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OT - Wading staffs

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2 Bead Pupa		#21	[url]	[-]
Posts: 263 12/08/2008 16:22	I use a modified hockey stick . I just cut off the buisiness end and drill a hole for the cord in the other . My main reason for not using a ski pole is that I feel that the metel end can be kind of noisy clicking on the rocks .
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Mainiac		#22	[url]	[-]
Posts: 641 12/09/2008 09:23	I used to be the idiot who would cross the river when no one else would dare and thought wading staffs were cumbersome and silly. I used to laugh at my senior friends and call their wading staffs "canes". Well, last Summer I tore the ACL and cartilage in my knee. I refused to have it repaired during fishing season and I also had a Fall trip to Montana scheduled. I would need to be dead in order to miss the Montana trip. I slapped on a knee brace and bought a wading staff (mostly to use as a cane) and it saved the season for me. I guess age really does bring humility. The staff I used was a Folstaf. Though I am sure a nice cane or wood staff would be super sharp, I can't see how I would be able to deal with it not being collapsible. Maybe the invention of a collapsible cane staff is in order? Last Edited By: Mainiac 12/09/2008 18:51. Edited 1 time.
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SnooKen		#23	[url]	[-]
Posts: 772 12/09/2008 20:04	I've a wonderful left knee. Works just fine and feels great and then I get into a little bit of fast water and "pop", out it goes. The good thing is it doesn't collapse. The bad things are it will lock with a slight bend and not extend to full straightness nor support more than 30% of its' usual capacity and to get it back in function I have to bend that knee until my heel touches my butt then rotate my foot with a free hand. I can always count on that maneuver to get some laughs from my fishing buddies. Goal: A hex cane staff strong enough to support my full weight and stun a nosey bear. Going to find a threaded screw "ferrule" to make it a 2 piece if possible. Will probably make two: one blonde for slower waters and a flamed version for the seriously fast stuff. Ken I'm more successful at keeping my mind open than my mouth shut.
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aquabonito		#24	[url]	[-]
Posts: 908 12/09/2008 22:46 Angry Andy	I'm 6'1" and weigh 235 pounds. When I wade in really fast water with depth, I sometimes have to lean very hard on my wading staff. Subsequently I've broken an Orvis made graphite staff and bent two Folstaffs out of shape so badly I couldn't take them apart. Folstaffs work OK but sometimes the bottom link comes out when you need it most. Sure Folstaff will fix one up like new after hard use, but I'm looking for strength and durability, not product guarantee. Nor do I like to assemble and disassemble the damn thing every other pool. I've tried hickory made staffs and while they don't bend or come apart, I find them clumsy and somewhat awkward to use; a real pain in ass to drag through stream-side brush and rocks. A major problem with wading staffs is how to attach them to your body. The Folstaff holster works best, but as I said above, assembling and dissembling the thing again and again is just too inconvenient. Attaching a staff to you belt just doesn't work at all. One of my friends uses a loop around the neck and armpit keeping the staff chest high even though it interferes with his casting. I use the same technique but add a measured length (to fit my reach) of cord to the loop so that the handle of the staff rests hip high. The problem with my setup is that the loop keeps riding up around my neck requiring an occasional pulling of it back into position. Over the years I've learned that the most likely place to lose your balance is in the "skinny" water. Bad falls in ankle deep water can cause real injury whereas a dunking in waist deep water is usually an uncomfortable mishap; unless of course you drown. Like many of us older gents I fished for years without a staff. But on one of my annual visits (around 1968) to New York's Ausable, Francis Betters convinced me I needed a staff and sold me a "custom" (Ha) aluminum staff. I used it for years "You can't make new old friends" Andy
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tiptop		#25	[url]	[-]
Posts: 425 12/10/2008 09:50	aquabonito wrote: I'm 6'1" and weigh 235 pounds. When I wade in really fast water with depth, I sometimes have to lean very hard on my wading staff. Subsequently I've broken an Orvis made graphite staff and bent two Folstaffs out of shape so badly I couldn't take them apart. Folstaffs work OK but sometimes the bottom link comes out when you need it most. Sure Folstaff will fix one up like new after hard use, but I'm looking for strength and durability, not product guarantee. Nor do I like to assemble and disassemble the damn thing every other pool. I've tried hickory made staffs and while they don't bend or come apart, I find them clumsy and somewhat awkward to use; a real pain in ass to drag through stream-side brush and rocks. A major problem with wading staffs is how to attach them to your body. The Folstaff holster works best, but as I said above, assembling and dissembling the thing again and again is just too inconvenient. Attaching a staff to you belt just doesn't work at all. One of my friends uses a loop around the neck and armpit keeping the staff chest high even though it interferes with his casting. I use the same technique but add a measured length (to fit my reach) of cord to the loop so that the handle of the staff rests hip high. The problem with my setup is that the loop keeps riding up around my neck requiring an occasional pulling of it back into position. Over the years I've learned that the most likely place to lose your balance is in the "skinny" water. Bad falls in ankle deep water can cause real injury whereas a dunking in waist deep water is usually an uncomfortable mishap; unless of course you drown. Like many of us older gents I fished for years without a staff. But on one of my annual visits (around 1968) to New York's Ausable, Francis Betters convinced me I needed a staff and sold me a "custom" (Ha) aluminum staff. I used it for years Andy -- I'll second your observation about the hazard of skinny water. I broke my wrist when I fell in 6" deep water about 6 years ago and it's made me much more cautious. I'm not so sure about wearing the tether for wading staff around the neck though. I can just see the staff stuck in the rocks and the fisherman floating facedown behind it. Or the more likely scenario of getting the staff stuck and having the elastic tethered staff whack you in the face on the rebound.
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wb4tjh		#26	[url]	[-]
Posts: 414 12/10/2008 10:25	I don't loop my staff cord around my neck, I put the loop over one shoulder and let the staff ride on the opposite side. Yes, it can get in the way sometimes when I'm fishing, but that's the price I am willing to pay to have it at hand. Sometimes when I'm fishing in really shallow water, or off a gravel bar, I might take it off and lay it high and dry, but close at hand. But despite the occasional inconvenience, it's worth it's weight in gold when I really need. it. I always use a wading staff when wading salt water to probe the bottom ahead for stingrays, ect. . It also gives me something to fend off something with that might want to have ME for lunch. Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay are where I usually fish and they are beautiful places to wade and fish, but there are some mighty big critters here with lots of teeth. A 4 or 5 foot bull shark will tighten my sphincters in a heartbeat. My wading staff gives me a little piece of mind. Better to have a sturdy ash staff in hand than try to flail at something with a fly rod. Maybe it's just psychological candy, but it puts me more at ease. Fine flyrods can be made from different materials, but bamboo is the Benchmark against which all the rest are compared......
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mmorris236		#27	[url]	[-]
Posts: 229 12/10/2008 19:51	I loop the staff through the bely on my waders. Hold it in my hand while wading and when I stop to make a few casts I just drop it, it floats behind me til I need to move again, ay which point I just grab the line and pull it back. It is akward at first but is second nature now. When wandering from hole to holeI just carry it like a walking stick, also a little odd at first, but almost second nature now. The hardest part was admitting the dang thing was useful, and not just a blatant sign of my dotering demise for all to see. Snooken, you got that on tape, enquiring minds want to know.
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Dewardian		#28	[url]	[-]
Posts: 45 12/17/2008 21:08	Wading staffs, I have never been much of a believer in insurance products.......... thinking of them as more necessary for others. This does'nt mean that I don'subscribe to car, house, medical and term insurance, but wading staffs were just something for others, like extended warranties on used cars. I aquired my Folstaff (the long one) about 10 years ago, it has saved me from swimming, dunking, drowning, being rolled along the Madison, and now takes some of the load of my knees, getting me in and of streams. This last year I fished the rapids of the st mary's river at the Soo for the first time. If you have any plans to fish this water make sure you have a wading staff with you........... All thoughts of construction and convenience that come along with the acquisition, will become secondary thoughts to those of survival. The staff needs to be heavy enough to do the job. When not in use I have found that a combination of letting it drag behind me in the current works, also tying the cord to the holster and having it in front of me, then puttting the staff over my shoulder were it is out of the way while fishing works well enough that it is not an inconvenience. Waters south of the soo........ mostly around the Grayling area are known for easy wading........ sandy, gravel strams with logs along the edges. None of that walking on greased bowling balls that keps sucking me back to some western streams for the annual fix. Tight lines and better living with cpap and chemicals. Peter
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retrotrout	Why do you need a staff?	#29	[url]	[-]
Posts: 84 12/18/2008 00:47	If you need a staff to help keep you from falling, I would seriously advise you to buy a Simms collapsible staff, which folds into a very small package at your waist, and which also instantly becomes a rigid support, instead of worrying about bamboo or other woods. Bamboo is for casting, not for protecting against falls.
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wb4tjh		#30	[url]	[-]
Posts: 420 12/18/2008 11:24	retrotrout wrote: Bamboo is for casting, not for protecting against falls. While I generally agree with tyour statement, don't forget that in many areas of the world, bamboo is the all-purpose, readily available, dependable, building material. I have seen scaffolds a hundred feet high made of the stuff, with workmen all over the place. It has the tensile strength, the lightness and the workability that make is so useful for many things...including fly rods. I would love to have a double built, impregnated bamboo wading staff. It would be lighter than my Orvis ash staff, probably just as strong, and just as useful. I still don't like the Folstaffs because the one time I used one, it was constantly coming apart every time I got it jammed between two rocks or a deep in the muck. It was more of a pain in the butt than it was handy. My one piece ash staff is a bit more incovenient sometimes, but when I reall need it, it won't fold up, pull apart, collapse under my weight, or let me down. It also makes a formidable weapon against thug or beast. I have been carrying it for almost 30 years. The only maintenance has been an occassional varnish touchup. Fine flyrods can be made from different materials, but bamboo is the Benchmark against which all the rest are compared......
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Boonut		#31	[url]	[-]
Posts: 367 12/18/2008 12:04	I'm an old guy with lousy balance. I wouldn't go on the water without a wading staff. My first one was a Folstaff. It was ok, but had one annoying problem. If it got stuck in rocks and you pull on it. It came apart. It also had a cord to the holster and it always got in the way. My present staff is a Simms. I love it. It locks together and can't be pulled apart until you press a button. A much better setup than the Folstaff. The hanging cord is also fixed with the Simms. It has a spring loaded cable. It will easily pull out to any length you want for wading, and then pull back in when you don't need it. Just like a Zinger. It never gets in the way. I keep it on my left side oposite my casting side. When I don't need it, it hangs close to my left leg and behind me in the currant. When i'm ready to move I reach down to my left and it's ready to use. It takes 10 seconds to fold it back up and put it in the soft foam holster. I don't even know it's there, but it's always there when I need it. I never leave home without it.
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tbc1415		#32	[url]	[-]
Posts: 155 12/18/2008 14:00	I also have a Simms staff. There is nothing classic about it but it is built very stout compared to other staffs. As Boonut said the sections are locked together with an internal cable that tightens when you assemble it. Unlike many other staffs it will not pull apart if the tip section gets stuck. I put a rubber tip over the metal spike on the end to silence the metal against rock ticking sound that may scare fish. It ain't pretty but it does not come apart when you need it most. TC
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Bob G CT	Bamboo Wading Staff	#33	[url]	[-]
Posts: 10 12/19/2008 21:47	I was looking on Terry Kirkpatrick's website "Fish-tested Fly Rods". He has bamboo wading staffs on his home page listed for sale. Bob G.
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slantrock	bamboo wading staff	#34	[url]	[-]
Posts: 127 12/20/2008 08:45	When fishing fast pocket water such as the Ausable and Saranack Rivers I would consider it suicide to fish without one. I picked up a Thomas & Thomas bamboo staff several years ago , just too pretty to bang around the Ausable rocks. I have an split cane surf casting rod that I am in the process of cutting down and making a staff from it. It has the right thickness and should make a good one. Check antique shops they can be had for reasonable prices.
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