Wet Wading ...

[Stagger_Lee]

I know it's been discussed b4 but I was curious ...

Do u wet wade?

Only on certain streams?

Why and why not?

I ask this cause I hit the Neshimany often ... a creek I wouldn't say is the 'cleanest' ... and I notice a decent amt of people doing activities in it from swimming, kayaking(getting in and out) and fishing .... lots of bare skin exposed.

 

[JasonS]

You'll be fine.

 

[Alnitak]

I wet wade some streams. My general rule for wet wading is that the stream has to be shallow enough that it won't go much above my knees when I cross or climb in, and that the water is clear so I can see the bottom.

I don't worry about the cleanliness of the water as I won't fish a stream that's not pretty clean/high quality to start with. I'm sticking my hands in any stream to release my fish, so if I won't stick my hands in it, I won't stick my feet in it.

I use sandals and try to stay out of the water when I can so I don't stir up the sediment and disturb the fish and other aquatic life. In fact, I know I stay out of the water more when I'm wet wading.

As to why I do it, that's easy: Waders are HOT. I feel like I'm going to bake inside my waders once it gets into the high 60's outside. As it gets warmer, I can't take it anymore and I shed them and go for shorts and wet wading.

The most serious hazards I face wet wading are briars and poison ivy. My legs right now look like I just crossed No Man's Land between the trenches in WWI. It draws stares in public and concerned questions from friends. When I explain why, they don't seem any less concerned, it just shifts from concern about my physical health to concerns about my mental health.

Jeff

 

[redietz]

The most serious hazards I face wet wading are briars and poison ivy.

You're forgetting ticks. Neither Lyme's nor Spotted Fever are any fun.

I still wet wade whenever practical, but nowadays I wear quick dry pants (the kind that can be zipped off at the knee) with my pant legs tucked into my socks. Protects against ticks, poison ivy and briars (to some extent.)

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I wet wade and wear long pants as well. I don't have a standard as to what streams I'll wet wade and which ones I won't. It usually depends on how bloomin' hot it is and whether or not I want to bother with waders.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Cool ... couple of weeks back it was only 78-80 degrees in the early AM BUT fairly humid ... I'm in my waders. Hiked abt 30 mins to my starting destination and I was sweating like a pig .... so much I felt light headed until I drank a tons of h2o. I got into the h2o and just stood their for awhile to cool off.

I have the zip off pants from LLbean and think I might just wear'em and go from there. I

 

[JasonS]

The worst thing about wet wading is that gd devils weed, nettles. Quick dry pants usually don't protect against them. I'm typically just rocking shorts and flip flops. #YOLO

 

[RCFetter]

I wet wade the Neshaminy and Pennypack.

 

[Aducker]

Do u wet wade? No.

Only on certain streams? None

Why and why not? I don't for my protection. Not so much for dirty water but for cuts and scrapes while walking in the water and around trees and bushes and rocks.

 

[bigslackwater]

I hit the Potomac river a few weeks ago with a friend. We decided to wet wade. The reason being, safety. It's much more difficult to wade than the small creeks I'm used to. My buddy actually stepped in to a hole that went from just bellow the knee to his chest. Waders would have surely taken in water. If I'm going to take a swim I'd rather do it without waders.

 

[troutbert]

I wet wade a lot.

I wear the quick drying fishing pants already mentioned. I never zip them off. The long pants give you some protection against ticks, mosquitoes, sunburn, etc.

Also, I wear regular wading shoes. Sandals do not give your feet enough protection against broken glass, sharp metal objects, etc. Even rocks sometimes have sharp edges that can slice feet.

 

[RyanR]

I wet wade all the time, I prefer too and start doing so as soon as reasonably possible on trout streams. I've pretty much had no issues but if I had an open wound I might think twice on a certain body of water or two. More likely I'd just clean that area real good with some Germ-X sanitizer afterword if I was really concerned.

Two "worst" things that happened to me while wet wading was a very close encounter in the Brodhead with an aggressive water snake and a few years ago I was fishing the Lehigh one morning on what was quickly becoming hot day and made my way just up into the Aquashicola near the mouth. It was crystal clear with no weeds or anything and ice cold. It didn't even dawn on me why it was barren of weeds and it being so hot with the sun beating down on my neck I did what I normally do and took my ball cap and scooped up water and dumped it over my head and put the hat back on. Only later I learned the very lower Aquashicola is still a Superfund site and it's "dead" water due to a pile of heavy metals and other nasties. So far I don't glow and haven't grown a third arm or second head thankfully!

Like TB, I always wear my regular studded wading shoes with my wool or neoprene socks. I like to wear quick dry shorts as much as I can though but do wear the pants on occasion in certain situations like particularly thick, thorny cover I know I have to go thru. Usually I don't care about the thorns much though.

 

[pete41]

when you retire and move to Florida you will wet wade with the cottonmouths,sharks,rays,gators,jellyfish and all the other nasty critters-biggest danger-mussels-slip and fall into them and its a quick trip to the doctor.

 

[RCFetter]

I wet wade in shorts where I know there is easy access to the stream. Long pants where there is heavy shrubbery.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

troutbert wrote:
Also, I wear regular wading shoes. Sandals do not give your feet enough protection against broken glass, sharp metal objects, etc. Even rocks sometimes have sharp edges that can slice feet.

This. I ALWAYS wear my wool wading socks and wading boots.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Yea .... unless I'm gonna be in an easy spot like Tyler park I'm definitely wearing wading boots 4 the reasons troutbert posted (safety and stability)

 

[Alnitak]

Good point on the ticks...but they can climb onto you at any point and find their way through clothing. To combat them I just use DEET. One has to be careful to not get it on your fly line or really almost anything else but it does the trick. I'm also fortunate in that I don't attract many ticks even without spray. I can go out in the woods with a friend and they'll come back with 10 or more ticks and I'll not have even one. This year I've been out in the woods at least twice a week, often three or four times and found a sum total of one tick on me.

As for foot protection, I wear a pair of Keen sandals that are designed for use in water and and have toe protection. I screwed a set of Orvis studs into the soles and those things are grippy even on the most slippery rocks.

I forgot about the obnoxious stinging nettles. I traipse through a patch of them a few weeks ago and was rapidly reminded.

 

[CLSports]

This topic comes up ever summer.

I do it most of the summer. I wear a light tan colored hiking pants that are soaked with Permathrin to keep the ticks off and the light color helps to be able to see them if they do get on me. The permathrin says it stays on through 6 washings, so two pair of pants can get me through the summer usually.

I wear wading shoes that have soft rubber soles. They grip well enough in the stream I fish in the summer.

 

[govtmule]

sweatin my ballz off is better than ending up in the hospital with an infection.....it happened to me.

ps - I may be a bit clumsy so take it FWIW

 

[Brownie101]

I wet wade all the time. I can't stand being in waders when its 75+ degrees out. I wet wade the Brandywine all the time and I can't imagine the Neshaminy being that much worse than it. You'll be fine.

My biggest worries are water snakes and snapping turtles. I'm terrified of both.