On the Fox River, I tell people all the time, if the river is flowing at 1500 cubic feet per second or less you can pretty much go wading anywhere you want in the river.

Between 1500 and 2500 cfs, if you’re going in the water you better be careful. It’s not so much the depth at that point, but the flow. It doesn’t take much to take your feet out from under you.

Over 2500 cfs, you better know exactly where you are stepping. This requires intimate knowledge of the river. I never go anywhere new in conditions like that. I want to know where every rock is.

Over 3500 cfs I’ve mentioned to you before, you would have to be insane to go in the river.

Over the weekend the river was flowing at a hair above 6000 cfs. I get to see it every day. It looks mean and ugly, if a river can look mean ugly.

A handful of kids went in the river on Sunday not far upstream of me in Oswego. One got caught up in the current and disappeared. They still haven’t found him.

I get a lot of criticism for my cautiousness. Some contradict me. Some think my cautiousness is a good source for derisive humor. I lost a family member to the Kankakee River a few years ago and that is what knocked the cockiness of wading rivers out of me.

My condolences go out to the family members of this young man.

As much as I love rivers and will continue to wade them till I can no longer walk, it’s hard to be in them without knowing what killing machines they can be when they are mean and ugly. That never leaves my head while I’m out wading around.

So to the fishermen, when someone who knows the river you want to fish tells you “Don’t go in the water” there is usually a damn good reason for it and you should stay the hell out.

If you must fish the Fox right now, walk the shores and fish tight to the shore and any cover or structure along it. You’ll catch fish, be safe and have the opportunity to come back another day.

But whatever you do, don’t go in the water.