For many anglers, backcountry fishing is the ultimate adventure. Being surrounded by pristine mountains, casting your fly or lure in a crystal clear stream, hearing the drumming of the woodpecker in the woods below – if that’s not happiness, then what is? And yet, remote locations can carry several risks. Everybody is aware of them, but many people forget them in the heat of the moment, so it won’t hurt to go through the basic risks and safety tips one more time. 

Look Where You’re Going

Getting lost is a thing, especially now, when we increasingly rely on navigation softwares in our cars and phones, and don’t get to practice our sense of direction. By the way, the GPS unit in most phones is rather weak – these devices rely mostly on data from cell towers to determine your location, and when there’s no cell coverage, you may find their ability to navigate rather beyond expectation. On a serious backcountry trip, consider getting a specialized GPS unit, or even an old-fashioned map and compass (and learn how to use them!). 

Remember the old tip: as soon as you begin to suspect you might get lost, stop. Take your time, look around, relax and think. If you still have no clue where you should be going – then, unless your current location isn’t safe, it’s best to sit and wait until you’re found.

And Keep Looking Where You’re Going

Watching your step in the literal sense of the word is no less important. Navigating through remote, rugged terrain increases the likelihood of trips and falls. And each fall can prove fatal, if you fracture or break an important bone (such as your skull), or fall into water. Fast currents of mountain streams are not easy to handle, especially if you’re wearing chest waders and a backpack full of lures and other stuff. 

Crossing streams or rivers can be particularly treacherous. Rocks covered with moss or algae are extremely slippery. Move carefully and avoid running, be aware of your surroundings and watch your step. Use a walking stick or fishing rod for balance on uneven terrain. Test rocks with your foot before stepping fully. Wear water shoes or boots with good grip. Use a stick to test water depth and current strength before crossing.

Watch out for Flash Floods

Those are one of the most dangerous situations you might encounter on a backcountry fishing trip. You have to see water rushing down a peaceful mountain valley, as if a dam broke upstream, to believe how threatening this situation can be. Water turning from crystal clear to muddy in a second, tree trunks rafting with the flood, ready to grab you with their outstretched branches like with claws, whirlpools that are created out of the sudden, that could suck you in – that can be more than most people can handle. 

Pay attention to weather reports, especially if they mention rains up the river you’re fishing, and be aware of your surroundings. Any suspicious noise upstream should get your altered and move away from the water edge – drop your rod and run, if need be.

Thunderstorms and Wildfires

The linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf, who also worked as a fire prevention specialist, once noticed that most employees felt free to smoke near empty fuel drums, but avoided smoking near full fuel drums. That didn’t make sense from a fire safety point of view: vapors of gasoline in an emptied drum can be easily ignited by a burning cigarette, while liquid gasoline can’t. Obviously, “empty drum” felt somehow more safe than “full drum”. 

A similar thing happens to some anglers – they seem to think that if they are fishing on a river, that is in or near water, then there’s no risk that wildfires can get them. Wrong. A strong wildfire can easily “jump” across a smaller stream, and the carbon monoxide from burning trees may get you even if the heat doesn’t. If there’s a wildfire warning for the area you intend to fish, consider canceling the trip.

A common cause for wildfires is a lightning strike – and thunderstorms can be extremely dangerous for anglers in their own right. They can develop quickly, and lightning is a significant risk. Monitor weather forecasts closely, avoid fishing during thunderstorms, and seek shelter immediately if a storm approaches. 

Danger Out of the Blue Skies: Sunshine and Heat

It’s not only about beach vacation or flats fishing in the Bahamas – you can get severe sunburns anywhere where the sun shines. In the mountains, for instance, it may feel cool and refreshing, but the sun is near, and so are the sunburns. Sunburns are not only unpleasant, long-term exposure to UVA and UVB rays can lead to skin damage and increase the risk of skin cancer. 

Don’t save on sunscreen, UV-protective clothing, and hats, especially in places like New Zealand, where the ozone layer is thinner and the risks are higher. And by the way, the best-before date on sunscreen refers to an unopened container; after opening, the substance might deteriorate as quickly as one year. That bottle of sunscreen from last vacation that’s still half full? Better dump it and buy a new one. Be aware that water surfaces reflect UV rays, increasing exposure, and drops of water on your skin may act like lenses. 

Apart from the sun, there’s heat. Dressed for a chilly morning, you may find yourself exposed to high temperatures in the afternoon, that can cause dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, even if you do not feel thirsty. Consider sports drinks or electrolyte supplements to maintain electrolyte balance, especially in hot weather. 

If you’re not ready to drink the water right out of the stream (and that’s something that should really be avoided), pack some sort of water purification device. Take regular breaks in the shade to cool down and reduce direct sun exposure. Use umbrellas or portable canopies when fishing from the shore or on a boat to create shaded areas.

Cold

Cold can be a risk factor not only for ice fishing. A sudden cold blast, rain, or a fall in the water – and you can find yourself in a dangerous condition known as hypothermia. Hypothermia occurs when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it, causing the core body temperature to drop dangerously low. Don’t think that if the weather is above freezing point, you can’t freeze to death. In fact, even at temperatures as warm as 15°C/59°F, an unfortunate combination of wet, wind, and insufficient clothing can get you into life-threatening levels of hypothermia. 

Early signs of hypothermia include shivering, fatigue, loss of coordination, confusion, and slurred speech. When the shivering stops, it can be a bad sign – the body simply runs out of fuel to contract muscles and produce heat. At the advanced stage one gets blue skin, dilated pupils, slow pulse, and unconsciousness. 

The one solution is to get the person to warmth asap – without burning them, of course. Prevention is better than the cure. Tip: if you haven’t warm clothes, think layers. Three T-shirts, due to a layer of air between them, work almost as good as a sweater. Alternatively, pack any isolation such as old paper or even dry moss under or between the layers of your clothes. High calorie foods like chocolate and hot drinks like coffee or broth work, alcohol only makes matters worse. 

Careful on the Boat

Many fishing types and techniques, such as offshore fishing, drifting, and trolling, are unthinkable without a boat. And at the same time, boat accidents are some of the most dangerous things that can happen to you on the water. Before you set out in the boat, be it your own or a rented one, check the hull for any visible cracks, holes, or other damage. Ensure the engine is in good working condition, with enough fuel and oil. Verify that all safety equipment such as navigational lights (if required) is there and in working order. 

Most boating accidents are the result of operator error, and if the operator is you, and you haven’t sailed these waters before, be double careful. Be especially careful on crafts of the type you haven’t used before, such as local specific boats, kayaks, dugouts and such. A craft that’s perfectly safe for someone who grew up using it may be a road to disaster for an inexperienced tourist.

Seasickness can well ruin your trip, so don’t look down on anti-seasickness medication. It can also do tricks with your sense of balance, making it easier than you think to fall overboard. Use handrails and secure yourself when the boat is in motion, especially if the surfaces are wet, and don’t try to show off – sit down during rough waters to maintain balance. Needless to say, wear a safety vest at all times, even if you’re an expert swimmer – a fall is always sudden, and you might fill your lungs with water or get into a whirl spin before you can put those swimming skills to use. 

Keep Both Eyes on Children

It’s awesome if you introduce the new generation to fishing from the early age, but you will have to pay twice as much attention to them as you think you should. Kids often get bored and start to wander around the boat or the shore, and if you’re too excited with fishing to keep track of that, you may not see the kid alive again. I’m not kidding. Backcountry, a child can too easily get lost, and falling in the water is extremely dangerous, especially for preschoolers. 

I’ll never forget the day my friend’s daughter fell off the air mattress under my very eyes. Of course I pulled her out immediately. But what struck me in the couple of seconds that it took was: I’d expected her to start fighting for life, but she just went down to the bottom like a little stone, eyes wide open, mouth tightly shut. If I didn’t notice her fall, she would be lying on the bottom until her air ran out. I later read that this behavior is typical. So keep both eyes on them – and they carry a safety vest, full stop. 

Animals, Big and Small

Fishing gives you an opportunity to encounter many other animals. Our author Scotty Kyle has fished uncomfortably close to elephants, crocodiles, and hippos in South Africa; in India and Nepal it’s common to find you’re sharing the trail with tigers and leopards, and you’re more likely than not to share the river with brown bears while fishing the salmon runs in Alaska. Just a few weeks before this text was written a video went viral on social media – it showed a charter boat capsized by a whale. 

You should always be on the lookout for any mammal that acts unnaturally bold – it may be rabid. However, encounters with large animals are more often exciting than really dangerous. Besides, in areas where you’re likely to meet brown bears or crocodiles, you’ll probably be accompanied by a guide who’s experienced at handling such situations. Just make sure the guide is aware of whatever beast is around, follow the guide’s instructions; otherwise just keep calm and carry on fishing. It’s the smaller creatures that you really should be worried about anyway.

Bloodsucking insets are not just unpleasant, they can carry a variety of diseases. Mosquitoes transmit malaria and several viruses such as West Nile Virus, while ticks carry encephalitis and Lyme disease. Don’t skip on repellents, check yourself for ticks, and consider vaccination. Allergic reactions from bee or wasp stings can also ruin your vacation or worse. Do your homework: study which poisonous snakes, tarantulas, jellyfish etc. inhabit the area you’re going to travel to, their characteristic features and safety tips. 

A Couple of Things Medical

Getting hooked on fishing is a nice metaphor, but the opposite of fun when it happens literally. Learn how to extract a hook from your flesh. In most cases, you push it through until the barb appears on the other side, then snap it off and pull the now barbless hook back. Don’t do that, though, if there’s reason to believe you might damage an important inner organ if you push the hook through. 

Carry an instrument that will allow you to snap the barbed tip off, such as pliers or multitool, as well as a medkit with something to disinfect the wound and cover it, to stop blood and protect it from contamination. That will also help you if you hurt yourself on a reef, by falling, or in other ways. Fishing brings you in contact with lots of things that can potentially get the wound infected, so be sure to treat any wound, and seek medical attention as soon as you can.

The medkit should also include means against fever, diarrhea, as well as a treatment for burns and skin inflammation. A broad spectrum antibiotic may not hurt either. And of course you should keep track of your personal health issues. Carry necessary medications, have a basic understanding of first aid, and fish with a companion.

Communicate! 

Lack of communication in remote areas can delay emergency responses. Carry a charged cell phone, use a VHF radio on boats, and inform someone of your plans. Consider getting a waterproof case for your handy and a fully charged power bank. And be sure to inform someone where, when, and with whom you intend to fish.

In Conclusion 

You know what makes fishing most dangerous? Excitement. A passionate angler can get so focused on the process and the fish that they can ignore anything else. Stay for just that one last cast, although a thunderstorm approaches. Land that fish, although a squall is on the horizon. Those things have got a lot of anglers into trouble. So, don’t forget to have fun, but keep an eye on the surroundings as well. Awareness is not just a fashionable word among the millennials. It’s a skill that our forefathers perfected without knowing it had a fancy name. 

Better yet, be sure to hire a reputable guide. Local knowledge is invaluable in reducing risks, and the professionals have more of that than any recreational angler ever will.

Going Native: Catching a trout in its native waters is a special treat for the adventurous angler.

By Diana Rupp

I was fishing a lovely little wilderness stream high in the Rocky Mountains, narrow enough to wade across in just half a dozen steps, its shallow riffles alternating with dark pools shaded by large, twisted trees. It was midsummer, and thick, tangled vegetation overhung both banks and made it difficult to cast a fly line without hooking the fly on a branch or bush. CONTINUE READING