Why you should be wearing waist High waders
While rooting through some old photos yesterday I cam across this one of me emptying my waders after a swim.
The reason I write this article is for awareness. Although not limited to older waders and people who aren't extremely comfortable in the water. There is no substitute for smart decisions about your fishing and wading.
In my opinion, if you are not regularly or comfortably wading to or past your crotch, you should be wearing waist highs.
I have a few reasons for this:
Firstly would be safety (which I will revisit later.)
Secondly, Comfort Waist highs are cooler in the warm weather and have less bulk and no annoying shoulder straps.
Thirdly: Economics. Waist highs are cheaper- less material, I'm assuming.
Fourthly: Easier on and offs. No one likes wadering up or down. These are like putting on pants.
Above all these positives (Going back to reason #1), they are much safer if you end up in the water. Waist highs with a tight belt keep the water out exponentially better than chest waders. When you go in with chest waders on, even with a tight wading belt, the upper part of the wader above the belt acts like a funnel channelling water into the bottom of your waders. I have come to this conclusion through the experience of going over both waist highs and chest highs. Often during attempts to get upright after falls with chest highs, you will stumble again. Each time you get up, you can scoop a new "Bellow" of water to funnel below the belt.
I realized this about ten years ago when fishing with some friends. I was out for a fun day during the run-off. We chose a spot and I ran my jet boat up into the grass (which is always fun that time of year), I threw the anchor out and went fishing. A while later, my friend Mike shrieked, "AARON, YOUR BOAT," and pointed frantically downstream.
My boat somehow came free and slowly tumbled downstream with the anchor out. This next part may sound stupid (and may have been), but I did a mental calculation in my head incorporating several factors Water speed, depth, bottom, what was coming up, water temp, my comfort in the water, etc. I was confident that I could get it back without incident. From experience, I knew the water in this area wasn't over my head, but it would be over my waders. Panic is what gets most people in situations like this, so I gathered myself and made my decision. I would need to swim a little way to get the boat. I started well above so I could float/swim into it. I waded out as quickly as I could and when the water was at my chest, I started swimming. A short time later, I got to the boat, pulled myself up inside, and fired up the engine. This little incident was more excitement than we had bargained for that day.
The reason for telling this self-deprecating story is what I learned once the smoke cleared. I knew I was cold and wet but expected the slog out to the boat to be a little more difficult than it was. Once reunited with my amigos, I emptied my waders and asked Mike to take a photo (above). Long story short, I thought there would be more water in my waders than there was. The only thing I could equate it to was the waist-highs. and tight belt
Nothing is better for keeping you dry than staying home. We aren't about to do that, so good decisions would take a close second. We all take calculated risks when fishing or crossing rivers and streams. Waist-high waders are one more precaution that can swing things in your favour if you end up in a bad situation.