I heard something about a fisherman who drowned recently while wading in the Nooksak (i think that's the one). Do any of you know any details around this? Very sad and very scary.

I've been wanting to discuss this topic on this forum for a while - now seems like a relevent time...

Do you have some guidlines you can share for safety when it comes to wade fishing and river crossing? There may be some inexperienced river walkers here that may benefit (i.e. not die) from our experience.

Recently for example, I was fishing with a buddy who has breathable chest waders. He did not have a belt (lesson #1 - ALWAYS where a good belt). We were fishing a small creek where it flowed into a much bigger river. We tried to work our way accross the stream, but I got uncomfortable about 1/2 way when it got to my waist and seemed to keep getting faster and deeper. He was upstream from me and managed to get himself 99% accross, but when he got there, it was nearly to his chest and he wanted to come back. Well, as you know, when crossing deeper and faster water, you naturally get pushed down stream while crossing. So he is on the other side now, directly accross from where I first tried to cross. By the way, I'm at least 3 to 5 inches taller than him. Well, I was shocked to see him start heading straight to me (instead of working his way upstream first)! About 2 steps into it, he goes down and is swept into the much bigger, deeper and swifter river. I wade out as far as I can and reach for him, he sticks his rod out to me and I grab it, thinking that he wants be to hold it for him so he can swim better. That's when I saw the real look of fear in his eyes. He wanted me to pull him in with his rod. Of course, it just came appart...
The next realization as I saw his head barely sticking above the water, was that he did not have a belt on. I had tight neopremes on, and they are very bouyant. So I jump in and tried to keep up with him (there was no way to follow along the bank. Well, he made it to shore by pure stamina (he's about 25 and very fit) and his waders were so full of water, he looked like he was wearing clown pants. But he came very close to dying.

Anyway, I've seen people do some crazy things while river wading/crossing and I wanted to share some pointers that I tend to follow:

1) Be extra careful if you are alone. Especially if there are not a lot of bankies or boaters around to hear you scream...
2) Plan ahead. Expect to be pushed down stream, so give youself some room for error
3) Ask youself "what's the worst that could happen?" If you think you wouldn't survive a fall (ie get washed through some nasty rapids - just don't do it! Otherwise, the worst may be that you get wet, cold and embarassed.
4) Felt soled boots are amazing!
5) A wading stick can help a lot
6) Know your limits
7) If crossing a tailout that eventually turns into some rapids (non leathal - but you never know), I like to cross upstream as far as I can. This means crossing where the water is deeper (waist high or so) and slower. Then, by the time I'm 1/2way accross, I expect to be in about knee deep but faster water, but with plenty of room from the rapids, that I can easily make it across several yards down stream. Many times you can just cross straight across - but you should always plan on it being a little deeper and stronger than you think, unless you've been through this spot a lot...
8) Carefully place your feet between rocks and not on them. Make sure you are steady before taking your next step. I rely mostly on my 'river feet'. Kinda like 'boat legs'. I just feel the rocks with my feet and let them find a solid hold before moving, this way, you don't have to rely on your eyes seeing the bottom.

Anyway, that's a start. Anyone have any thing to add or correct?