Wading safety and tactics video

[Ralph]

Dave Whitlock, Jim Lavalley, and I made this video in collaboration with Simms and the Outdoor Channel some time ago. Nice to see it has made it on-line.

http://www.speypages.com/speyclave/s...ad.php?t=47005

[k9mark]

Hey Ralph, you still look that young?

[Ralph]

Hey Ralph, you still look that young?

Oh hell ya!

[royewest]

Thanks for posting this. I got the tape in the past year from Simms but don't have an easy way to view it -- good lessons.

[Cmcculloch]

These wading safety videos are a great safety resource for all fly fishers (IMHO). Can they be made into a "sticky note" or something similar for all Kiene Forum readers to view and made easy to access?

[aaron]

Stickied at the Top. Thanks Craig.

[Phil Synhorst]

Thanks Ralph, there's a lot of good info in those clips. I mostly wet wade, but the ideas are interchangeable, I assume. The basics are the same as what I've been taught by a wise old Sage(), so hopefully the tricks for the more hazardous stuff is too.

There was a brief segment on foot entrapment, but the video ended without a solution. Is there one or more(given the situation) ways to get out of that? It's one of my biggest fears when wading, and foolishly I have never asked until now. I always have a good, somewhat small knife handy, and figured if possible I would cut my boot laces, and try to get out. But with currents, etc. that's not always possible.

Thanks, Phil

[JasonB]

There was a brief segment on foot entrapment, but the video ended without a solution. Is there one or more(given the situation) ways to get out of that? It's one of my biggest fears when wading, and foolishly I have never asked until now. I always have a good, somewhat small knife handy, and figured if possible I would cut my boot laces, and try to get out. But with currents, etc. that's not always possible.

Thanks, Phil

Foot entrapment is a REAL danger, and an extremely difficult situation to deal with after one has occurred. I teach some swiftwater rescue classes, and foot entrapments are quite possibly the scariest potential issue to have to deal with in a rescue scenario. What we do as anglers while wading around in the streams pretty much breaks some of the cardinal rules of whitewater safety that address foot entrapment avoidance.

Two different issues for us: a heads up situation, and a heads down (underwater). In the later case, there is very little chance that the person entrapped can do anything other than hopefully be able to push their head above water or at a steep enough angle to the current to create a bit of an air pocket. I do have one friend who was able to free herself from a head down foot entrapment (with considerable force and breaking her own ankle in the process), but typically even a small amount of current can make this physically impossible. The typical rescue attempt involves two key steps: stabilize/support the victim in such a way they can breath, and then working a rope under the ankle on the downstream side and using it to pull the foot upstream at the same angle it got wedged in at (in a nutshell, obviously this is a complex process that must happen quickly, smoothly, and safely).

I think the more common issue for most anglers is a heads up situation, sometimes a big issue, sometimes not. The biggest thing I would advise in this situation is to be extremely careful to keep it a heads up situation! In other words, keeping your balance and working slowly and carefully to remove your boot from the nook that it got wedged in. A lot of struggling to free yourself of the boot, while trying to hold onto your nice flyrod (or not loose that lunker that you are trying to play) could end up making the situation a lot worse. A slip here would likely mean that your body would be pushed downstream of the trapped foot, and then you have a heads down situation. Not saying that cutting your bootlaces is a bad idea, just to proceed very carefully with whatever movements you do so as to not loose your balance.

I will say that my background in whitewater and swiftwater rescue has made me a very cautious and timid wader, I just wont take the kinds of risks that some will in search of fish.
be safe,
JB

[Phil Synhorst]

Thanks Jason.

[Ralph]

There was a brief segment on foot entrapment, but the video ended without a solution. Is there one or more(given the situation) ways to get out of that?
Thanks, Phil

Sorry that I didn't notice your question until now. If one foot is stuck, try to position your free foot upstream of it to break the current. If both feet are stuck, hopefully you'll have someone nearby who can wade in behind you and break the current. You are probably better off sliding a knife inside the boot along the ankle that trying to cut the laces. Paramedic shears are awesome for this (I keep a pair in my boat bag).