Wet wading...what date is generally your first time out for the year?

[salmo]

About now for smaller creeks. I have a pair of Sims pants which are very robust and resistant to brambles and are quick drying. In bigger rivers I usually wear waders all season long to protect my lower legs from rocks and the like. On a summer day, fishing in waders leaves your legs sweat-wet anyway!

 

[Bamboozle]

I wear socks under my neoprene guard socks for a couple of reasons.

First, because the neoprene has a tendency to slide on my bare foot which equates to blisters or torn skin when the skin on my foot is soaked. The heavy wool sock negates that sliding.

The second reason is to keep gravel away from my foot. I don't know about the rest of the wet waders but I only wet wade wearing long, supplex nylon pants. My heavy wool socks go on my bare foot which gets pulled over the bottom of my pants legs and the neoprene guard sock goes over that. This layering keeps the gravel between the neoprene and the sock, not the neoprene & my foot.

Another reason is because I buy my wading shoes a size to a size and a half larger than my street shoe so I can wear heavy socks in winter, the only time I wear waders (meaning hippers). Wearing heavy wool socks when wet wading replicates the fit I am used to in winter.

The final reason is every brand of neoprene guard socks I've tried in the last 15 years positively suck and must be designed by & for Chinese women who bind their feet, not someone like me with large calves and thick ankles. As a result, I can barely get them on my feet and then ONLY with NO sock underneath which negates the advantages I find to WEARING socks. Simms admitted as much to me when I called to complain about their latest iteration.

Because of this I am still using two ancient pairs of the old brown Simms Guard socks that were PERFECT. However because they are old, the neoprene on the sole is compressed like heck so a sock underneath gives me some extra padding & protection.

If folks can get by with just a neoprene guard sock, more power to them but that system just doesn't work for me...

 

[DomR]

strange to me how many guys are worried about wet wading. very strange. its just water up to your knees. a fish can survive in it, but your worried about your well being...plenty of other things killing you daily then some river water touching your legs, like brake dust. brake dust is everywhere and yes you are breathing brake dust in your body on a daily basis.

I'm not the least worried about it and I like to swim and be wet. I just have a hang up about wet wading. Totally bizzaro but that's me. Though I did get forced to do so on a guide trip last year in AZ. I really stopped noticing about 5 minutes into it, must have been the rising browns to hoppers that cured the crazies.

 

[Bamboozle]

The only time I got uptight was when I was wet wading in my float tube and saw a snapping turtle the size of a VW Beetle in Hopewell Lake at French Creek State Park.

I also saw about 200 kids swimming fearlessly on the other side of the lake so I figured if they weren't concerned, neither should I...

Besides, they were smaller and probably would have been easier for the snapper to swallow...

 

[lars]

The why not in my case is because I've been worn a hole in neoprene booties from my toes or toenails. I've never worn a hole in a pair ever, actually..

fwiw, i've worn many holes in my neoprene booties and i always wear socks.

 

[afishinado]

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[Facemelted]

I mean no offense by this, but that sounds like paranoia to me. The odds are so slim. Thousands and thousands of people wet wade and swim in rivers all of the time and the vast majority are fine. I'm assuming you don't swim in state park swimming areas of lakes either.

Plus, you probably know of people who died in car wrecks, but you still drive. Driving is a helluva lot more dangerous than wet wading.

No worries, no offense taken. I'll stick with paranoia though

But yea. I don't swim in freshwater lakes/ponds/rivers... never understood that.
I'm ok with my weird ways! haha

 

[JeffP]

I'm lazy. I just hate dealing this waders if I can help it. If you see someone wet wading the broad waters in mid-may in the dark at 10 it's probably me.

 

[JeffP]

The only time I got uptight was when I was wet wading in my float tube and saw a snapping turtle the size of a VW Beetle in Hopewell Lake at French Creek State Park.

I also saw about 200 kids swimming fearlessly on the other side of the lake so I figured if they weren't concerned, neither should I...

Besides, they were smaller and probably would have been easier for the snapper to swallow...

Snapping turtles do bug me. When I'm swimming at Mt. Gretna in the deeper water that is all I can think of. Honestly, water quality there does make me a bit nervous.

 

[Swattie87]

Snapping turtles do bug me. When I'm swimming at Mt. Gretna in the deeper water that is all I can think of. Honestly, water quality there does make me a bit nervous.

Had one swim right between my legs once. No one got bit.

In the water, they know you’re coming and don’t want anything to do with you and scram.

On land, yeah, they’re pissers.

 

[PennKev]

I have been wet wading since the last week of April.

The ease of movement without waders and having boots that fit your feet correctly and firmly is just hard to beat. If the air temps are in the 70's and water is near 60 or above, I'm wet wading. Period. If it's a nice day, I'll do it in the upper 60's provided the water is not still very cold.

I have friends who refuse to wet wade spring creeks in June because the water is "ice cold" and they sweat like pigs and are completely drained after a day of fishing.

No thanks. I just don't see the need for waders during most of the warm months, especially when most of our streams don't really require any deep wading.

 

[TimMurphy]

I wear socks under my neoprene guard socks for a couple of reasons.

First, because the neoprene has a tendency to slide on my bare foot which equates to blisters or torn skin when the skin on my foot is soaked. The heavy wool sock negates that sliding.

The second reason is to keep gravel away from my foot. I don't know about the rest of the wet waders but I only wet wade wearing long, supplex nylon pants. My heavy wool socks go on my bare foot which gets pulled over the bottom of my pants legs and the neoprene guard sock goes over that. This layering keeps the gravel between the neoprene and the sock, not the neoprene & my foot.

Another reason is because I buy my wading shoes a size to a size and a half larger than my street shoe so I can wear heavy socks in winter, the only time I wear waders (meaning hippers). Wearing heavy wool socks when wet wading replicates the fit I am used to in winter.

The final reason is every brand of neoprene guard socks I've tried in the last 15 years positively suck and must be designed by & for Chinese women who bind their feet, not someone like me with large calves and thick ankles. As a result, I can barely get them on my feet and then ONLY with NO sock underneath which negates the advantages I find to WEARING socks. Simms admitted as much to me when I called to complain about their latest iteration.

Because of this I am still using two ancient pairs of the old brown Simms Guard socks that were PERFECT. However because they are old, the neoprene on the sole is compressed like heck so a sock underneath gives me some extra padding & protection.

If folks can get by with just a neoprene guard sock, more power to them but that system just doesn't work for me...

Dear Bamboozle,

It appears we are cut from the same cloth. I buy size 13 wading shoes for my size 12 feet. Like you, it's done so that I can fit cushy socks on my feet before they go into neoprene stocking foot waders, or when wet wading with my neoprene gravel guard socks and wading boots.

When I had a full-sized long bed truck with a cap I had a pair of wet wading socks that I wore for years stuffed in the back. The same socks every time! The socks literally never dried out from mid-May to Halloween. The back of the truck smelled like pond scum and bad cooter, but I didn't care.

I'm older now and I still wet wade. In rivers and streams I do like the old days but bring the socks in after a weekend and hose them off and wash them. For lakes or while float tubing, I still use cushy socks and some sort of flats bootie. They get hosed out and washed too now.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Bamboozle]

Dear Bamboozle,

...When I had a full-sized long bed truck with a cap I had a pair of wet wading socks that I wore for years stuffed in the back. The same socks every time! The socks literally never dried out from mid-May to Halloween. The back of the truck smelled like pond scum and bad cooter, but I didn't care.

There a standing order in my house that when I bring my wading shoes in to dry and I want the socks washed, they MUST be placed IN the washer and the lid closed because of the smell...

I never thought it was because it reminded my wife the the girls locker room in high school...

 

[Bamboozle]

Snapping turtles do bug me. When I'm swimming at Mt. Gretna in the deeper water that is all I can think of. Honestly, water quality there does make me a bit nervous.

I did have a small beaver swim about a foot in front, then behind me on local stream while wet wading once. He climbed out on the bank behind me which was around 10 feet away to eat some stuff growing there. This happened on a few consecutive days.

It initially freaked me out until we got used to each other.

 

[wildtrout2]

The socks literally never dried out from mid-May to Halloween. The back of the truck smelled like pond scum and bad cooter, but I didn't care.

Bad cooter. Now, that is funny!

I haven't heard that term used in many years!

 

[wbranch]

On the Missouri I would wet wade starting in mid June. But only during the day. It gets very hot out there. But once the sun goes down I wanted to be wearing waders.

 

[Jemoca75!]

Cool thread, I personally never wet wade trout streams and couldn't imagine not wet wading the susky. I guess for me 65 degrees is cold and 70 is warm enough

 

[jarebearbinks]

I prefer to wet wade as it's simpler and you don't have to deal with waders. I do tend to get a decent number of cuts and scrapes on my legs though. Just recently invested in a pair of neoprene wet wading pants. They are skintight and keep your bare legs away from the brush and bugs. Just wear a pair of quick dry shorts with them and its very comfortable.

 

[PennKev]

I prefer to wet wade as it's simpler and you don't have to deal with waders. I do tend to get a decent number of cuts and scrapes on my legs though. Just recently invested in a pair of neoprene wet wading pants. They are skintight and keep your bare legs away from the brush and bugs. Just wear a pair of quick dry shorts with them and its very comfortable.

I'm sure that's warmer than just plain lightweight pants, but one of the joys, for me, of wet wading is not having to put on or peel off waders. However, I'd be open to this as an alternative to waders in cooler conditions. I seem to recall seeing wet suit style pants being used by anglers in NZ and South America so there may be something to it that U.S. anglers just haven't got yet.