"Cyli" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:34:18 +0200, "riverman"
wrote:

c) Always try to cross moving water well upstream of rapids. As a
fisherman,
when I wade across a river, I often am doing it at the shallowest (but
almost the fastest) part, right near the middle of the rapid. I try to
work
my way along just downstream of the big rocks to avoid foot entrapment,
however there is often a deeper pool there so I find my self stepping
into
the fastest current to avoid the deep spot. As a boatman, I wouldn't even
be
IN there.

(snipped)

Never occured to me to cross water any way but slighly above the
shallows that make up the rapids. Smaller rocks, solider footing, all
that good stuff is right there. Farther up can be mushy, below deep
or mushy or both. With weird currents. Above rapids it's all rushing
straight down to them. Below it can be doing any damn thing.


Yep. There are rapids, and there are rapids. In the whitewater world, the
rapids we would be crossing are usually so voluminous that there is no way
to cross them on foot anywhere but well above or below the effect of the
current. Often, this even means swimming deep pools. However, in fishing, if
I am crossing the river, I try to find the shoulder of the pool upstream
of the rapid, and stay as far above the tug of the water as I can. This is
the place that you refer to. Sometimes, though, I'm not crossing, but I'm
fishing, which means I am working my way all over the rapid, and
especially positioning myself to fish the tailrace. This often puts me in
the center of the whole thing, picking my way around rocks and pools.
Unfortunately, in there, the shallowest place is also the fastest water, so
its often a balance between shallow and fast, or deep and slower. Either
way, you got a lot of force pushing on you.

And like I said up there above....as a boatman, my only interest in rapids
is to get through them. I almost never found myself trying to stay inside
them.

--riverman