Waders and Water

[eSJay]

Don't yall know those Carrollton boys like to live on the edge? Once you cross the bridge over the big sand into "North Carrollton", thoe boys are flat out sissies

[LODI QUACKER]

Neo waders do offer a little help. Old school waders do not, but they DO NOT SUCK TO YOU AND MAKE YOU SINK LIKE A ROCK!!!!!!!! I know this for a fact cause I have sunk a boat with waders on before. Mine filled with water, guess what. The water in your waders does not weigh any more than the water outside your waders. Once they fill up with water they are real easy to slide off. I swam right out of mine after uncliping the belt and removing the shoulder straps. This happened about 15 years ago in boliver co, It was ONE COLD MOTHER that day.

I am still looking for the SOB that stole my 3 doz g&h decoys from the side of Hyw 1 while we were trying to scrounge the rest of our gear.

[jacksbuddy]

Ok. I've been there and done that, and it ain't fun. Neoprene waders are NOT a PFD. If you fall in - regardless of the water depth - GET OUT! Cold is your enemy, and wet is his friend. Together, they can kill you.

Now that I have your attention, I want to reiterate what has already been said on here because it is simply the absolute truth.

1 - DO NOT PANIC. Use your head while in your situation, and you can come out of it relatively unharmed.
2 - In a boat? Wear your PFD. Think safety, and you may not get into this situation in the first place. (Prevention beats the h3ll out of Experience)
3 - Friends and Family. Let them know where you are going and when you will return. This is 'just in case' something does happen, then you will know that someone is waiting for you. (When I fell in, I was fully prepared to walk the 2 miles back to the house. Thank God Almighty that someone came down that road to check on me because I was running late.)
4 - Did I mention 'prevention'? What about 'don't panic'? Just checking.

[JCA]

I just want to confirm that cold water is a mother when you are trying to swim in it. When we were kids and hunting the river one day we had several ducks that fell to far out to wade to and we didn't have a boat or a dog with us to go get them. The ducks had washed up on a sandbar and I skinned off and swam about 70 to 80 yards to go get them. The swim out wasn't that bad but on the way back in my muscles just quit working. My arms wouldn't work right and I couldn't kick well enough to keep going. Long story short I started sinking down and when my feet hit the bottom luckily the water was only about chin deep on me. I had to shuffle my feet to get the rest of the way out of the river. Had it been just a little bit deeper or further I would have been in a world of hurt. Cold water ain't no joke.

[happyhollowchopper]

turned a canoe over one time when wearing waders and a pool wont be anything like 15 degree water and current But you can swim wiyh them it is just hell to do it

[Trip]

YOU WILL DEFINITELY NOT SINK.

I was involved in a boat turning over a few years back in single digit temps in water around 12' deep with my waders on. We spent a little more than 5 minutes in the water using paddles to splash enough water out of the boat so it would float high enough for us to get back in. It took us about 15 minutes to paddle back to shore and another 10-15 minutes to drive the mule back to the cabin. I will tell you that my waxed canvas coat sheds water like there's no tomorrow. My daughter was only a couple of weeks old at the time and when I hit the water I thought I'd never see her again. Both of our first reactions were to try and get back in the boat and yell for help, but there was no sense in yelling b/c we were on the island by ourselves. We got REALLY lucky that day.