Hungry trout pigging out.

Sandhill Cranes in flight.

Beaverslides waiting for summer.

And waders that don’t leak.

I love the Big Hole.

We’re off to check out the Big Hole this Easter weekend. (Our weekend is Sunday-Monday).  It’s supposed to be in the mid 60′s over the next couple of days in Wisdom so I plan on doing some wader testing while chucking streamers.  Hope you have or had a great Easter weekend.

Cheers!

The 2012 February / March issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine features an important article about wading / wader safety written by Ralph Cutter.  The editor, Ross Purnell also focuses his editorial on the matter.  I wrote the following letter in response to the article.

To:  Ross Purnell, Editor of Fly Fisherman Magazine

Your editorial in the February/March issue of Fly Fisherman, and the ensuing article by Ralph Cutter were read with keen interest.  Cutter does a great service by demonstrating swimming techniques and ways to prevent the ingress of water into waders in his article.  And the online theorists are correct, albeit misleading, in their postings that water weighs the same, whether inside or outside your waders.  The caveat that needs to be inserted is that both Cutters survival techniques and the theorists math apply primarily to situations where the unlucky swimmer is moving with,  or being carried by the current.

What isn’t addressed is the kind of catastrophic situation that happened to me and two of my fishing pals – not unlike what happened to Chester Marion and Sheldon Goldberg, or the drownings of Christopher Baxer on the Big Hole last year, or James Dewhurst on Rock Creek the year prior – ours was a boating/rafting accident; we ran into a sweeper and the raft flipped.  Yes, it would have been prudent for Marion and Goldberg to have on their wading belts.  Would the belts have saved them?  Were they wearing waders that came with elastic belts like Patagonia and Redington supply?  After narrowly escaping a similar fate my firm conviction is that wading belts, as they are currently made and promoted, contribute to a very dangerous and false sense of security, whether they are stretchy or not.

I was lucky.  Very few people survive these accidents.  During my struggle to save my own life I found that when you grab onto something to stop your forward progress the force of the water is so strong that as your waders are filled they continue to go downstream while you try desperately not to go with them.  The elastic suspenders stretch to the max and the wader belt that was once firmly around your waist is now below your butt.  The force was so strong when it happened to me that the plastic release clasps on the suspenders of my Simms waders would not release under the pressure.  (I discussed this with the President and the Director of Operations at Simms and they claim it’s no longer an issue.)  I finally slipped my arms through to dump the waders, but in doing so traded one set of circumstances for another: the suspenders, flailing underwater, became tangled on branches of the structure I was hanging onto.

Cutter is correct to advise fishermen who are wading to tighten their belts and consider wearing a second or third one when crossing dangerous waters.  But one main reason wader manufacturers sell elastic belts is because they know consumers want comfort.  Unfortunately not enough fishermen will heed the advise to wear two or even three belts if it’s a hassle or uncomfortable.

Again, let me be clear: when a person is being carried downstream with the current, wading belts have their place and can help keep the water out.  However, if the unlucky swimmer doesn’t make it to shore before being swept into a structure, the dynamics change exponentially.  As soon as a person tries to stop their downstream progress by grabbing on to something, wading belts, as they are generally worn, will not prevent rushing water from filling the waders instantly.  At that point something has to be done quickly to give the person a better chance of survival.

Since that life-changing accident a few years ago I’ve committed myself to not only sharing what I learned, but also developing a wader product that addresses inherent design flaws.  Our patent pending waders and the story of how the design evolved can be viewed at www.wadesafe.com.  WadeSafe™ waders are in the late prototype stage and are not yet available for sale, but I want to take advantage of every opportunity to discuss the risks that wearing waders presents.  We also hope that our waders will eventually become an industry standard, offering a simple, bulletproof solution.

Thank you Fly Fisherman for focusing the February/March issue on the subject of wading safety.  I will be interested to hear what others have to say about this important topic.

Sincerely,

Donn McAfee

President

The Guideline Corporation

WadeSafe™ / WadeSmart™

The now-famous Skwala hatch on the Bitterroot River has barely begun but this last five days has produced a swarm of boats and fishermen, even though the bugs are still scarce.  I went wade fishing on Thursday and when I started on my hike from the parking lot at the Tucker launch ramp around 11 am, there were three rigs, two of which had trailers.  When I returned at 3:30 there were 15.  I could barely back out of my parking spot without hitting somebody.

Sunday’s nice weather brought out the hordes in mass and both of the accidents shown in the photos happened on the stretch between Tucker and Bell Crossing.  The top one is reportedly a brand new Clacka on it’s maiden voyage.  It got hung up on the very first bend downstream from the put-in.  The lower photos were taken a bit further downstream but the end result was similar.

Luckily no one drowned, but if recent history is any indication it’s just a matter of time.

WadeSafe Demo Video – Click to View

In a therapy pool with a current generator we demonstrate how the WadeSafe System works.  Although the swimmer’s hands are out of sight, he’s holding on to the edge of the pool to illustrate how the water fills the waders when trying to stop.  In this demonstration, with relatively little current, the wading belt is worn as one would normally wear it – with snug but not uncomfortable tension.  What’s interesting to note is that while Simms provides a non-stretch belt with their waders, water still fills the bottoms quickly.  Again, this is the result of being put in the position of having to stop ones downstream progress.

It happens every year, but it doesn’t have to.  These are just a few of the drownings reported by the media that reinforce why  WadeSmart / WadeSafe waders are needed.

Two fishermen flipped their boat on the Big Hole, one was rescued, the other,  41 year old Christopher Baxer from Connecticut – supposedly a good swimmer – was last seen being swept down the river, floating on his back, feet downstream, doing the backstroke in his chest waders.  They didn’t find his body until the river flows dropped about a month later.
Here is a link to the newspaper article:
http://www.mtstandard.com/news/local/article_72a055d6-9fee-11e0-9b63-001cc4c03286.html

And here’s an excerpt from the Livingston Enterprise about Chester Marion:

Long-time Livingston Guide dies in rafting accident

The body of Chester Marion (73), long-time guide for Dan Bailey’s of Livingston MT was recovered Thursday night (July 30th) after a Boulder River rafting accident earlier that day, and the search continues Friday as a second person remained missing.
Chester was highly regarded in the guide community and well known for his tying ability as well. He is the creator of the Marion Sculpin used to catch big brown trout on the big western waters.
The wife of the second missing man made it safely to shore.

Sweet Grass County Sheriff Dan Thonrud said “Everybody was wearing chest waders and no flotation devices. The two males were last seen in river below the raft,” he added.
The raft hit a cottonwood tree that had fallen across a channel of the Boulder River and flipped, tossing the two men and the woman into the fast-moving water.
The woman, who is from Prince Frederick, MD., and her husband own a residence in Pray.

Then there’s this article from the Vancouver Sun posted August 8th:
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/drowned+missing+after+falling+Cheakamus+River/5220959/story.html

And there are these:

September 3, 2010: Robert Merrill, 49, a fishing guide from Victor, Idaho accidentally flipped his drift boat with two clients while on the South Fork of the Snake River.  Searchers looked for Mr. Merrill for three days.  His body was reportedly found approximately 10 miles downstream.

June 9, 2010: James Dewhurst, on a professionally guided fishing trip on Montana’s Rock Creek, drowned after getting tangled in a structure.  The raft that he and two others were in, ran into a downed tree.  The two men who survived reported last seeing Dewhurst in the “proper” position: on his back, feet pointed downstream – however he must not have sensed the pending danger as he was also holding his rod up with one hand.

May 6, 2009: A well known Montana fly shop owner died after the raft he and two companions were fishing from overturned on the main stem of the Bitterroot River. He was found downstream, caught in brush.

June 15, 2008: A local outfitter and fishing guide died after the raft he and his wife were in flipped over on Montana’s East Fork of the Bitterroot River.

It recently dawned on me that few fishermen who wear waders – and I’m referring to those who actively fish rivers and streams – are aware of what can happen when those waders that are supposed to keep the water out, let the water in.

You’re probably saying: “Well, I know what happens.  I’ve fallen in the creek before and flailed around until I got over to the bank.  Other than getting wet and cold, it wasn’t a big deal.”  And that’s what most people who’ve fallen in will tell you.  Which is my point.

I was recently talking to the Director of Fishing at a large manufacturer of quality waders.  I was describing the accident I’d been in that inspired my creation of the patent pending WadeSafe waders.  This guy lives and breathes waders and yet he was unaware of how quickly waders can pull a person under when they are forced to stop (as in getting hung up in a structure).  There’s a simple explanation as to why most people can’t describe an event like this.  It’s because most of those who’ve been in that situation didn’t survive.

Enlightened by that simple explanation, I became even more duty-bound to share with my fellow fishermen and women the risks and consequences one has to deal with.  And introduce them – you, if you’re reading this for the first time – to the solution: waders with the WadeSafe system.

So, since this is the beginning of a conversation, you have to participate.  And I’ll try to stay current.  I have videos and pictures to post, so stay tuned.  Until then, thanks for visiting.