Here’s the article:
http://www.midcurrent.com/flyfishing/feltless_soles.aspx
Randy
Every time I put on a boot with rubber soles with or without studs I think…“why did I do this again?”
Felt. Doesn’t get much better than that.
I just came back from a stream that everyone complains about being real slippery(Spring River in Arkansas) and never once slipped…well except at the perfectly smooth boat ramp 
Agree with BB Wulff. I have boots with felt and studs and now feel secure fishing several creeks that have super slippery rocks. However I think I will buy a set with rubber cleats to fish several reservoirs that have muddy bottoms as I still slip with the felt.
Tim
Anyone ever glued on felt soles to the bottoms of rubber hip boots?
I’ve been wearing the new Simms Freestone boots with rubber soles and no studs for 6 months. I don’t know if they are as sticky as felt, but they haven’t slipped once. They actually work better than felt on muddy river banks. Many of the local streams have slime covered limestone beds with troughs and boulders.
Sure
You have to grind off the tread first, then glue them as you would with felt replacement soles
(I used my father’s bench grinder, as I remember that didn’t go over too well )
I’ve glued indoor/outdoor carpet on sneakers a couple of times too.
I fished using felt for 10 years, bought a set of the new simms freestones with the vibram soles. I am sold on them. Fish one of the slickest streams in my area after first getting them and love them.
Since the banning of Felt soles in New Zealand to prevent the spread of Dydimo. I have measured myself full length in a couple of streams wearing Rubber Soles. Sore bruised ribs bear testimony
I am a slow learner and forget that my surefootedness of the past was due to my Felts and not my exceptional balancing skills.
Am paying attention as to what are considered idiot proof rubber soles which would be right up my alley. Jax
I was told by a Simms rep at a fly fishing show in Asheville that the new Simms Vibram holds BETTER than felt. Everyone at the group laughed at him. I can’t argue that the rubber soles hold decent. I bought a pair of Korkers with a felt sole and their Klingon rubber sole. The rubber sole holds as good in some waters, but not as well in others. Overall, felt holds much better except in mud and slick riverbanks, but I’m usually in the water when I’m wading. I had a pair of Simms Guide boots before with the Vibram and they were s-l-i-c-k in the tailwaters around here and on some of the freestone rivers. I hear they grip better on some Rocky Mountain rivers, but for me, I’m sticking with felt. I just clean all of my gear when I switch rivers.
B.
Had an old pair of ‘felt’ wading boots…
Worked okay just about everywhere…Then a few years back I got invited to the San Juan in N/W New Mexico…I’d been there before…never had a problem.
Water was high…slippery snot like coating on the cap rock that the river flows over…could hardly stand up. Scary…could barely move without slipping…fell a couple of times… wasn’t fun. My friend, who was guide there at the time, had a pair of studded felt soles on his boots…he could move around just fine.
Decided that , if I was going to continue to fish there, I’d need better boots…went to the fly shop…got the spiel about the ‘new’ rubber soles…guy was pretty confident…said if they didn’t hold on the San Juan rock, I could bring them back.
Tried them…way worse than the simple felt…couldn’t even fish…took the boots back and bought a pair of studded felt sole boots.
Those worked and I could fish without being in danger of injury.
They tell me that it’s difficult to ‘clean’ felt soles, and thus hard to prevent transfering unwanted organisms from one place to the other. For that reason, they want me and other anglers to use different boots.
I tell them that the risk of injuring myself is unaceptable. If they don’t want the stuff moved from one watershed to another, CLOSE the infected area to all use until they figure out a solution that doesn’t put PEOPLE At risk.
They can ‘ban’ felt in those areas if they think it’s the issue (I doubt that it’s just felt, though). I just won’t fish there.
If they really believe that it’s just anglers and their boots causing the spread of whatever they are trying to limit, they are deluded anyway. Most of these banns and media pushes are just typical ‘knee jerk’ reactions to a problem way beyond the control of simple legislation.
Regardless of what we as anglers may do, the stuff will spread to every place it can survive. It won’t spread to areas where conditions don’t allow it to live. Humans are the only species that can do that.
Life finds a way. Regardless of our incredible hubris, this isn’t a human ‘problem’. It’s the way ALL life works on this planet…we may be part of the medium used to ‘spread’ something, and thus may effect the timetable involved, but all life will keep expanding until something larger and more significant than us causes it to stop. Whatever it is, it will spread whether or not we are there, whether or not we ‘want’ it to, and regardless of any of our attempts to stop it.
In the meantime, I’ll keep my felt boots, so that I can stay uninjured. THAT is more immediately important to ‘me and mine’ than whatever ‘big bad thing’ they are pratting about today.
Buddy
I can’t help but to question why we worry about the soles of the boots and forget about all of the other places the organism that we are worrying about can be transported. Places like laces, boot tongues and the spaces around them.
I think that like Buddy says it is just a “knee jerk” reaction. Plus it will allow the manufacturers the opportunity to “sell” us the latest and “best”. Plus they know that on the average flyfishers care about the environment and don’t to “mess” it up.
My 2cents worth.
Dick xfishcop
Thanks, Buddy for your candor. I, too, must be careful how I wade and felt makes more sense to me. I fish the slick rocky bottoms of the west and felt has made the difference in how safely I was able to wade. With a bad hip and using a wading staff I must now measure my gait very carefully while wading, and felt soles are one more tool I use to be safe and still enjoy my sport. Whether it’s felt, studded felt, ‘sticky’ vibram or some other product, being able to enjoy what we do and doing it safely is paramount in my mind. Some may say that with that attitude that soon I won’t be able to enjoy my sport because of all of the ‘invasive’ species that close the waters. I guess there are a few different schools of thought on that one, I choose to be safe and to have fun doing what I love. Now, in order for me to feel safe anymore I never enter a stream without my trusty wading staff. Bad ankle, bad hip, and slick rocks could all combine to end my days on the water, so I’ll do whatever I can to minimize that risk.
That being said, as some have said before: “I’d rather be fishing…”
Kelly.
There is a test report of the new Simms / Vibram studdable soles in the current issue of “Fly Fish America.” Three testers in different areas wore a felt sole boot on one foot and a new Simms / Vibram sole boot on the other foot ( I don’t recall for sure, but I don’t think any of them actually used the studs ).
I think they totalled around 70 days of testing in quite a variety of conditions. All three of them were satisfied that the new Simms / Vibram sole matched felt soles, if not bettered them for almost all conditions encountered. With the available studs, there seems to be little doubt that the new Simms / Vibram soles will outperform felt consistently. For sure, on mud, wet grass, and snow and ice, the new Simms / Vibram sole is much superior to felt.
Those test results square with a few comments made by guides here in the Missoula MT area who regularly fish Rock Creek, which is notorious for its slick wading conditions. Their opinions also were that the new Simms boot is at least the equal of felt for Rock Creek conditions. ( Having waded Rock Creek several times now, I can assure you that it is one of the slickest, if not the slickest, of the forty or fify Intermountain West streams / rivers I have waded. I’ve waded it without either felt or the new Simms / Vibram soles, but that will change next year when Simms will put the new sole on a wet wading sandal or shoe. )
So - if you want to be safe, forget your preferences and prejudices and go with the people who have actually used the product and attested to its safety features.
I know, I know - I can see it coming. The “follow the money” people will be along soon to point out that those testers and guides have a financial interest in selling the product and have skewed their results and reporting for their own interests. Baloney. Those folks put their pants on one leg at a time and their boots on one foot at a time and are just as honest as most of the folks on this BB, and as honest as most of the dishonest people on this BB think they are.
I will compliment Buddy on his usual eloquence in presenting his opinion. Having said that, I think I will go with the science that he protests and do my part and encourage others to do their part to prevent the spread of “stuff” that is harmful to our fisheries whatever it may be.
I disagree that nature will over time spread stuff from place to place and continent to continent, and posit that if that were true, it would have happened long before there were any folks on this continent even thinking about fly fishing, let alone felt soles and Simms. Even a casual look at the evolutionary and existential differences of the inhabitants of the various continents tells me that Buddy’s position is untenable. Makes me wonder if he has gone off on another “tongue in cheek” presentation, which he has been known to do on occasion ??
John
The soles developed by Vibram for Simms are very different from the older Aquastealth or sticky rubber soles. The rubber is harder, and the tread is shaped like cleats. I have found them to be as good as felt.
Don’t let a bad experience with one of those other products keep you from trying the new Simms boots. They wouldn’t have discontinued felt if the rubber soles didn’t work. BTW, I’m not a Simms rep–I just like their products.
John, you are still my HERO…LOL
A choice of CLOSING waters (safety reasons) or rubber soles…DUH!
I have been using Aqua Stealth for years. I am not young, bad knees, hips and ankles, a total cluts in rivers, but HEAY…I do just fine and YES I had both for many years.
As soon a Whirling was an issue I switched and never looked back. Small sheet metal screws in the sole and NOT A PROBLEM. Along with Kerry and my trusty wading staff.
Yes shoe laces and tongues are a transporting spot, that is why we are encouraged (and again, I have been doing this since the first Whirling desease report) to clean your gear. Small brush should work. Also clean it in the infected or whatever water you are in…don’t even transport it.
This isn’t hard to do.
Felt is a visual, fixable spot, that is all. Like I said before, next maybe they will come out with a pull on that has no laces or tongue, plus NO cracks or creases…AND rubber sole, now there is the perfect boot.
I do agree that more money needs to be put into “WHAT DO WE DO NOW” instead of trying to keep it out, cause I don’t think we are going to win that battle.
On another forum, I read where the STATE isn’t doing enough. By STATE I think the person who lives there should cowboy up. Why do we need BIG BROTHER there to slap our hand if we do something wrong.
This is only going to affect US so WE have to be responsible for it, not some guy behind a desk.
I switched to Vibram a year and half ago. I will NEVER go back to felt.
John,
If they work on Rock Creek that says a lot to me. I’ve got a few zippers on my knee from a bad fall I took there; will have to give the vibrams/studs a test drive.
Regards,
Scott
You folks that argue about felt vs. rubber should just try studs in either - I don’t think it matters a bit about what’s around the studs, it’s the studs that make it possible for you to stay upright.
True, but there are some cases that STUDS are not good. Driftboats comes to mind.
And some soles that really do great with out the studs, like the new Vibram and lets face it, felt on icy rocks is like licking that flag pole, or reaching into the freezer to grab ice with wet hands…they flat out stick!
But so does the snow and everything else.
I am a big fan of my vibram soles. I agree with everyone else, don’t base the Simms product on other brands.
Paul