Getting Started in Flyfishing
Wade Safely: Top Wading Tips
By GORP Expert Angler Mark D. Williams

Use a staff for safer wading

Use a wading staff. I recommend a solid staff instead of the collapsible kind.
Wear proper footwear—felt soles in rivers, cleats in rocky streams, wading boots in the surf. And you need to make sure that your footwear has good ankle support to avoid sprains.
Wear waders. Being soaking wet is one of the worst feelings. Don't buy into the myth that if you wear waders and you fall in you will turn upside down when your waders fill up. Water weighs the same as the water around you. It's not heavier. But it helps to wear a wading belt with your waders to keep your waders from billowing out like a parachute—the currents will carry you and move you in ways you don't want to move. So wear a belt.
Keep one foot on the ground when you wade. In tempestuous water, I like to move one foot forward, then the other; come to a stop; plant both feet; reevaluate in which direction I am moving; then move again.
Don't make rapid or aggressive moves when wading.
Read the water as if you're gauging where the fish are. Using your polarized glasses, project a course to wade where it maximizes your ease and safety while also putting you in position to make the casts you want to make. Find a safe route.
Shuffle your feet. Sounds simple enough, but it keeps you from making rapid or aggressive moves and ending up in the drink. In the surf, it alerts stingrays and other naughty creatures. If you move slowly, it also doesn't spook the fish.
On big water, both lakes and streams, wear a floatation device. I know it sounds cumbersome but manufacturers make u-shaped floats that lay flat and unnoticed until you pull a string and voila! Instant float. When you wade in the surf, you ought to wear a lifejacket or inflatable device in case you step off where you didn't mean to step off.

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