Thread: Bit of a wake up!

Mate and I were up for another night fish. It was looking promising with the moon coming up a bit later now so it was nice and dark.
Just after 7pm I heard a muffled voice, glancing over towards my mate I was expecting to see him hooked up to the first fish of the night but there was no sign of him.
It took me a couple of seconds to register but clicked that he fallen over.
He had tripped over a large submerged rock and his waders were filling with water. In his attempts to regain his footing he had inadvertantly flipped himself, with his waders now filling from the front he was struggling to keep his head above water.
I covered the 20 or so meters as fast as I could in the waist deep water. I got to him and flipped him, then tried to grabbed him to help get him to his feet.
His adrenaline was at full noise as you would expect with the situation and I found myself in a violent tussle as he attempted to save himself in the darkness trying to grab onto me. Luckily I managed to keep my own footing.
It took a couple of minutes to convince him I had him and we were good. Once the panic had subsided we made our way back to shore, got him into dry clothes and called it a night.

A timely reminder that things can happen and not to get complacent.

We got lucky!

Very lucky

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Pleased it worked out very scary its why I wear boots when fishing now

Sounds like a close call,
Yup, things could go south in a matter of seconds.
Good reminder and glad you both are ok

Well done saving him, i wear a really tight belt when wearing waders so they dont fill up quickly....

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

Very lucky

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Absolutely mate.
We were lucky it was one of the smaller streams with little current to contend with.
We were lucky it wasnt one of the rips with a drop off.
We were extremely lucky it happened on a night we were fishing together!

A tight belt is an essential safety feature of waders. Don't scoff, but taking a mate and both your waders to a pool and simulating what you want through, or better yet, doing wader training, is an excellent idea for anyone that uses them.

@Scouser @Bol Tackshin yup, safe to say we'll both have wading belts before our next outing.

A mate of mine drowned just like that - fishing alone one evening, had a motor neuron disease and (apparently) fell and his waders filled up…

Waders , river, inflatable life jacket, end of story.

yeah I have never liked the idea of waders. Just looks like it wants to fill up and drag you down. I would be more inclined to wear wetsuit bottoms and/or a wetsuit.
Lucky this time for sure

Sounds like Waipehi stream mouth