Where NOT to step, and why waders are optional for you
Okay. We already did the big cold-water talk last time, so this one is more specific. This is about your feet. Where to put them and where absolutely not to put them, and then a little bit about why I'm not going to pressure you into buying waders.
Where not to step
Here's the thing about river bottoms in Utah County. They look solid from the bank and then you get in and it's a different story. A few specific spots to avoid.
Slick, rounded rocks with a greenish coating. That's algae, and on the Provo especially it turns a rock into a bar of soap. Flat mossy rocks are worse than round rough ones. If a rock looks like it belongs in a Japanese garden, don't put your weight on it.
Drop-offs you can't see because the water's moving. Moving water hides depth from you. A spot that looks knee-deep can be a hole that's over your head two feet further in. This is exactly what happened to my neighbor Bradley, and I'll get to that in a second.
Fast seams right next to slow water. Those current lines where fast water rubs up against slow water are great for fish. They are not great for your balance, because your feet want to go one speed and the water wants to push you a different speed.
Undercut banks. If the bank looks like it's been carved out underneath, stay off the edge. It can give way. I've seen it.
The Bradley story
So Bradley, my neighbor, borrowed a pair of my waders one summer because he wanted to try this with me. Nice guy, no fishing experience, plenty of confidence, which is a dangerous combination in cold water. He stepped off what he thought was a gradual slope into the river and it was not a gradual slope. It was a hole. He went in to the chest. Instantly. The water up here stays cold longer than people expect, even in July, because a lot of it's snowmelt still working its way down from higher elevation, and it just about knocked the wind out of him.
He was fine. Wet, humbled, laughing about it twenty minutes later once he warmed up. But that's exactly why I spend real time on this now, more than I used to. Waders make you feel capable of going anywhere, and the river doesn't care how capable you feel.
Why waders are optional for you
Here's my actual opinion, and it's a little contrarian for a fly fishing class: I'd rather you fish from the bank in old tennis shoes than buy waders you can't quite afford and then feel invincible in water you don't understand yet.
Waders are a tool, not a costume. They let you wade out and cover more water, that's the whole point of them. But they also insulate you just enough that you stop respecting how cold and how strong the current actually is, and that's when people get into trouble, Bradley being exhibit A.
For this class, you do not need waders. You need:
- Shoes with real grip, already wet or ones you don't mind getting wet. Old running shoes are fine.
- The willingness to stay on the bank, or wade in ankle-to-shin deep at most, until you've got a season or two under you.
- A walking stick or your rod tip used as a third point of contact when you're testing footing. Tap before you step, don't just step.
I caught my very first fish, well, I didn't catch anything my very first time out, I want to be honest about that. Three hours, nothing. I drove home grinning like an idiot and Tricia asked how it went and I said "I didn't catch anything and I want to go back tomorrow," and she just looked at me like I'd lost something upstairs. I never once got past ankle deep that day. Didn't need to. I was just standing in moving water paying attention, and that counts as a good day. You can have a great first season without ever owning a pair of waders.
A plain safety note
If you do wade, even shin deep: face upstream or angle across, never stand sideways to strong current with your feet parallel to the flow, that's how you get swept. Move one foot at a time and keep the other planted. And if the water's above your knees and pushing hard, that's your answer, you're too deep, come back.
Before next time
Dig out a pair of old shoes you don't mind getting wet and bring them, we'll be right at the river's edge and I want everybody's feet ready to go.