Will White R Be Wadeable In November At All.

[Ham]

Here's the thing that gets me. The White is a very dangerous river. I'm shocked there aren't more deaths from boating accidents and people being swept away by rising water. Maybe they are and I don't hear about them.

I'm amazed at how little instruction and warnings are given to people renting boats and cabins. This is NOT a freestone river. It goes from very mild to very dangerous at times in minutes. You need to educate yourself if you're gonna try to fish it on your own.

I keep my head on a swivel at higher flows like 15000 and above. Kinda spooky the way the flow pulls at the boat went you go cross current. You've really got to look way downrver and make absolutely sure that you aren't going to get swept into anything. I usually leave the motor running the whole time.

I've waded and caught fish on a flyrod when they were running big water for a long time. It was the back side of "an island" that had a minimum flow thru it when there was 20,000 cfs in the main flow.. I anchored out completely out of the current and slipped over the side of the boat. I found a group of easy fish nymphing. The fact that they had steady levels of high water for a good while helped position those fish for me.

I believe that there are lots of areas you can wade with higher water but you have to use your head and be very careful. You have to KNOW that higher water isn't going to catch you away from the boat and put you in a situation that you can't wade out of. I've gotten pretty close to being swept away twice now. I'm absolutely paranoid about it now.

Depending on how long your trip is going to be, a guide on the first day is a good idea.