Wading Boots

For years I always used boot foot waders with rubber tread bottoms. I decided to try some stocking foot waders with felt wading shoes. I bought a pair of ProLine boots which literally fell apart after one month's use. I discussed this with the seller & he said that he had had others complain. The seller was more than generous and offered to replace the shoes without me mailing them back to him or to buy another brand and he would give me price credit on the new pair. So I decided to get a more expensive set of boots & bought a brand called Chota with felt bottom & screw in studs.

Now for embarassing part: I need to know from some of you wading gurus two things.

(1) In what situations are the studs advantages over the plain felt?

(2) The studs are screw in. Can you remove them after you put them in place or should they remain embedded in the boot?

Link to new boots: http://www.discountfishinginc.com/or...orySystemId=19

Thanks

Tim

PanMan,

First of, great choice on boots. I've been wearing the same boot for three or four years now without a single complaint. They are the lightest and most comfortable wading boots I've ever owned. VEE also wears a pair of Chota's, loves them.

I use the studs on mostly freestone rivers. They seem to bite well on moss covered rocks and have kept me from a fall or twenty.

The studs are removable. Your friends that own wood driftboats and such will thank you for removing them before wearing the boots in their boat.

Enjoy the new boots.

Hi Tim,

I'm going to toss out a couple of rivers that you may be familiar with and the applications of soles that I use on them. How's that?

On the Umpqua, Pit, Upper Sac and McCloud I will wear studded felt or studded aqua stealth's. Basically the area's I wade on those are large cobble to bowling ball sized stones or have flat shelf rock, often covered in moss and they are slick as.......
It's the mixture of rock and moss that'll get me to use the studs.

On Hat Creek, the Williamson, your Fall R. ( OR. ) I'm more likely to use a non-studded felt. The areas on those streams that I wade are more meadowed, less mossy and not as boulder strewn.

Although taking all of those waters into consideration, if I had but one pair of boots and they had to remain in a single sole configuration, I'd go with the studs.
There are of course always exceptions, but for those water, that's the way I'd go.

One thing to keep in mind, studs are great in the water and on moss, but on large dry granite surfaces - like climbing around on boulders or scurrying down shelf rock, they can at times be like walking on marbles. It's the reason why the coach told you take off your cleats before you entered the locker room. He wasn't worried so much about the floor damage as he was by the lawsuit your parents would bring.

Another little tidbit, studs are tough on most anything you step on. While you might occasionally get away with stepping on your fly line with felts, nail the line dead on with a stud and it'll do some damage.
For all the years I was a dealer the two most common reasons that customers gave for broken or cut fly lines were: 1) Damage done by stepping down with studs. 2) Stripping ( or ripping ) a stuck line up from between jagged rocks.

Lastly, studs are a definite deal breaker if you're going to be fishing out of some one else's boat.

Hope that helps some, Dave

Ron, Sorry for the overlap. Good Stuff.


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Hi Panman, I have own both studded felt and plain felt boots for sevral decades. Here is my experience...

PRO of studded soles

1. Give superior grip on slick moss covered rocks. There are conditions of slime, moss and fast water where studs are superior.

2. Might save your life if you fish some of my local creeks in the spring run-off, seriously. This is the real reason I own them and use them.

3. Studs will provide traction on clay and mud where felt alone is useless.

CONs

1. Studs can be very slippery on some dry rocks. On some very dense, smooth, non-mossy boulders the studs just skate across the surface. I've been surprised more than once.

2. As others have mentioned, they destroy fly lines very quickly. They also can damage car floors, boats and the floors of your home and local fly shop.

3. Studs are not as comfortable on long hikes, I can feel the studs through the soles of the boot and after a few miles they start to bother my feet.

4. Studs do damage trails and rocks. Many years ago when hob nail boots were the outdoor standard, conservationists touted the eco-friendly new rubber soles as being better. If I look closely at the rocks around my local water I can see thousands of small scratches etched into almost all stones within wading distance, they definitely leave a mark and cause permanent damage to trials and streams.

I recently tried some 'aqua-stealth' rubber soles w/o studs and I am favorably impressed. I'm going to keep the old studded felt for the real high water days, but the new aqua stealth has become my sole of choice for 90% of the fishing I do.

Thanks for your responses. Once again membes of FAOL have shared their fishing knowedge.

Dave E - Last winter I tried the Sac below Dunsmire. I was inmy old rubber bottum boots. I quit after about 30 minutes and two near falls. I'll try to give it a rerun next winter.

My old boots:

with the push to remove felt from soles to discourage transmission of particles, etc that disrupt the fisheries why are we not seeing more and more movement to non-felt soles--is this a marketing gimmick or is it solid science? I do NOT want to buy new boots to adjust a companies profit margin BUT if there really is a risk with continuing to use felt should we not get behind the companies and push for rapid and affordable change?

Just random thoughts from a troubled mind!!

A big thumbs up for Chota boots!

Bob

Panman,

It onkly took one trip the San Juan when it was 'slick' to get me to purchase a pair of studded sole wading boots.

I'd never been 'afraid' while fishing before, but found that uncertain footing coupled with fast currents really scared the crap out of me.

Needless to say it was difficult to focus on fishing, and I was happy I got out of there without a serious fall.

In any event, the difference was significant and I understand now why my fishing partner was able to walk around almost normally in what were really slick conditions.

I still have the plain felt, and us those when I'm not worried about slime or I'm tubing or in a boat.

Buddy

For those concerned about the spread of didymo and other crud, Chota also has the new Rock-Loc soled boots. My and VEE's next purchase. If they are anywhere near as good as our last Chota's, they're gonna be great boots and can be disinfected. http://www.chotaoutdoorgear.com/shop...products_id=88

REE

Before the banning of felt is proposed because the spread of Diddymo all the facts need to be looked at. Diddymo is a diatom and can easily be transmitted with your fly lines, waders, flies. Now to get a little more detailed wild life like water fowl also spread this diatom from stream to stream as well. Diddymo will not stop because we as anglers stop the use of felt soles. I do not understand who or whom started this push, but it's all another marketing ploy that is to help stop the spread of a diatom. In the case of Diddymo it's not this simple. So I feel we need to look at this a little more with more information from real non biased biologist's on the subject.