horizon a black/ grey wall of smooth water rising and dancing on the horizon(probably 1 mile out)...It was an incoming huge wave appx 25 ft -30 ft high!!
we scrambled off the beach as did everone else ...across 25-30 feet of dry sand to the stairs on Hartford Road and over the seawall....about 5 seconds latter the wave broke about 5 ft from the seawall and oversplashed wall as water ran down Hartford rd,,,,we ran to wall afterward to see towels coolers and tubes all going out to sea and the ocean as clam as before,,,this happened about 1966 or so never saw anything like it before or since

[baldwin]

I'm a bad person to ask. The best bass waters are the worst for humans.