I have always thought the price of the studs they put in wading boots were way over priced. I was goofing around looking at facebook yesterday and I ran across an article tonight from someone with a similar thought train. Now I will admit I don’t do that much wading, I’m more into barrel rolls in float tubes, so I’m not speaking from experience here.
http://www.hatchmag.com/blog/tip-sto…t-studs/771153
Just in case you missed the link in the article: https://koldkutter.com/catalog/products.php
This is a great find. I just bought a new pair of boots and ended up getting…screwed…on the studs. I paid around $25 for a little plastic container of 20 studs. This was the first time I’ve had boots that could take studs so I didn’t know what I was getting when I ordered it. I just figured there was a reason they were so expensive. When I saw them, I slapped my head. They’re basically just sheet metal screws with a hex head with some small shot fused to the top. They work extremely well in the stream, but I wonder how much differently sheet metal screws would perform in the water.
It looks like these Kold Kutter screws belong somewhere in the middle between sheet metal screws and $1.50-a-piece studs. I’ll save the link for whenever I start losing the studs, which will hopefully be far down the road, for the price I paid!
Large flat head aluminum screws work also.
Cabelas boots have actual screws for the studs, and they seem to work well enough. The steel is fairly hard and they haven’t worn off yet. That being said, I am not sold on the studs, would prefer basic felt for much of what I do, and if you ever step on your fly line…