Wading staffs

[ThePreacher]

After nearly cashing in my chips TWICE while on the Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers this summer, I've decided that I have indeed gotten older and I need to get serious about getting and using a good wading staff. Any recommendations? I've used everything from sticks to sky poles to Folstaffs and Folstaff knockoffs, and none of them are fully satisfactory. Can this illustrious assemblage chime in with your favorites types? Has anyone tried the telescoping sticks that are used for hiking? THX!

 

[gfen]

I own, and carry, a Folstaff. The 3/4" model. I'd used a Simms version previous I'd borrowed, and prefer the Folstaff. It opens almost instantly, is of negliable weight, and is about as sturdy as it gets.

If I couldn't fold it up out of the way, I wouldn't want it. That eliminates many choices. If it wasn't sturdy enough to support a once nearly 400# monstrosity flopping through the stream, I wouldn't need it.

Folstaff. If I lost it, I'd buy another. A little insurance is worth the cost, and I hear their support is fantastic, not that I've needed it to date.

 

[Acristickid]

Has anyone tried the telescoping sticks that are used for hiking?

Yep- I own a pair. They dont get real small- still a foot or two long. They would work for sure, they have a strap too so you wont lose them. But they dont fold up small enough for me.

I am okay at wading, I usally just use a stick when it gets hairy or when I need to cross.

 

[CRB]

Have to watch rust on the threads. IMHO i would not go down this rout. Mine was given to me.

 

[hendeylathe]

I've had my Folstaff for 10 years. Worth every penny. I never hit the Yough without it.

 

[bikerfish]

I use a 12 dollar walmart hiking stick, it has clips that allows it to telescope to the desired length, then collapes it back up when you get to your spot. I hang it off my belt with a 2 dollar carabiner. works like a charm, I would NEVER wade penns again without it. I don't use it all the time, but it does come in handy on certain waters.
one thing I have learned when wading, if you go to fall, don't try to save yourself, if the water is deep enough, you'll fall into it and get wet, that's it. seems when I've tried saving the fall is when a possible injury could have occured. if the water is shallow, then yep, it's gonna hurt, but stay loose. only takes one or two crashes to make the use of a wading staff seem like a great idea!!

 

[Rolf]

This is easy...........Folstaff.

 

[jayL]

I get those wooden paint roller extension poles for a few dollars. The ones with threaded metal tips. Wrap a handle with old neoprene harvested from old waders, and put a rope lanyard on it. Costs me a few bucks.

 

[PaulG]

For many years I used a broom handle that I fixed up, worked fine, then a couple of years age I got a Dan bailey's wading staff. One of the worsted buy's I ever made( stay away from one of those) they stink.

PaulG

 

[jdaddy]

I get those wooden paint roller extension poles for a few dollars. The ones with threaded metal tips. Wrap a handle with old neoprene harvested from old waders, and put a rope lanyard on it. Costs me a few bucks.

Do you mod the threaded tips, ie screw on a spike or something?

 

[jayL]

Nah. The threaded tip is pointy enough to grip in every situation that I've used it. It's actually gotten sharper from a year's use.

I made it for the salmon river last year. Make sure you have a wading staff for up there. It's not optional if you're fishing way down low.

Also, it's exactly 4 ft long, which is max legal weight->hook distance up there. It allows me to check that I'm legal quickly. I graduated it for measuring fish as well, which I never do.

It weighs nothing, and I absolutely don't give a damn if I lose or break it. I might make another one just as a backup.

 

[ConMan]

I have a telescoping Williams Joseph staff. I hate it. Unless you keep it lubed, it doesn't twist to open very well. It doesn't fold down small enough for me either and regardless of where I clip it it's always banging around.

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[gfen]

FWIW, the secret to opening a stuck Folstaff, at least, is to tap it stoutly on a tree, a rock, or your car.

 

[jayL]

gfen wrote:
tap it stoutly on a tree, a rock, or your car.

AKA beat it on stuff until it comes open.

 

[Alpabuck]

I bought the fishpond one and it sucks. Rubber point on the bottom is somewhere in Lake Ontario and in a fast current it wobbles alot.

 

[gfen]

jayL wrote:

gfen wrote:
tap it stoutly on a tree, a rock, or your car.

AKA beat it on stuff until it comes open.

Pretty much, yeah, but it doens't take much... Just striking it smartly lengthwise against something is enough to jar it loose, but try to get the hit zone within the area where the two pieces join. Before I figured that out, I hated having to snap it out in a place where I knew I would only use it briefly.

With that trick, I don't mind unfolding it for a minute or three, then having to collapse it back up.

 

[JoeE]

I need one myself. But I'm going to make mine using leftover strips of bamboo at a .300 taper and see how that goes.

Joe E

 

[Rolf]

gfen wrote:
FWIW, the secret to opening a stuck Folstaff, at least, is to tap it stoutly on a tree, a rock, or your car.

That works but if you rub a little wax from a candle on the male ferrules a couple of times a year, it goes a long way.

 

[gfen]

Rolf wrote:
That works but if you rub a little wax from a candle on the male ferrules a couple of times a year, it goes a long way.

I've read that, but I've alternately read that it can lead to even worse binding, so I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Number6]

I've used a Fulcrum for a couple of years now. Nothing fancy, but very sturdy with little to go wrong. I can flick it open with one hand, and close it with one hand also.
http://www.amazon.com/Fulcrum-Wading-Staff-Length-WS54/dp/B0013A5U4W