Do you stay on the bank...

[OkobojiEagle]

How many of you wade with or without waders when you shore fish?  If not, what prevents you from venturing in the drink?


oe

[Lipripper]

When I was younger I use to do it without thinking twice about it but now I think that not knowing what the bottom was like or if it dropped off would keep me on the bank.

[West6550]

I do from time to time if I can see a sandy easy bottom. I will test it a little, but I mainly just go out far enough to be past the line of grass near the bank.

If it is an open bank I can walk around them I don't or if it is really muck looking. I don't want to have to clean the truck out after a quick bank trip.

[OkobojiEagle]

I like to get out far enough to throw a bait nearly horizontal to the bank.  I also find it productive to wade off the side of a point and cast at an angle across the point. 

Before I got older and lazier (I can't remember which came first), I would drag a float tube, flippers & PFD along with me when shore fishing.  I haven't done that for several years... maybe next year.

oe

[SFL BassHunter]

Gators, and snakes. 

[Smallie_Stalker]

I do it as often as possible. Always with waders on though. I do a fair amount of catching when paralleling the shoreline with my casts. I do recommend anyone just trying it out to have some sort of a wading staff or long sturdy stick/tree limb. Lets you feel ahead so you know where to step or not to step. Don't ask me how I know. 

[Lipripper]

I do it as often as possible. Always with waders on though. I do a fair amount of catching when paralleling the shoreline with my casts. I do recommend anyone just trying it out to have some sort of a wading staff or long sturdy stick/tree limb. Lets you feel ahead so you know where to step or not to step. Don't ask me how I know. 

If you are wearing waders in swift water this is a must cause if you fall or slip it could be the last time you do.

[big g]

Years ago while fishing the Monkey Box on Lake Okeechobee  I saw two guys walking in 4 feet of water with the boat behind them.  We motored over to see if they needed help.  They said they were escaping the summer heat, and had the boat tied around the one guy's waist .  They were fishing while walking the hard sand bottom.  They were casting around some thick reeds in the area, miles from shore line.  I would not do that, regardless of how hot it was.  Loads of big gators all over Florida including the Big O.  Two genuine country boys, doing their thing!!!!   That was the most unbelievable wading I have ever seen.

[West6550]

G that reminds me of a park when I was kid I fished. If you walked in the lake by a creek you could walk the sand bar.. maybe a foot deep but you could walk 30 ft off shore and there was a steep drop beside it that fish schooled over. It was a clear lake.. for FL lol

[SFL BassHunter]

I don't even like going in the water at the beach.

Sharks and stuff...

But there is a park near me that has a lake. It is shallow for a bit then there is a drop off. Sand and rock beach type deal. No swimming signs everywhere but if you go on the weekends you'll see kids playing in the water. I can cast far enough to get past that drop off, and have never even considered getting in the water.

[Pferox]

I never waded fresh water, except for work or an emergency in Fl, or here in Texas.

I would wade in salty water until I started hearing about these incurable diseases you can get from the water.  I think I'll stay on dry land, thank you very much.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I don't wade fish due to where I fish, and what big creatures  live in our  waters, but I do have a location depending on the time of year I wade up to my knees to access deeper water and and get past long flats.

[FlatsNBay]

When I was a kid in S FL we used to wade all the time around residential lakes. Most people didn't bother us back then unless you were standing on their pretty green lawn. Nowadays I don't wade very much unless I go duck hunting. It's pretty crazy thinking  about some of the Gator filled swamps that I've walked through in the dark just to kill a duck!

[bigjim5589]

When I lived in MD I waded many of the gravel/sand/rock bottom streams or rivers, but the tidal rivers I fished most had mud bottoms, so didn't wade much in them. Wading can be a highly productive way to fish since it can allow you to get to places you may not be able to fish straight from the bank.

Since moving here to SC, I doubt I'll be wading much unless I go up north to some of the streams or in the colder months here at the lake. I've seen pics of some of the Gators here, and not inclined to want to get in the water because of it!