Current Breaks Ep. 1: Wading...you might be doing it wrong.

Something I'm going to try to do now and again to make this blog more interesting is break from the storytelling for a bit and share more informative content. We're going to call these entries "Current Breaks". As you can probably guess, this relates to rivers for obvious reasons, but this is a way for us to share some more tangible info on fishing, and related topics that will benefit our readers. Hope you guys enjoy!

When I first got into kayak fishing about 7 years ago, my first purchase was a Future Beach Trophy 126 SIK. For those who aren't familiar with this model, it was, and still is, a popular entry-level kayak sold at big box stores. While it's not made for long trips (like the 3-day 39 mile maiden voyage I foolishly attempted in it), It is very lightweight, and built suprsingly well for the price-point. After upgrading a couple times to bigger and better models, I went ahead and kept this kayak for various reasons, but it was rarely used.

Fast forward a couple years, and I found myself wet wading as much as I was kayaking. The reason for this being many of the rivers around this area are just too low to float during the summer. Wet wading is a really cool way to fish, and honestly is more efficient than doing a downstream float. It gives you a whole differrent perspective on the river and forces you to fish spots you might otherwise choose to ignore. The bad thing about fishing this way is that when you get done, you either have to walk back down river (which is a huge pain), or get off at the next bridge and walk along the road back to your car. This way also sucks, because you are usually soaking wet, which leads to chafing, and we all know chafing is a b$%#!.

I found a better way. The Wade up, Float back method.

It's exacly what it sounds like. Take your kayak, and attach a tow rope, wade upstream pulling your kayak behind you as you work up river. When you're done, hop in the kayak and float back to the car. While I realize I am not the inventor of this method, I rarely see it being utilized. I'm not sure if this is because waders don't kayak, and kayakers don't wade for the most part, but either way, it's worth trying. The benefits to this method as opposed to traditional wading are numerous:

The ability to float back instead of walk. I already touched on this, but seriously, it's awesome.
You can carry more gear. Most waders are relegated to 1 rod and a small tackle box. I carry the whole damn kitchen sink this way.
It will let you fish areas you normally wouldn't be able to fish. If you wade a lot we've all gotten cornered out in a deep pool. This enables you to hop in the kayak, fish the area, and keep on moving upstream.
It will extend your fishing time. Floating back (as opposed to walking on the road) gives you more time to fish on the way back to the car. In ideal situations, I save a faster lure/pattern for the way back. It lets me see what fish I missed on the way up.
You will burn a few calories (and it won't feel like a workout) It's not crossfit or anything, but you'd be surprised how many burgers a 5 hour wade will burn off.

If you fish shallower rivers that can be either floated or waded, I would highly encourage trying an upstream wade. It is a much more intimate experience with the river and also helps you be a more versatile fisherman. For those that are strictly waders, give the wade up float back method a try. You might just find yourself catching more fish and chafing a little less. ;)