YELLOWSTONE ANGLER’S REVIEW OF PATAGONIA’S ALUMINUM BARS ON WADING BOOTS
BEVERLY JOUBERT/National Geographic
Posts Tagged ‘Wading safety
08
Jan
11
Studs Placement on Wading Boots
No girl’s and boi’s a different stud placement. With new boots in the life, I wanted to follow the advice of the shop…’Studs? You can never have enough.’ So, realizing those Vibram soles are a bit slippery, I researched for general advice for me and, of course, you.
Here are a couple pieces on stud placement. Regardless of type of stud used, you to want to avoid walking on only metal as much as only rubber. A mix, a ying and yang of studs & sole are best.
The Oregon Fly Fishing Blog and Grip Studs offer up similar advice on where to spread out those studs.
Have you ever taken a fall outdoors? A bad fall, where you lay there for a few seconds to collect yourself, and paid for it several days after? Trips, stumbles and falls will happen regardless of footwear, BUT do not venture outdoors with improper foot wear if your intent is to hike, wade or traverse irregular terrain. What is suitable for homes, malls, grass and sidewalks is not appropriate for the irregular outdoor surfaces. Injuries can set one back and ruin your pursuit of happiness. Eventually, the stumble or fall can result in a serious injury.
If I Could Put A Big Circle Around Them, With A Slash Across Them (SwittersB)
So, now you have fallen away from others. You are down, for real. Not getting up alone. Battered, torn, broken and shocky. A twinge of panic ensues. Rod broken. You’re bleeding. You’re broken. Alone. Not prepared on one end (the footwear), but prepared on the other (a survival whistle). A whistle is blown (3 sharp blasts, repeated twice) and within moments nearby help arrived. Aided too a safe place and medical help summoned. A good finish to a bad stumble…
Storm Whistle...Highly Recommended by SwittersB
If you are an infrequent fisher or an older more sedentary fly fisher, a self assessment is in order. A few short years ago, a few years short of 60…I recall playing fishing while moving downstream over irregular surfaces and in strong currents at mid thigh. After releasing the fish, I would wade back upstream against the current feeling the force but moving with a strong glide against the flow.
This past March, I was out with Matt McCrary on a late Spring drift on the Clackamas R. A long Winter of slogging around in the cold waving the two hander should have maintained some degree of fitness, but alas, I found myself stumbling about while wading in water that a few short years ago would not have challenged me. Stumbling about, as if drunk, I realized that in the water or on shore, I was tired and my feet did not seem in sync with my mind. I vowed to improve my hip and leg strength and cursed the sedentary life I have slipped into (behind a desk and/or driving up and down the freeway to one problem or another).
So, get or stay strong for the currents. Pick your route. Stay high and dry in sub temps…a long slog back to the rig in hypothermic delirium is dangerous. As you fumble to find your keys and manipulate them into the ignition….you are at risk.
WADING SAFELY
Clack. R. (G. Muncy)
A sedentary Winter, less activity, no workouts, little if any walking or climbing. All this leads to a loss of strength and a loss of flexibility. No, if you are 25 or 35, you cannot yet relate. Everything still works and the body forgives the abuses and neglect. Move forward twenty years and by now time is catching up. Sports injuries, surgeries, life’s interruptions have conspired to slow you down and the ol’ adage of one step forward, two steps back slowly inserts, slowly intrudes into your mind.
I don’t hit the water’s edge feeling weak or puny, but I leave it feeling as if my feet weigh twenty pounds a piece. My ankles ache, my ass is tired and I appear as if I could blow a .08BA, stumbling about. Shit, what the hell happened? Age, injuries, diminishing returns on workouts with the best of intentions.
So, with that in mind, you decrepit ol’ fart, be careful! Use good judgement and use a wading staff, wear some form of floatation device and most importantly, carefully pick your water. “A Man’s Gots To Know His Limitations” (Harry, Magnum Force, 1973)
“….every angler must realise that wading is dangerous, your life is in your own hands, if you are not sure that you can take the next step, stop and figure out the situation and make sure that you will be able to negotiate your way out safely. Remember too that you can get just as wet in one foot of water as in ten if you fall over and in freezing weather the consequences could be as bad especially if you are a distance from help or shelter.”
http://www.letsflyfish.com/fly_fishing_wading.htm
