Over the last 50+ years I've owned a lot of waders and hip boots that dry rotted long before I figured they should have. I've had rubber and canvas with rubber boots. In all cases, the rubber boots just gave out after several seasons, no matter how I stored them.

I've also used neoprene waders way too many times in leech-infested, or other nasty-critter infested waters, in July and August. They are really really hot, and really meant for duck hunting in very cold weather.

Anyway, I've volunteered to do several hours of work in some cold (56 degree) and muddy water this weekend. Usually, this isn't a problem this time of year. But, we've got freezing temperatures and snow forecast again for tomorrow night. I just wasn't looking forward to doing this project in my "river boots" and fishing shorts.

So, I headed off to the local big-box sporting goods store this afternoon. As I was looking at the displays, I saw all the regular rubber, canvas, and neoprene waders and hip boots. I told the young lady, who came to help me, my tale of woe.

She took me over to some shelves that had things not displayed anywhere in the store. She pulled out a box of waders that she figured would fit me. She said she'd gotten sets of them for her son and father, and they loved them. Since I mentioned that I already had water boots for use with neoprene "socks", she had me try the bootless version.

I thought the box was empty. I doubt the box weighed much more than a pound. I removed the waders from the box and tried them on. They fit perfectly.

I'd never before heard of "breathable" waders.

I got home and tried them. These things are incredible. They are sewn, glued, reinforced, and I don't know what all. I chased a mouse out of one of my water boots, put the waders and boots on, and went for a walk into the pond. On dry land they are less cumbersome than my Carhartt coveralls with snow boots.

I think these things could outlast me. They look like they are made from multiple layers of military parachute material -- and they even came with a repair kit!

As I mentioned, I didn't even know these things existed. The cost was about the same as a reasonable pair of conventional waders.

Has anyone else been using these things? Are they as good as they appear on the first try?

Very interesting. I have no heard of them. Do you have a name for this type of waders?

I end up buying waders every year for trout fishing. Let us know the name of miracle wader you speak of.

I bought Caddis breathables.. Frogg Togg also makes what appear to be very similar waders. Cabelas has private label versions. BassPro and Gander Mountain have a mix.

I did a number of Internet searches. From what I can tell, most users love these things. But, I've also found reviews where everybody complains about how bad they are.

I guess I'll have a better idea after this coming weekend regarding how tough they are. At least there doesn't appear to be anything in them that will dry rot.

Anybody else with experience with these things? I'm hoping I didn't just by more useless waders.

Keep us updated. I'm using neoprene right now and they start getting miserable this time of year.

Let me know how they work. That day that I seined at Cecils, I was in my neoprene ones all day long. More than half the day I was out of the water, and the waders were wetter inside then outside due to me sweating in them. In cold water they are great. These are Hodgmans, and I've had them since about 2000 or so. I'd love to find a lightweight warm weather pair of waders.

That reminds me, I need to buy another pair of hip boots.

I would like to hear more about these as well. Plus I also need some for cold water as well so if someone has recommendations for those I would appreciate it as well.

Thanks

I'll have a much better idea of what these are like after this weekend. I'll be participating in a 25 mile cleanup of the South Branch Potomac. I'll be in and out of canoes a lot. I'll be in mud and brambles, picking nasties from the river and shoreline.

I have a pair of chest waders that chafe the skin off my lower legs if I don't keep my pant legs from riding up. I have to duck tape my lower pants against my legs to prevent that.

Anyone else have this problem?

I sure tested the new waders today. They were fantastic -- and maybe even a life saver.

Today we did 6-7 miles of river cleanup on the South Branch Potomac River, above Romney, WV. I put on the new waders before we launched two 16' Old Town canoes and a 17' john boat.

My canoe partner was a 14 year old neighbor boy who I've greatly respected since he was pretty small. I'm extremely thankful he was my canoe mate.

I think we found that 6-7 miles is way too much cleanup for two canoes and a wide john boat. Our canoe had several hundred pounds of trash when we decided we couldn't add anymore. Three tires, a 55 gallon blue barrel, a 5 gallon can, six filled industrial size trash bags full of bottles and other scrap, a number of 6-ft T-posts, several coolers, and much more.

We were stacked way too high. We were unstable, and from the back of the canoe I couldn't see anything in front of us. About a half mile before our takeout point, we hit some pretty turbulent white water at the confluence of three river sections. Our load shifted, and we went over. The current was incredible. We were able to stick with the canoe. The current pushed us near to a very steep shoreline, and into a big sunken tree. The canoe lodged on its side into the tree. My canoe partner was in chest deep water, I was in deep water. As we tried to free the canoe, I was pulled away by the current, and well down river in seconds.

My young partner was able to work his way to the extremely steep shoreline where he was able to get partially out of the water.

For about 30 minutes I was pummeled by rapids, sunken trees, and strong current until I was able to finally get to shore near the takeout point.

Anyway, the waders were great. They took a pretty serious beating through the rocks in the rapids and against sunken trees, with no noticeable damage. I'd been in the waders for about six hours before the incident. They were quite comfortable in the 70 degree air temp and about 60 degree water.

I'm just glad we both had a life vests on. I had to swim and fight the current pretty hard for about 30 minutes. I don't think I would have made it without the vest. I also think the waders helped keep me from hypothermia.

I had rope and a grappling hook in my truck. We were able to get my young friend to safety, and we successfully freed the canoe, but with a lot less trash than before.

Ken, that's scary. Glad you and your partner are ok.

Wow! Lucky waders. Luckily they didn't Fill water.

Ken - thankfully you survived. Many, years younger than you have died in those situations. Welcome back.

WOW! Glad to hear that both you and your neighbors boy are safe. There's still some things that you have to accomplish before it's your time to go.

The wader belt was cinched reasonably tight at my waist, and the wader top was tied tight. The waders still took in a fair amount of water. When I finally crawled onto shore, I was able to stand up, but I couldn't walk because my feet and lower legs were weighted down by the water in my waders. I unstrapped and let most of the water out. Then I was able to walk to my truck.



Randy. -- the good thing, at our advanced age, is that I'm in pretty good physical condition due to yoga and working our small farm. After I lost grip on the canoe, I had to swim extremely hard for 15-20 minutes to get out of the whirlpools before I was able to reach shore. The scariest part was leaving my young partner as I was swept downstream.

The other good thing is, through good training, all of us stayed very calm and confident through the whole episode. We all had the proper safety equipment. We knew what to do. Panic, and/or lack of training, would have probably been deadly. This really goes for a friend, my age, and the 15 year-old cousin of my canoe mate who was in his canoe. They got the scene stabilized in a very safe manner, moved on to safety and stability. Shortly thereafter we were all able to make a safe recovery.

Glad every thing turned out all right, and upright, Catmandoo. Good on ya'll for doing the clean-up.

I detest Litterbugs. If I were a cop, I would love to bust them. I would go out of my way to make each and every experience as memorable as possible for the offender.

Glad to here you're O.K. Ken.

Interestingly, much of what we get during a river cleanup is probably more than 60-70‰ accidental. Sometimes from overturned canoes. Sometimes from flooding due to major storms. Coolers, fence T-posts, 55 gallon drums, kid's play sets, chicken coops, tires, shoes, tents, awnings and "grass rugs" from RVs, fishing equipment, trailer parts, etc. These are probably not something people would intentionally throw in the river. Yes, we also get a large number of bottles, cans, etc.

Much of our same group also does road cleanup twice a year. We did our spring cleanup 2-3 weeks ago. That is near 100% intentional littering! Over our three mile stretch, we picked up many bags of beer bottles and cans. Same for soda bottles. But, I'm not sure how many major appliances, TVs, couches, chairs, etc., that we picked up. We find car batteries, and sometimes things like engines, transmissions, radiators, drive shafts, etc. We recently picked up a big pile of drywall pulled from somebody's remodeling project.

We've found a lot of interesting, and sometimes even gruesome pieces.

Cat that could have been a tragedy. Glad the waders worked but wow, what a day.

So what happens to the trash that you all pick up? Does the city/county provide dumpsters, or are y'all responsible for getting it to the landfill. Seems like they would be happy to provide you with all the help they could.

The county picks up the stuff we drag in when we do road cleanup. I believe that sponsors, plus money donations we all made, pay for a local trash service to pick it up the booty. One other team of six, plus our group of seven, made a pretty impressive pile of trash that would have filled my pickup truck two or three times. We were at one of about 6-7 drop off spots along about a 20-25 mile stretch of river.

Strong work. We finally got our county to bring out a dumpster once or twice a year for filling. Some of the locals just pack rat stuff up waiting for this, but at least it helps keep the trash off the road.

Over loaded a canoe in dangerous waters.

Like Sonny Corleone said "Shtoopid, just shtoopid".

Dammit Ken, you need a better keeper than a 14 year old.

Glad you're still with us.

WOW,I came to read up on waders and saw this.Catmandoo I'm happy you guys made it out safe and sound.You are absolutely correct about the training/knowledge aspect,I personally feel that this is almost as important as having the proper safety gear.In a incident like yours it can make all the difference between a scary story and a tragedy.

As for the trash pickup,I used to clean my pond and the state ground adjacent to it of the things people like to donate/dump twice a year.The neighboring campground used to send a helper or two also and our township transfer station used to let me dispose of it free.Well last year at the transfer station someone blew the whistle on the workers for them taking prohibited items and not charging me.To make a long story short,the township recently got a complaint about all the garbage(tires,couches etc)dumped in the nature preserve............The complaint was written by the same person who complained about me getting to get rid of trash for free,go figure.


Anyways,sorry for the off topic rant.I was just in the process of writing a letter when i took a break to read Pondboss and needed to vent.I'm happy your still with us Catmandoo and hopefully we all learn a little something and stay a little safer while doing the things we enjoy.

I have neoprene, and a few breathable waders. The best and cost effective one I have is the Froggs Togg HellBender, chest height. I'm 5'10', 180lbs, wearing the size Medium, and it fits loosely like a wonderful glove.

I normally wade in the cold water during winter for fly fishing, and float tubing throughout the years. It's a great wader to use year round, even in the 80°F heat. Anything higher, well, you may want to wear a wicking layer. A pair of wicking socks will be a blessing during the hot days. During cold days, it allows you to get in and out of the wader much faster. Unlike neoprene, the wader don't hug your skin like a plastic sheets. It's like wearing a wind breaker for your entire body.

catmandoo, I was really glad to read you two had on "safety equipment (life jackets I hope)". And you two didn't panic. Nice to know you guys know how to deal with panic and be calm.

Good luck fishing this year and stay safe.

I had canvas chest waders I left on my picnic table on the deck inside a screened in area, so they would be handy. I went to use them and mice had eaten holes in them. I should have known better as I had a set of sail ruined by mice in my garage. I just bought neoprene chest waders last month but now I wish I had waited and bought the breathable ones.

A small group of us went kayak/canoeing two days ago and I made sure the river wasn't dangerously flowing from previous rains. That can be a killer. Years ago near us, three guys in a pond were fishing in a canoe that tipped over. Two got to shore and one drown. I couldn't figure out how that could happen since he could have grabbed onto the canoe. I had a canoe at our lake cottage and decided to test out what must have been his predicament. I got out of the canoe and tried to get back in. I couldn't do it. It rolled like a barrel when I tried to get in from the sides. I tried to just hang on from the sides and couldn't because it just rolled. So I went to the end to hang on and even with the flotation it went down and I had to let go. After this experience I felt a canoe could be death trap if you couldn't swim well or in cold water where hypothermia would soon set in. The only thing I found for safely was having two people lock arms from each side of the canoe and hang on until rescued. I later talked to some canoe experts and they said you could get back into a canoe by yourself by coming up like a dolphin and kinda landing on top of it. I tried this and never could do it. Because of this experience I built my kayak with two side watertight compartments. So If I was by myself in fridged water I could partially fill the kayak with water to stabilize and lower it and swim over the edge to get in. Then paddle to shore before hypothermia put me out of business.

Below I am testing this theory out with my kayak partially filled with water.

Smart move for trying it in flat water, and thanks for the head's up.

Check this you-tube video out. I think these guys demonstrate different techniques pretty well. They make it look easier than it really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a5xTX-OBfQ[/url]

f-n-c.

I've gone through a fair amount of training, but that video puts it in good perspective.

My mistake last week was overloading the canoe with trash like tires, a 55 gallon drum, and trash bags stacked high on the tires and the drum -- and then not planning for the unexpected.

I should have known better, but wasn't expecting problems. I'd canoed this area a number of times before, but not in the last two years. Unfortunately, one or more of the big storms in the last two years changed the area quite a bit, building up two islands in the river, resulting in three very fast moving channels which came together into some very rough white water with a lot of big sunken trees.

Thankfully we all knew what to do and we had on the right equipment. But, my partner and I still both spent about 30 minutes in the water. I went down river at least a quarter mile before I could make my way to shore. Friends in the canoe behind ours got my partner out of the water. The canoe wasn't going anywhere.

About the time I got out of the water, the other friends from the canoe came into shore where I was at, which was near my truck. I had hooks, ropes, and straps that were used to get to my partner up the extremely steep embankment. They were also able to hook and free the canoe, which my friend recovered.

It certainly gives me good respect for life preservers. I almost always wear one, even in my pond when in the canoe or kayak. I'm certainly not going wader wading, kayaking, or canoeing without one ever again.

Newer breathable wader have a chest strap, which you can practically swim in them. For mine, with the class 3 PFD on, I can literally swim to shore from 500ft away, with less than 1/2 gal of water got into my chest wader to my groin area. The Simmon waders practically have a seal tight chest strap, and a waist strap, in which if you can spare a bit to get the small auto inflate PFD designed for boaters, you're practically air tight from chest to toes. I'm a strong swimmer, but I don't leave things up to chance when I'm in cold water during the winter, as my float decides to spring a leak in the middle of the night.

Leo,

I will agree that the new breathable waders are the best I've ever owned. But, even with the chest strap and waist strap quite tight, when subjected to buffeting from all directions in extremely strong currents for over 30 minutes, water still wicks in through your clothes -- although, nowhere near as much with other types of waders. My cell phone was in a sealed ZipLoc bag, in the water-tight pocket on the front of my waders, and it even took in enough water to kill it.

When we got the canoe back, my "watertight" Minnkota Kayak bag, which was tied to a rope at the stern of the canoe, was a quarter full of water.

In my 65 years I've never before been subjected to this kind of current, and I've been through some nasty stuff, including during my six years in the Navy. I too am a fairly strong swimmer, and I'm glad I'm in fairly good physical condition. It still took nearly everything I had to get out of the current and to shore. It took me about 4 days to get back to where I could reasonably work out, and even then, I am still hurting.

If I go down this river again, I'm going to add one of the inflatable preservers as a backup.

Ken

Fish n chips, thanks for the canoe rescue video. I tried solo rescue like that in the video but couldn't do it and I was in warm calm water. That canoe looks like it could be wider then the one I had. I have a DVD on upside down kayak Eskimo rescue wearing an apron to keep the water out that I used for my sea kayak. When out of the kayak and in the water we use a paddle float to reenter. That possibly could be done but I don’t know if a canoe paddle would be long enough. Just be safe.

Yeah John, like I said the video makes it look easy. My wife took a safety course where she learned how to do it. She was bruised up pretty bad from getting in. She says now, a bit older, she don't know if she could do it. When she took the safety course, she was younger and had many years of gymnastic training.!!! It's a lot easier when there is a second canoe and they can go to the opposite side to help hold the canoe more stable while the person re-enters.

We used to practice all these techniques in Boy Scouts. I never really had much problem getting back in being a bean pole. I would always get in then my canoe partner would swamp us again trying to get in. I found it easier to climb in from the ends. Now I'm curios if my out of shap butt can still do that. When the water warms up a little ill swamp canoe in pond and try out. Might have wife record this because things could get funny quik.

Jwwann if you do record the canoe reentry I would like to see it. With my aluminum canoe when I grabbed the end just to hold on, let alone to climb in the end it would go down under water and wouldn't hold me even to rest. What happened I think is as the end started to submerge the other end started to raise and increase even more the weight on the submerging end. I only weighed 160 at the time in the early 70's and was in good condition. So I have to think my canoe didn't have enough floatation in the ends. The other thing is if a canoe picks up any water when one falls out then as you try the over the side reentry the water sloshes to that side along with the weight of the person to make the canoe tend to roll even more. My hats off to anyone that can re-enter a canoe solo.
Below is how a paddle float works on a kayak. The paddle is held in place with buggy cords.