HEAVY wading boots

[McManus]

70+ years old; diabetic; overweight; neuropathy; three knee surgeries. I don?t wade very deep. Does anyone make a wide light weight boot? How about tennis shoes?

[NoLuck]

Not sure what part of the boot you want wide, but Korkers work very well for me. Interchangeable soles for different types of wading conditions. Boa lacing or standard lacing. I have an older pair of Metalheads that I really am not looking forward to replacing. They run pretty narrow though on inside shoe size width. Other than that, Simms makes great wading boots with more foot room. Most of them are relatively light weight. Without felt soles, make sure you get studded soles. Way better traction on slick rocks and bedrock shelves. Just be careful walking into a tile restroom floor. (Lesson learned)

If you have a good fly shop close, run by and try on a few pairs and see what you like. They'll be happy to help you if they are any kind of decent fly shop.

[DG]

Cabelas makes a lightweight boot. I use the studded felts. Not too bad. Don't last forever, tho.

[randyflycaster]

I'm not sure, but I think the new line of Korkers are not cut wide. The felt on my old Korkers wore out. I wanted to buy new felt soles, but I learned the new Korker soles will not work on my old boots. Instead, I bought a set of Rock Treads and put them on my Korker rubber soles.

Having used both steel and aluminum studs, I think aluminum, which is softer than steel, provides the best traction other than felt.

I am not sure why you want a light weight boot. To me, the weight of the boot is not that important, unless you are going to do a lot of hiking. I also feel that wading boots are important. A fall in the river can be very, very serious; that's why my next pair of boots, in spite of the cost, will be the Patagonia with aluminum studs built in. (These boots, I believe, are cut wide.)

BTW, if you go the Rock Treads route, I recommend that you use Gorilla glue before you screw them in.

Randy

[Longs for Cutts]

SIMMS makes their Intruder boots with integrated gravel guards. Per pair they're like 2.6lbs. I bought them intending to use them only for hike-in trips but I use them all the time. These are now my go-to wet wading boot. Oversized, they'd go over waders fine. Their Freestone is also light. Super-light are the Riprap Shoe, but they're like low-cut tennis shoes and so don't offer any ankle support.

[BobNevins]

Thanks for the recommendations! Will keep these in mind.