Totaly Cornfused Paddle or wade fish?????

[Offlander]

Help me under stand why you get off your perfectly good Kayak and wade fish.

Thanks, Alan

[Todd]

Help me under stand why you get off your perfectly good Kayak and wade fish.

Thanks, Alan

Several reasons-

If there is any breeze at all you can wade slower than you would be blown by the wind.

Allows you to work an area a lot slower.

You can turn and cast in any direction.

Good reason to stand up and stretch your legs.

[Rik]

I do it because I don't like relieving myself through scupper holes.

[Erick]

Now if you are coRnfused....does that mean you have been drinking...which in turn would lead to why Rik wades.

I get out to wade to stretch the legs, committee meetings on oyster bars and depending on the location it makes it much easier to work an area.....especially after Todd has found the fish for me and I can just stand around catching at that point.

[overtheedge86]

I get out to work an area without splashing a paddle around. It also helps stretch after sitting for long periods.

[Blue Magic]

I second Rik......TOOOO PEEEEEEE

[bassboy]

All the above

[Mark R]

If your boat is too big to maneuver,say 16"....

[CooKnFish]

Help me under stand why you get off your perfectly good Kayak and wade fish.

Thanks, Alan

I used to tease JayB about his expensive wade caddy all the time.
Before I started fishing from kayak/canoe, I was wading a lot. The novelty of being able to fish without sinking in the mud or getting the boys wet on a chilly morning was the cat's meow. But I quickly realized that I could not get the same approach & presentation from the kayak as I could shuffling across the flat. When you're fishing the real skinny stuff, the kayak is merely a vessel to get from point A to point B.

When you're drifting in the kayak you do not have the control over speed as you would on foot. Albeit that sometimes you may want or need to go faster than you can wade, it's easy enough to jump back in the boat. But on foot you are less likely to spook fish before seeing them. The slower speed reduces the pressure wake given off by the boat as well.

Drift anchors and stakeout poles are great but they still do not replace a good pair of booties.

[shallow pockets]

All of the above!

[Offlander]

Thanks everyone that clears things up, or makes it all very transparent.

[The Below Average Angler]

Besides getting out to take care of bizz every so often, I don't get out of the boat. Don't really like wading.........

[FrankC]

Wading surely has its advantages, and we waded while flounder gigging in the past. Stingray encounters bother me, and some of the fellows got hit which resulted in my not wanting to continue the practice. Guess I fall into the catagory of being a sissy I have seen too many rays buried in the bottom to feel comfortable unless I can observe the bottom well.

It is probably a silly hang-up, as people wade and swim all the time with no problems. I have slogged through the marsh and woods in snake country for years with no problems and very little concern, so it is just a hang-up in my case.

[islander]

Sometimes it's cooler standing in the water...

[Rik]

Stingray encounters bother me, and some of the fellows got hit which resulted in my not wanting to continue the practice.

I waded for years and rarely gave it much concern. Then I got hit. The single most important thing you learn once you get hit is that you never want to have it happen again.

I do still wade but am much more careful. If I see stingrays I usually stop wading.

And while I'm on the topic, if you do get hit get to a doctor as soon as possible. It's not an ambulance kind of thing but stop fishing and go get it taken care of. I didn't. I toughed it out, fished through the semi hallucinogenic state and pain from the poisons on the barb, lost a pint of blood and dealt with it when we got back in at the end of the day. It was the one day my brother from Denver had to fish when he and his family visited and I didn't want to cut it short.

Luckily the stinger didn't stay stuck in my leg but a dozen of the little barbs did. I dug them out painfully with tweezers. It got infected and took about 9 months to fully heal.

But, yes, I do still wade because that's what manly men do........

[FrankC]

Rik, sorry to hear that you were one of the unlucky ones. I have heard some pretty bad first person stories over the years, and they do give me pause. One of the guys at work got hit in the hand, and his story of healing was not too good. He could have used the use of that hand for the many months it was useless.

I will run a boat before daybreak up a snag filled river and give it no thought, walk in swamps before daybreak and just take normal precautions regarding snakes, but darned if wading doesn't give me the heeby-geebys.

Guess I am too old to try to prove my manhood by taking a chance needlessly, but I admit my concern is probably not warrented. Ok, ok, so I have some foolish hang ups