Safety Tip – Wading Staff

I do a fair amount of walking through and across creeks and streams every year. And, I can recall a few times when I was young and crazy that I ended up going for a swim. Luckily, I’m still here to tell you about it.

These days I always use a wading staff when I’m in the water, especially if it’s a cold, fast moving stream like we find during steelhead season. Sure, you can buy a fancy wading staff at your local fly fishing shop, but they’re kinda pricy in my opinion. You can get the same results by cutting a solid branch right there at the river. Or, if you’re a frost-bitten Canadian like me, you never have to go very far to find an old hockey stick that’s seen its use. Cut the blade off and add a small rope handle to one end that you can hook onto your vest. Pretty hard to beat the strength of a hockey stick. Cheap too, eh?