I honestly can't remember what the point of rocks gauge needs to be to wade without risking death. Wading the Potomac is a young man's game as far as I'm concerned at this point -- I use boats or just wade the tributaries. The same applies to winter kayaking, or basically any situation that requires you to use a wet suit, kevlar vest or more than 10 feet of duct tape.
Since wading is also illegal on the Potomac, you could go with a spey rod. One of those will roll cast a standard pipe wrench out into the current with the same delicacy as a person throwing a standard pipe wrench as hard as possible into the same river....giving rise to the popular spey casting phrase "let's go slam pipes!".
Gene