Wadefishing (sometimes called “wading” for short) involves getting into shallow water, usually ranging from ankle deep to chest deep, and walking until you find fish to catch. It can be a fishing tactic that you use at certain times during your day, or it can be a “style” of fishing all on its own.
Wadefishing Advantages
Wadefishing offers the following advantages:
- It is quiet, and you are able to sneak up on fish.
- It is easier to wadefish in windy days than trying to control a boat or kayak.
- It allows you to slow down and fish thoroughly; it is one of the best ways to fish small/nuanced pieces of structure.
- It requires minimal gear.
- Great way to stay cool in the summer!
- Redfish and large speckled trout can be targeted by waders.
- Walk-in wadefishing allows you to get to your fishing spot at the crack of dawn and start casting right away, without the hassles of launching a boat or a kayak.
- It is accessible to everyone; there are many places where you can “walk-in wadefish” right from the shore.
- It is arguably the one of the simplest ways to fish.
Wadefishing Disadvantages
There are a few disadvantages, too:
- It is slow.
- There are underwater hazards that you can’t see, like stingrays, drop-offs, holes, and barnacle-encrusted pipes/rocks/other structures.
- Great way to freeze your butt off in the winter! Kidding…
- Soft mud can make for difficult wading. It can also steal your boots if they are not secured to your feet well.
- You an only carry a small assortment of gear.
- You are limited to chest deep water.
Now, let’s look at each of these advantages and disadvantages in more detail.
Basic Wadefishing Gear
For warm weather wadefishing, you will need:
- Wading Boots
- Warm weather fishing clothing
- Wading belt with tackle box, pliers, rod holder
- Rod and reel
For cold weather wadefishing, you will need:
- Boot waders (these are waders that have boots permanently attached), OR, stocking foot waders (these are waders where you buy the boots separately)
- Wading boots (for stocking foot waders only)
- Cold weather fishing clothing
- Wading belt with tackle box, pliers, rod holder
- Rod and reel
Optional gear (if desired):
- Net
- Stringer
- Camera
Here is my typical summer wadefishing gear:
My gear is very simple. It doesn’t matter if I’m wadefishing from a boat, kayak, or walking in from shore, this is all I typically take.
Walk-in Wadefishing
Walk-in wadefishing is one of my favorite ways to fish. It’s simple, fun, interactive, and requires very little equipment prep or cleanup. In addition, it’s a great way to get a quick fishing trip in if I have other priorities to attend to that day. Unlike kayak fishing that requires more prep/cleanup and at least half a day, or shore fishing which sometimes can require long hours of “waiting it out” until the fish swim by, walk-in wadefishing can be as quick or as long as you want it to be.
So, what is a good walk-in spot? Just about any spot with some type of bottom structure that you can safely get into and out of the water without hurting yourself. In the Corpus Christi, Texas area, there are many wadeable areas along the JFK Causeway (wade areas shown in red):
And the mouth of Oso Bay (wade areas shown in red):
And behind Mustang Island (wade areas shown in red, access roads in blue):
These are just a few examples, but you get the idea.
A great walk-in spot would be a spot that has large variations in water depths and bottom features. For example, if you find a walk-in spot that has a combination of seagrass, oyster bars, islands, crash channels, and various water depths, then that spot has high potential under a variety of conditions, because the fish will move around and related to the features differently as conditions change.
However, most walk-in spots do not have all of these features in one place. Usually you will get a couple of different structural features, and that’s it. That doesn’t make it a bad spot, it just makes it a spot that is dependent on certain conditions to be productive, and you may not know what those ideal conditions are until you get some experience in that spot and have the opportunity to try it out at different times. If you don’t catch something the first time, it probably just means the fish didn’t show up that day. Timing is extremely important for walk-in wadefishing, just like with other types of fishing.
How Many Rods?
Sometimes I carry one rod, and sometimes I carry two. Trying to carry more than two would be hard to manage.
The advantage of carrying one rod, is that you can wadefish as deep as you want without fear of dunking the other reel in the water. The advantage of carrying two, is that you can fish two different lures. For example, if you are wading along a channel edge, you may want a lure that can probe the deeper waters off the edge, as well as a lure that can probe the shallows.
Limits to Wadefishing
There are a couple of hard limits to wadefishing that you should be aware of. I briefly mentioned these when I talked about wadefishing disadvantages, above. The first limit is water depth. You can wade extremely shallow water, all the way up to your chest, but chest deep is generally the limit. On a chest deep wade, you will have to keep your arms up high to keep your reel out of the water, and they will get tired quickly. But you can do this for a short amount of time. Trying to wade deeper than chest deep is quite difficult and potentially dangerous to do. If you want to fish deeper water, this is kayak territory.
The second limit is the bottom itself. Bottoms have different firmness levels, and harder bottoms (which usually have more sand) are easier to wade than softer bottoms (which usually have more mud). Some softness to the bottom is OK, although it will take a lot of effort to walk. But the bottom can get so soft that you will just…sink. Sometimes up to your calves, or worse. When I gets this soft, I don’t consider wading feasible. It is better to use a kayak to traverse soft-bottom areas.
Have a reel good day,
– The Simple Fisherman