Fly Fishing Safety Series :
Wading...Stick it!
44 SeriousFun@JFFC MAY 2018
~Leslie Thiart
I was waist deep in fast water, my foot was solidly wedged in the bottom of the Riet river. The flow was pushing me backwards... I am going under, desperately using my sage as a crutch to reposition.... fighting childhood fears of a near drowning, I jerked my foot tight out of my Chota. After recovering on the side, I found a blue gum pole and waded back and with no effort retrieved my wading boot from the now seemingly placid flow.
I set out on an extended journey of many years to find the right wading stick ...it was just not appropriate to carry a blue gum in one hand and a sage in the other. Many broomsticks, collapsible hiking sticks and aluminium pipe contraptions later...I was back at the blue gum.
Some sticks just worked better than others… I found the longer sticks to work better than shorter ones. Longer sticks allowed for faster wading, good side bracing in fast water, going up and down embankments is a breeze...the best is how ever to lean on the stick and give the lower back a rest. I am definitely not as tired after a day’s wading with a stick, than without.