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[Fish or cut bait.]

What do you wear Noah?

[Wiseguy]

Very tragic and sad news. My condolence to the young anglers family. Always wear a belt and keep it sinched up tight. Always wear a PFD. If you fall in, try to keep yourself floating downstream with the current feet first so u can push/deflect yourself off the rocks if need be. The river is very high and fast. Play safe.

[chronicfisher]

Technically yes but, that said, water filled waders would be neutrally buoyant and neither float or sink.  They are, however filled with several gallons of water that puts you at the mercy of the currents.  It's massively difficult to move wearing water filled waders while in the water or on shore. 

Always wear your wading belt, and make sure it's snug!!

X2

Yep doesn't take much water at all in the waders to make moving difficult.  Fished the pink run 4 years ago at furry creek,witnessed a fisherman who walking backwards to bring fish close to shore. The guy fell on his back in about a foot of water no more then foot and a half with a small tide coming in. It was difficult enough for the guy to get up that the 2 fisherman next to him stopped and helped it out. Guy had a belt on but it wasn't snug I believe..the amount of water in his waders from such a short period suggested so.

[Noahs Arc]

What do you wear Noah?

I always have a belt on over my waders weather I'm bait fishing or fly fishing. If I'm fishing on a river the belt is always on and cinched up. sure I could wear a PFD while fishing but I've made a choice not to. I always wade within my limits. That said, accidents definetly happen like they did in this case.

[SilverChaser]

Absolutely horrible. Condolences to the family. Make sure you are safe when out there.

[skitterbug]

Would a PFD keep you above water if your waders fill? Has this ever been tested? A 200 pound person only weighs about 10 pounds in water and most PFDs have about 22 pounds of buoyancy so I wonder how much extra force/weight filled waders would add.

I'll chime in on this topic, I'm one of the instructors for Kumsheen's River Navigation Course for Angler's. During one of the courses I went into the pool with my waders and wading belt, I could feel a small trickle of water entering when swimming. Next I removed the belt, initially with the water pressure my waders were compressed to my body, water slowly trickled in, once the seal broke my waders instantly filled. It was impossible to swim using my legs, the water encompassing my legs acted like a cast. It took all my effort to walk up a set of stairs. When I weighed myself I had 70 pounds of water in my waders!!! As others have stated, water is neutral in water.

So to answer you question, yes a Foam PFD will keep you above water, and will assist in reducing water penetration with the addition of a wading belt. An inflatable PFD will not assist in reducing water penetration into your waders. With no PFD or wading belt, once your waders fill with water it'll would be extremely difficult to swim to shore due to the inability to kick with your legs, and if a current catches excessive material around the chest area (parachute effect) you will be pulled under.

Inflatable PFD's are NOT designed for whitewater! Yes they are "better than nothing", but inflatable PFD have up to a 20% failure rate(not inflating), that's why they're equipped with a manual tube to self-inflate, which is not an option when floating down rapids or strong currents. They also lack enough straps to adequately secure to your torso, and have a tendency to ride up into your face or over you head, and with all of the flotation in the front it is very difficult to use the aggressive swimming position.

If the river is very shallow and there's tons of boulders then use the defensive swimming position(floating on back facing downstream with toes out of the water) The objective is to get out of the river as quick as possible, with winter fishing you will succumb to hypothermia very quickly and you will lose dexterity, strength and judgement within minutes. Use the aggressive swimming position, which is the front crawl with your head out of the water. Face upstream and aggressively swim towards shore with a roughly a 45 degree angle, look downstream when swimming to manoeuvre around rocks and logs. If you come to rocky section, simple roll over onto your back into the defensive position, once through that section roll onto your stomach and get aggressive. To avoid foot entrapment, never attempt to stand up in knee deep water with strong currents, if you get your foot stuck between rocks the current can topple you over and submerge your head.....this is a grave situation! Crawl up onto shore or if you're in a Eddy then you can stand up and walk to shore.

I do not know the details of this tragedy, and my comments are strictly educational and in response to the comments made on this thread.

My sincere condolences to family and friends.

[Shinny]

I was drifting the chehalis canyon with a friend, each of us had a raft. Later on in the day at a fast moving rapid part I had an oar pop out of the holder and I panicked and couldn't get it back in the holder. I started to turn sideways and got pushed right up against a huge bolder in the middle of the river. The water was raging against the side of my pontoon raft and I was stuck for a few seconds and then the entire raft just flipped. I went right under, backpack on me...fishing rod in a holder.  As I went under I pushed off the raft underwater and was lucky enough to go around the rock on the side closest to shore and pull myself out of the water. The raft came ripping behind me and I was able to snag that with a free hand and pull it out. Rod broken, one oar half broken, i lost a contact lense and could only see out of one eye, scared, I was pretty hooped.

I was on and off the raft all day fishing runs and as fate would have it I had taken off my lifejacket the run before and in my haste to get going I forgot to put it back on and during all that ordeal it was resting over the back of the pontoon, how ridiculously stupid was I that day...still regret that.

I was wearing waders, belt done up tight, an Arcteryx gore-Tex jacket with the powder skirt super tight and the jacket zipped up all the way, sinch cords all tight, cuffs tight and I filled my boots up with water and that was it, clothes were soaked but I didn't fill up, I was incredibly lucky.

This happened mid January and cold out. I had to pull off the waders quickly, dump out the water, swap out my soaked shirt too a less soaked on in my bag and put everything back on and started moving to get some body heat. I wasn't in a spot of the canyon that I could just call it a day and walk back to the truck, the nightmare was just getting started. I must have sat in the same area scared for an hour, made an eyepatch, fixed the broken oar and grew some balls to get back on the pontoon and continue downriver until I could get to a spot to haul everything up and out of the canyon. Walked a bunch of kms back to my truck, couldn't get in because the keys were wet...got that sorted, drove back up and got my pontoon and drove home basically naked with a blanket with one eye. Was the shits. I haven't drifted it since last year and wear a PFD now, I should be dead my friend figures after seeing it all happen from behind...


My Condolences to the family...tragic loss

[clarkii]

Vancouver police marine squad has waterproof jackets with PFD built in. It's totally doable. If they have them I'm sure there's others using same application.

As in Inflatable tech?

[mikeyman]

Condolences. This is tragic. I have fished the same section for years. It has changed alot. The bank is full of loose bolders and quite steap now thru there. Be careful out there everyone.

[Noahs Arc]

As in Inflatable tech?

I will ask my friend what brand they are and get back to you.I just remember him throwing me a jacket when I went for a ride along, and asked about it.

[Every Day]

I was saddened to hear of this news, and it's really gotten me thinking about how lucky I've been this year. Accidents happen, and they happen extremely fast.

I would consider myself an experienced angler, and an extremely efficient/experienced wader. I would also consider myself a very strong swimmer, with a past of water sports, competitive swimming and lifeguarding. Despite all these things, and despite going nearly 6 years without any problems, I've had 2 very dicey accidents this year - neither involved wading.

The first was late November. Myself and 2 buddies on a raft. We got pushed down a chute into a massive standing wave on a rock. The boat caught the top of the rock, and the current bucked the boat off the side. The boat rolled, and threw me and a buddy 15-20 feet right out into the class 4 white water. Despite being well prepared, we both took a long swim, bounced off boulders, and got washing machined a few times before finally getting out. Luckily I eventually got to the raft swimming aggressively downstream for it. My other buddy eventually hit a run around 150 yards downriver, and was able to stand up in the slower water near the side. He got way ahead of the raft despite my second buddy who managed to stay in the raft rowing aggressively after him. Had he not been able to stand up, it could have ended quite badly.

The second was just a week ago. Kitty and I were walking a large rock wall, on a very narrow ledge. As we got around halfway across, I became uneasy (it was much more slippery than I had expected), and told her we shouldn't do it. I took another step forward to get my footing and turn around, and my fears happened before I knew what was going on. My only thought going down was to not hit my head - so I protected it. I fell around 6-8 feet before landing on my hip, and then another 5 feet into a 10 foot deep pocket in a nasty set of white water. I had to swim hard to get out of the rotating pocket that was pushing me back into the top end of the white water. Had I hit my head, that would have probably been it for me, with Kitty watching from a helpless standpoint above. Despite my extremely strong swimming skills, and a very tight wading belt, swimming in that situation was extremely difficult. I finally got to a place where I could get my feet down, and worked my way out of the water, eventually crawling to dump out the water that had gone down my waders.

This drowning happened on a river that I wouldn't consider to be dangerous compared to the places I commonly find myself in. Both of my accidents were in water very comparable, or even worse than the tamihi rapids. This is a grave reminder to myself that I was extremely lucky, and that things can take a turn for the worst anywhere, even on a river like the Vedder which I'm extremely complacent on.

Play safe out there guys! Time for me to go get myself a couple throw ropes...

[SilverChaser]

Time for me to go get myself a couple throw ropes...

I went paddle boarding two years ago and the instructor had throw ropes that were quite convenient. 70 feet rope length, less than a pound, quite compact, easy reload, and could nicely clip onto the instructor's PFD. They were probably quite high-end, a throw rope on the river is a good idea.

[wizard]

Tragic and saddened to hear about this. Most sincere, heart felt condolences to the victim's family and friends... 

[swimmingwiththefishes]

These stories are making me consider going old school for a pair of neoprenes...a tragic accident and sincere condolences to the family.

[Wiseguy]

I was saddened to hear of this news, and it's really gotten me thinking about how lucky I've been this year. Accidents happen, and they happen extremely fast.

I would consider myself an experienced angler, and an extremely efficient/experienced wader. I would also consider myself a very strong swimmer, with a past of water sports, competitive swimming and lifeguarding. Despite all these things, and despite going nearly 6 years without any problems, I've had 2 very dicey accidents this year - neither involved wading.

The first was late November. Myself and 2 buddies on a raft. We got pushed down a chute into a massive standing wave on a rock. The boat caught the top of the rock, and the current bucked the boat off the side. The boat rolled, and threw me and a buddy 15-20 feet right out into the class 4 white water. Despite being well prepared, we both took a long swim, bounced off boulders, and got washing machined a few times before finally getting out. Luckily I eventually got to the raft swimming aggressively downstream for it. My other buddy eventually hit a run around 150 yards downriver, and was able to stand up in the slower water near the side. He got way ahead of the raft despite my second buddy who managed to stay in the raft rowing aggressively after him. Had he not been able to stand up, it could have ended quite badly.

The second was just a week ago. Kitty and I were walking a large rock wall, on a very narrow ledge. As we got around halfway across, I became uneasy (it was much more slippery than I had expected), and told her we shouldn't do it. I took another step forward to get my footing and turn around, and my fears happened before I knew what was going on. My only thought going down was to not hit my head - so I protected it. I fell around 6-8 feet before landing on my hip, and then another 5 feet into a 10 foot deep pocket in a nasty set of white water. I had to swim hard to get out of the rotating pocket that was pushing me back into the top end of the white water. Had I hit my head, that would have probably been it for me, with Kitty watching from a helpless standpoint above. Despite my extremely strong swimming skills, and a very tight wading belt, swimming in that situation was extremely difficult. I finally got to a place where I could get my feet down, and worked my way out of the water, eventually crawling to dump out the water that had gone down my waders.

This drowning happened on a river that I wouldn't consider to be dangerous compared to the places I commonly find myself in. Both of my accidents were in water very comparable, or even worse than the tamihi rapids. This is a grave reminder to myself that I was extremely lucky, and that things can take a turn for the worst anywhere, even on a river like the Vedder which I'm extremely complacent on.

Play safe out there guys! Time for me to go get myself a couple throw ropes...

Wow dude! Where the heck are you fishing man? Sounds crazy.