When does one rally need studded soles for your waders? Thanks - Rick.
I like mine always. It is like having 4 wheel drive.
When you want the fish to hear you coming :!:
There are several streams in my local area (Colorado Rockies) with hard granite boulders worn shiny smooth by the action of the water. They also sport a slick coating of algae. During Spring run off the water flows fast enough to make taking a swim a life threatening event. Several people die each year. I own both studded felt and non-studded felt boots. I wouldn’t consider fishing some of these waters in the Spring without the extra traction provided by the studs. It’s just a safety thing.
Having said that, the studs are not always the best choice. They are less comfortable for walking long distances on dry ground, esp. pavement. Some very dense dry rocks can actually be slick to studs, if they can’t penetrate. They do damage the environent, I can see scraped up rocks and boulders all over my local streams. They tear the heck out of wood floors, I wouldn’t think of wearing them in my boat.
Here in the Rocky Mountains, studds are a great added security.
I have the Simm’s Ultra Light Stealth sole on my boots, and I did get the idea from Simms.
I have sold many felt sole boots to customers and SUGGESTED, that they go to a hardwaye store and buy some short (stainless steel preferably) sheet metal screws. Screw them in the sole (being sure the screws are shorter than the thickness of the sole)
Four in the ball of the foot section and two to four in the heel. The nice thing is, is you can remove them at anytime. I know drift boat owners won’t give you the time of day with studds.
For anyone who may book a float trip with a guide, this is one place to never, ever wear studded boots! It amazes me every time someone has the utter disregard for me and my boat by trying to get in the boat with studded boots. Once last year I made a guy take his boots off even though I did have a mat. When he sat down he would very arrogantly put his studded boots up against the inside of my boat. Think of me, or any boat owner, walking on your kitchen floor with studded boots. Also, read the sign at the door of every single gold club house that says, “NO SPIKES INSIDE”.
Sorry, just had to get this off my chest.
“When you want the fish to hear you coming”
Like they dont hear you coming stumbling down the river.
Gee I hope not,
I try very hard for that not to happen.
Maybe I’m old school or something but stealth is something I view as very important to my fishing.
I swear my strike rate went down when the rubber tip wore out on my ski pole wading staff 
But you didn’t fall down or strain your back, did you 
Sometimes you just got think SAFETY.
I do agree on noise however. Took a client out on a lake with one of those two man pontoons and that thing made so much noise while I was rowing, I figured it had to be going up through his feet into the line. Pulled over and fished from shore…got him into a 25" bow. Wahoo!
The rivers however, wading staff and cleets. Our rocks are large and round with a lot of moss. “G” I love Idaho and the gravel!
Raw,
I found a need for them this summer when I didn’t HAVE them.
The San Juan, in N/W New Mexico, is a fantastic and famous fishery.
The conditions change, due to flow rates and a new commitment by the state to try to mimic ‘natural’ water flows.
Got really ‘slimy’ this year, something I had not experienced in the past.
What should have been a really fun day of catching (or mostly hooking) a bunch of large trout became a very nervous and frightening experience. Had to walk a bit. The flelt soles wouldn’t ‘grab’ on the slippery rocks. Had to walk across a LOT of flooded cap rock that was slick enough to be dangerous.
Couldn’t even think of following a hooked fish. Heck, I was afraid to even MOVE my feet once I’d found a place I could stand and fish.
My fishing partner, who guides down there, had studs on his boots, no footing problems.
Had to pass on several opportunites to fish there on other days because of this.
I’m now in the market for a good pair of boots with removable studs. Don’t need them everyplace, but when you DO need them, you do NEED them. Kind of like a pistol, you never need one until you need one badly.
Good Luck!
Buddy
raw69:
For years I fished with nothing but plain wool felt soles which grip better than synthetic felt. Then I bought a pair of Chota STL’s with studded felt and ZOWIE, what a difference in the places I was less than sure footed.
But like others have said, there are some places that studs don’t cut it. For that reason I also bought a pair of the Korker’s Konvertables with several different sole options so I have a choice when I’m not sure what conditions I will encounter.
The bottom line is, until you try studs in the places you normally fish, you won’t know what if anything you are missing.
As far as noise goes, at least in my case the crunching of small rocks and the displacement of larger stones on the stream bottom makes a heck of lot more noise than a few small cleats. I prefer to sneak up as close as possible to any fish I spot with casts of 20 feet or less very common. I use studs in 80% of the locations I fish just because they grip the best for me and I can honestly say I notice no difference in my catch rate when I’m wearing studded felt soles.
The only time I have really noticed a problem with the studs is when I have been out of the water walking around on big boulders and such. I have had two hip replacments (before age 40) so needles to say I am very careful when I am wading now days. I feel very secure with the studs and if anything my catch rate has gone up because I can get to more spots and feel comfortable.
They make a huge difference on the slick salmon and steelhead streams around here. We have a lot of shale/bedrock based streams, that have a brown algae that grows on them. It’s slicker than walking on ice. The studs help alot. Also, in the winter, when you have ice to contend with.
Dear raw,
I’m with Bamboozle. I have studded and unstudded felt soled boots, as well as studded Aquastealth, and the studded boots work much better on the streams I fish.
Unless I find myself moving to another location where the stream bottoms are drastically different I will always purchase studded boots in the future.
Best Wishes,
Avalon
Before studs were so popular…I used aluminum screws…screwed into the felt as FlyGoddess suggested for steel …it was felt back then that aluminum gave the best grip…
Chota came out with their steel studs which really can be duplicated as FlyGoddess said…I have some steel screws on a pair of boots and not sure I can tell much difference from the aluminum…
Now speaking of aluminum Dan Bailey’s has an aluminum cleat attached to felt on a pair of rubbers to be slipped over regular boots…let me tell you …you could climb walls with those babies…I found the rubbers to squeeze too much and they were uncomfortable in the water so I ordered just a pair of the felt and cleats and attached them to boots…worked quite well…as the edges of the aluminum cleats got rounded the grip wasn’t quite as good…still good but at first they were amazing…
also the guides liked the fact that you could remove them while in the boat…later though seems like the guides I have gone with are content with putting matts or carpeting down…
Then there are the Korkers with their carbide studs …I didn’t think there were enough of them so I added aluminum screws too…
And the search goes on :roll:
I have not tried studs, but believe they have to be really good traction. Heck, I have studded snow tires for my truck.
But be aware if you plan to do any flyout fishing, a floatplane pilot will freak out if you are wearing them, and you will be asked to remove them. If this is you only footware, you are going to have cold bare feet if you want to go in the plane. I have both aquastealth and felts that are “plane friendly” and pick which one for the water I am fishing that day. I think it is the Chotas that have a removeable sole, that might work where you could pull the studded felt out before boarding the floatplane.
I have owned and tried them all and my boot of choice is a studded Aqua Stealth, with studded felt soles second. Of course, there was the time my buddy and I showed up on the Sol Duc River in Washington for three days of winter steelhead fishing with only studded boots, and due to lower rainfall our guide needed to move us about in an inflatable raft. Needless to say, we were very careful about where we placed our feet.
Thumbs up for studs.
JaD
The studs used are sheet metal screws. One word of caution…make sure your felts are thick enough before screwing in the screws.
Around here, there is the occational algea bloom in the rivers that make the rocks very slick for a few weeks. If I was smarter I would have picked up some screws or some studded felts for that situation. I ended up loosing eight weeks of the trout season after a slip and hard fall, seperating my collarbone from the sternum. D’uh!