Quote Originally Posted by maylw View Post
If by chance you don't use a belt and fall and for some reason loose all the air in the waders they will act as an anchor. Needless to say you will likely then meet your maker.
I ain't aiming to start an argument here, but in my one experience of filling my waders, you are incorrect. It is true that my boots acted as an anchor, but not the waders themselves. Also, it wasn't the water in the boots that made them an anchor; it was the rubber from which they were made. My waders float just like my wetsuit floated. Neoprene is neoprene and I have never owned anything made from neoprene that didn't float (I also have neoprene gloves). You only notice the weight of the water when you attempt to come out of the water. In other words, as long as there is water on both sides (inside and outside the waders) the weight of the water isn't a factor. Again, I have no idea if all waders do this or not, but mine do. By laying back as far as I could I was able to keep floating.

I carry the big stick with me now, and I have no intentions of stepping off in another creek or in the same creek a second time. If I were advising anyone, I'd say if you wade take a stick. I'd go without my fishing pole before I would without my stick.