The bag trick

Bag it!

Martin Joergensen

I don't know where this little trick came from, but I was shown it by my good friend Henning, who started using it a year or two ago. I started soon after, and now do this every time I go fishing.

Too small

It's a very simple trick, which will make your life a lot easier. Put your foot in a plastic bag before you stuff it into the waders!
Simple as that!
It will make it a lot easier to get into and out of the waders
Many wader manufacturers seem to prefer to make the feet small and tight. I have normal size feet for my height and build, and my Simms waders have way too small socks for my feet, especially considering that I often wear thick socks and sometimes even two pairs of socks: a liner and an thick outer sock. That doesn't exactly make my feet smaller, and poking these oversize extremities into the all too tight wader foot is not only cumbersome, but also seems to put way too much stress on the neoprene and the stitching between it and the facbric. It's no wonder that waders often fail and leak exactly in the seam between the sock and the leg - right around the ankle.

Put your foot in a plastic bag before you stuff it into the waders! Simple as that!

Bags to use

Martin Joergensen

Getting in

It will mean avoiding the strain that you put on the neoprene every time you try to get your feet in there. Stick your foot in a suitable plastic bag. Thin bags with a size that fits your feet will be fine, but even a larger bag will be no problem as long as the material is thin. Bags for small garbage bins do fine as do food storage bags with no ziploc mechanism. I have even used small bags that are usually used for scooping up what the dog leaves when he leaves a pile of you-know-what. Have a roll in you fishing kit, and you can always draw off a new set. The bags can be reused many times, but might disappear or be used for other purposes.

Getting out with dignity

Ken Bonde Larsen

Getting out

In my own case I have become increasingly unflexible due to my MS, and I had a hard time pulling the damp and sticky waders off. Now they slip off easy as nothing thanks to the bags. The bags stay inside the waders and can be pulled out after you have gotten out, and the feet will slip smoothly and easily out with very little pull.
Fold the waders down below your knees and pull gently on the neoprene toes, and violá! The waders slip off without you moaning and groaning.

Plastic? On my feet!

You may think that packing your feet in plastic will make them sweaty and smelly, but they will be no different from what they usually are. Remember that you are already putting them into bags - neoprene bags! Unless you have breathable fabric in the feet of your waders, they will be no more water and vapor proof than they are already, and you will feel no difference. Use your normal socks and do as you always do. Just add the plastic bags.

You will not regret it.