IMPORTANT
SITE UPDATE:

Visit the relaunched
Fish & Fly at fishandfly.com

Making a Wading Staff

Our April 2001 contribution from Terry Lawton

Folding or telescopic wading staffs can be very expensive to buy. But for anyone with a bit of time and ingenuity, it is possible to make a multi-piece folding wading staff for 'loose change'. Terry Lawton shows you how.

I had been thinking about making a telescopic wading staff for some time. While it is possible to find telescopic tubes - brush handles for example in DIY stores - that are of the right diameter, they are made of mild steel, often very thin and so will rust or not be strong enough. My original plan was to use the twist locking mechanism from such a handle and replace the original tubes with aluminium ones. But it then proved impossible to find (short) lengths of aluminium tube of the right diameters. The alternative was to be a multi-piece folding stick.

I came across a reference to using inter-locking carbon tent poles but these are, in my opinion, too thin to be of much use other than to locate holes in the river bed. In heavy water or rivers with rocky bottoms, you need a wading stick that will give you real support. So, off I went to a local camping shop and there in the corner were two boxes full of lengths of tent pole. All sorts of diameters and materials. Eventually I found three lengths of aluminium tube, about 16mm in diameter, that fitted together nicely and would make a stick of about the right length. If I had used four sections then the folded stick would have been shorter.

The wading stick is held together by a length of shockcord (obtainable from boat chandlers) that runs through the inside of the tubes. Each tube has a section of the end that has been reduced in diameter so that it fits into the next section. When buying a length of shockcord - about a metre will be enough - make sure that you buy the extra-stretchy shockcord - you will find that some makes stretch very much more than others.

The first thing to do is to cut the lengths of tube so that they are the same length and will result in a wading stick that is long enough. The more lengths of pole that you use, the shorter will be the stick when folded up, unless, of course, you want a very long stick. I should aim for a stick that is the same length as the height of the top of your waders as this will stop you from wading too deep and filling-up your waders.

To weight the bottom end, I cut a piece of sheet lead and wrapped it round a length of rod so that there was a hole through the middle of the lead. The lead wants to be a tight fit inside the tube. Thread the shockcord through a stainless steel or nylon washer (with a small hole) and through the lead and tie a figure of eight knot in the cord so that it will not pull through. Pass the other end of the shockcord through the length of tent pole and push the lead into the end of the tube. Fix the lead with a staimless steel grub screw by drilling a small hole through the tube and screwing into the lead. Now pass the shockcord through the other sections of pole, through a washer and tie another figure of eight knot in the end of the shockcord.

The shockcord needs to be tighten enough to hold each section tube together firmly but not so tight that you cannot pull the sections apart and then fold them up.

I fitted a rubber walking stick ferrule to the bottom end. They are obtainable from market stalls and ironmongers/hardware stores etc and are made in a range of diameters. For the top end I used a Duplon handle which I bought from a local fishing tackle shop. These are available with different internal diameters so it should be possible to get one to fit the diameter of the tent poles that you buy. An alternative is a dinghy tiller extension handle obtainable from boat chandlers or racing dinghy equipment mail order catalogues. Which ever one you use, make sure that it is a good push fit.

Just below the handle, I fitted a nylon D-ring to use to attach a retieval system. You could use a stainless steel D-ring (available from boat chandlers as are stainless steel screws and washers.) Most fishing waistcoats seem to have a plethora of D-rings of dubious worth and this is where I found my D-ring. I fixed it by whipping it on with waxed whipping thread (again available from a boat chandlers).

That finishes the construction of the staff itself. You could, if you wish, make a sheath to wear on a wading belt to carry it in when not in use. To preserve the life of the shockcord, keep the stick fully extended, rather than under maximum tension.

Terry Lawton is a passionate nymph fisherman who caught his biggest wild brown trout (in the UK) - 4lb 2oz - on a home-tied variant of a goldhead, Sawyer-style pheasant tail nymph.