Photo Rob Faubert
Four dead from fly fishing? Not considered a particularly a high risk activity, this past summer (2011) rocked the fly fishing world when within one week two accidents killed two people each. All four deaths happened on guided trips. What is interesting is the denial of the elephant in the room.
In Whistler, B.C., a client on a guided wading fishing outing slipped while landing a fish in knee deep water. She swept her partner off his feet and both were carried into the deep channel and out of sight. The guide could only watch helplessly. Both bodies were found further downstream, one with a reported obvious head contusion (story here and here)
A second incident in Montana involved a 73 year old well known guide on a float trip. His raft was carried into a sweeper and flipped. The guide and one client drowned, while a second client swam free and survived (story here)
The fall out from this has focused on wading belts, as of the five people in the water in these stories only the person that survived was wearing one. A wading belt is simply worn around the waste to keep the waders from filling with water and becoming sea anchors in the current. This is a well known safety precaution, and apparently the two in the boating deaths had them on earlier in the day but took them off. The online chatter of average Joe fly fisher seems to doubt a belt's effecicy, but my guess is that they have not jumped into current to test their opinion (see online responses here)
PFD's have been dismissed out of hand, both in this case and in fly fishing in general. Any paddling guide would not let their clients wade into a river without one, so it stands in contrast that they are absent from the conversation here. The head injury in the Whistler drowning has spawned comments of 'what he needed was a helmet, not a lifejacket'. This is naive, as the point of a PFD is to keep one's head out of the water (and away from the rocks), avoiding head injuries altogether. After twenty years of guiding on rivers, I can count on less than one hand the number of times a swimmer has hit their head while wearing a PFD. What's more, have you ever tried to swim in even gentle whitewater without one? The defensive/feet downstream swimming posture is still (wrongly) taught to wading fly fishers. It is borrowed from (old) paddling instruction, but absolutely needs a PFD to work. In whitewater, human bodies won't stay on the surface. Aggressive front crawl or breast stroke are the only options that work, and is recommended both with and without floatation.
The elephant in the room here is the duty of the guide. Fly fishing is an activity steeped in tradition, and the 'guide' role is typified as one of local knowledge or access to fishing water. Supervision and safety would rank considerably lower than fishing knowledge. This is likely wrong, however fly fishing tradition and an assumption that theirs is a safe activity has molded guide mentality. Other guided activities have evolved far beyond this model - activities to which fly fishing guides could be compared when it comes to defining a 'reasonable' standard of care. All other guided river activities require participants to wear a PFD. The USGS requires it of workers in waterways. Transport Canada requires all PFD's to be worn on all 'guided excursions' (which includes fishing trips or otherwise). Why don't fly fishing guides insist on them? If wading belts are recognized as a safer option, why don't guides require them? Are guides briefing and training clients on river safety and swimming? Are they even asking their clients if they can swim?
In the Whistler case, was the guide downstream of the clients, in 'catch' position (to borrow a term from kayak instruction)? Did the guide have a throw bag accessible? Is fishing a shoal that exits into the main current the right place to be for a novice client? Single boat trips are typical of guided float fishing, but rare in guided raft trips for the exact reason the guide and client died in Montana.
The tradition of fly fishing can be preserved while guides look to other activities to improve their craft. Safety and supervision can take equal billing with fishing expertise. Rivers are beautiful places with well understood inherent risks, so today's professional guide needs to be more than an escort with the right flies.