** Here is a VIDEO version of the following article. (Part of the Troutbitten Riverside Series) **
The best fishing trips begin with a walk. With boot laces tied and wader straps buckled, our journey into the foggy morning canyon begins. A good walk streamside clears the mind, releasing our anxieties and the questions of a life left back at the truck. Walking a floodplain among sparse hemlocks and full ferns fills us with hope. It reaffirms our eager and innocent belief that today we will catch a legendary fish.
The walk is preparation. It is contemplation. It warms our blood and replaces every remaining chill with vigor. It loosens stiff limbs and stretches our legs. As each step lands on soft ground we are in touch with the earth below. We scan the forest and notice the details: mayfly wings in spiderwebs, watery swallows in flight and active streamside, a trio of rises at the tailout, and the dark shadow of a trout streaking away from the undercut bank as we pass above. These signs merge with intuition, until eventually, something urges us to leave the borders of the bank and wade into the river to begin anew.
We wade for the feel of it, for the sensory return when we’re an active part of the river itself. We push waves and move currents. Wading a river places us inside the system that we love so much — what we long for and dream about for so long. What we’ve anticipated, we are part of once again. Our boots touch the same rocks where trout reside. Our legs feel the swirl of currents that carry life to those trout — oxygen and food, all mixed and passing at varying speed. A timeless procession of resources in the flow, and we’re part of it all.
We wade for exhaustion and strength. These two states mix in our body. Because there is no satisfaction like having weary, river-worn legs while sitting in the easy chair back home after a long day, with visions of the river dancing in our short, vivid memory.
We wade for the challenge, for the endless surge of water against our body. It trickles over our boots in a skinny riffle, and it pushes against our hips as we cross pocket water. We challenge the river and cooperate with it all at once.
We wade for the risk. Because we know that a misstep may take our balance and wash us downstream. Whether the free ride is a few yards down current or around the next bend, we meet the possibility of a rightful soaking and feel alive for taking the chance.
We wade for opportunity. Because careful positioning among the flow places us within perfect range of endless targets — and because these targets are seen in greater detail at these angles. Because refining our presentation and approach with subtle nuance is a joyful complexity to this game, accomplished only at this level. Because a fishing life is dedicated to the details. And discovering them deeply is best learned with our boots on the ground.
Wet and waterlogged, exhausted and weary, we wade extra miles and return through dim twilight. This . . . is why we wade.
Fish hard, friends.
** Donate ** If you enjoy this article, please consider a donation. Your support is what keeps this Troutbitten project funded. Scroll below to find the Donate Button. And thank you.
Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
I wade because its the only way to hunt for heads and stalk down bank sippers; to find those subtle surface eats that drift boaters never even notice. I wade because it allows me to fish with patience and well into the dark instead of being compelled to get to the take out way too soon.
NICE
HELL YES
Also, this one’s a keeper, Mr. Swentosky.
Thank you
Cheers.
Well said! I feel the same. Wading allows for the slow stalking game.
Cheers.
I wade because some day I will not be able to, because of old age or infirmities yet to come. I wade because someday I will no longer be here, although I hope my spirit lives on. I wade because it washes away my sins. I wade because I can, I wade to live!
I like it.
That’s it! I know the end will come. It could be years, even decades, I hope, or it could be today.
I’m with you! Well said.
Cheers
I don’t like fishing from any kind of water craft because I feel constrained. For me, wading is freedom.
Nice.
Exactly
So well said. Thank you!
DOM: This is a namer.You have a gift with the written word. I rank it alongside “Patience and Persistence ” and “CALM and Chaos ” which I take to the river in my mind on every adventure. Thanks for reminding me and thanks for sharing.
Thanks, my friend.
I like wading to get totally engrossed in the river. The sounds, feel and sight soothes my soul.
Same here.
Incredibly well written. WOW!
Thanks, Harry.
Cheers.
Dom
In addition to the other great reasons for wading stated here, wading upstream against a decent current does WONDERS for my occasional lower back pain issues.
Really, Louie? That’s cool, but strange to me. After a day of scrambling over rocks and fighting current my back is more sore than doing yard work. Getting on my bike makes my back feel better, oddly enough.
Can’t beat ’em, join them.
One of your best. Really.
Thanks, Bill.
Dom
Beautifully written. Certainly gives one pause to comtemplate the physical and spiritual benefits from wading. I wonder how many have waded without a fishing rod in hand? That might be truly magical. Thank you for the journey.
Thank you, Ty.
So thanks to your idea, Dom,I got a wading staff. I used it for the first time yesterday and I love it (I used your links for the staff and gear keeper, btw). I got it to use in a particular bit of dangerous stream I have to cross to get to some prime water, but it helps everywhere, not just in the dangerous parts of the stream. It really reduces missteps and the resulting jolts and bumps your body takes as a result, even if you don’t fall.
Question: Do you leave the zip-tie and staff on your belt all the time, even when you take your waders off?
Hi.
Good question.
No. I simply unsnap it at the Gear Keeper link.
Make sense?
Dom
yes ! form thought and feeling. well written
Thank you.
I wade so I can attempt to be in better contact with our mystifying Mother Nature, in all her being. So I can feel her powerfulness, her softness, her loving kindness, her mystique. I wade because it makes me feel so darn good to be along side her, where it can be peaceful and quiet and I can find myself in another world without actually leaving this one.
Excellent writing Dom, and so inspiring. Thank you to infinity and back.
Thanks, Joel.
Domenick,
I wanted to thank you and your site/podcast contributors. I’ve been fishing my whole life but only seriously fly fishing for the past year. I’ve pieced together the advice from your work and in the span of a year I went from complete novice to…well, still a novice…but catching previously unbelievable numbers of fish. In particular, the idea of focusing on one piece of water until you know it inside and out, fishing year round in all conditions, and most recently some technical stuff like the drop shot rig.
I’m about two hours from Spring Creek. I love it there but gas prices pretty much take it out of the equation for me. So I’ve focused 95% of my time on a small brookie stream that’s 15 minutes from my house. I’m sure those fish are tired of me by now. I’ll tell them to lodge all complaints with you directly…
Ha. Nice.
Dom, you should write a book. Your words transport me to the river.
Thanks, Marc.