Wading belt
A strap cinched around the waist outside the waders that limits how fast water can fill them if you fall.
The old story that waders fill up and drag you under is overstated as physics, but the real risk is bad enough. A wader full of water is heavy, cold and unwieldy, it destroys your ability to stand up in current, and it makes swimming to a bank very hard.
A belt cinched tight above the waist traps air below it and slows the fill dramatically, which buys you the time to get your feet under you or get to shore. Every reputable safety guide treats it as mandatory rather than optional.
Most waders ship with one. It is the piece people leave in the box.
Wear it over the waders and outside any jacket hem, high on the waist rather than around the hips. Cinched low it traps far less air and does much less good.
A wading staff is the natural companion. Three points of contact on uneven, slippery rock prevents most of the falls the belt is insurance against.
Wear it every time, tight, even in shallow water. Falls happen in knee-deep water more often than in deep water.
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