I am not a wade fisherman 90% of the time but with my nature lack of grace and balance I have done my share of slipping and sliding. Always as a safety consultant I have done a good bit of study on slip, trips and falls. I have wondered about the effectiveness of the soft spike now required at most golf course and country clubs for wading. I tried a pair of slip resistant shoes (designed for use in kitchen, etc.) in some stream in Utah years ago, they were not that effective in preventing slips. The one thing you can count one in wading situations, gravity is reliable.