I have never owned a pair of wading boots so this question may sound a bit dumb.
Because of my bad knees I no longer wade out more than a foot deep or so from shore. So I don’t plan to actually use them in the water just for bank fishing where there are lots of large rounded rocks. I slipped last year on some wet boulders while fishing.
Will felt soles help me here or do I need cleats as well. If walking besides a stream do felt soles work better on rocky ground when they have been wetted or do they work better dry?
Three reviews of wading boots I read in Cabellas website state that cleats can make walking on bare rocks more slippery. One fellow stated that you should take out several of the cleats and just go with a very few to help with traction on rocks.
Do I even need wading boots? Is there a Boot sole out there that would be better for walking on wet rocks than a cleated felt sole wading boot.
I did go out and buy a walking stick to help my balance and it sure has helped.
Not a dumb question. If you have never worn felt soles before just be warned that they can be very slippery on wet grassy and or muddy banks! Most of my falls and those I have fished with have been from slips on the banks wearing felt soles. Also, be very careful when going from sandy shores to stepping on rocks. The sand sticks to the felts and acts like little ball bearing on the rocks.
Gnu Bee- My knees are shot too. I use a pair of boots with studded felt soles. Good for cutting through slimy rocks, and provides a pretty good grip on a variety of streams. For some rivers with roaring currents and lots of rocks and shale I use Korkers which slip over the wading shoe.
I have a pair of Korker’s interchangeable soled boots and wouldn’t own anything else, for wading. But, the “straight rubber soles”, that are supposed to “be as good as felt”, have been “permanently lost”, in my trash pile right after the 3rd time I tried them and the 3rd time I slipped and landed on my wallet pocket, wearing them.
GnuBee, your question is anything, but “dumb”. If you haven’t ever tried an item, how would you learn about it, if you don’t ask those that have!?!
I prefer the felt/studs, combo, in most wading situations but there are also places I fish where the studs are more a hindrince than an advantage, due to the hardness of the rocks in particular areas. In Idaho, I run into a lot of granite in stream rocks and cleats/studs, on that stuf is a sure way to go swimming. So, there, I use straight felt soles. (The advantage of the Korker’s multi-sole system).
There are several boot companies that make felt soled boots and also have the option of adding studs/cleats, into the felt where you want them, (or, don’t want them, depending). You might look into a pair of those, then simply place the screw-in studs in the arch area and outer heel, area, of the boot.
That way, you have the felt’s traction 95% of the time, and still the studs are there when mossy rocks, slimey wood, etc, is encountered and you need the extra grip of cleats.
Jus an idea.
Your smartest move, I feel, was when you bought your wading staff!
Too many of us have bad knees!!! The studded felt soles available from most manufacturers will probably serve you best–decide which fits your budget. Also, use your wading staff when walking the banks–that third support will be a lot of help
I now wear studded, felt-soled wading boots. Even here, a steep mud bank and the felt soles are like a luge ride to the water. Like Betty, please don’t ask how I know this. 8T
What Paul said, except for one clarification. Yes, the rubber hiking soles are VERY slippery on wet rocks when they are new. But after being worn for some time, they soften up and are really decent for wading where it is not particularly slick and there is even any bite to the rock in the streambed.
Do I like them ?? I wore out one pair that I wore with waders in about 350 plus days. I’m probably well over 150 days in the second pair for waders and they are just starting to show wear, and I bought a third pair as backup when they were $55 on STP. Also, I have a smaller size that I wear wet wading with somewhere around 100 days on them that practically clean up as new.
Not likely, but again depending on size, you might even get the optional studded felt on sale. The felt soles, by the way, stand up to a lot of abuse. Don’t know about the studded felt for just hiking to and from the water, but I haven’t even gotten around to using the ones I have yet.
John
P.S. Paul - you might want to dig those hiking soles out of the trash and give them a chance to soften up ??
My two cents and experience says large dry round rocks on the bank & studs is a bad match. Studs need something to dig into whether it’s slime, moss, clay or whatever. On clean rocks, wet or dry they can be treacherous.
I like PLAIN un-studded Aquastealth soles for bank fishing AND a wading staff. Nothing is perfect if you go from wet to dry to mud to sand but Aquastealth has served me well when there are lots of dry or moist rocks on the bank.
The other good thing about PLAIN Aquastealth is you can always add a few of the Simms studs to them if you need extra grip in a certain spot. I believe LL Bean offers plain Aquastealth soles. The old version of the Korker Konvertibles also had a plain Aquastealth option; the new version doesn’t I believe. The plain rubber Korker hiking sole option IS NOT as good as Aquastealth IMHO.
Another vote for Korkers. The boots shown on Sierra Trading Post are the old style, which I have (and love). They come with the rubber hiking soles & a pair of felt soles. If you want to buy spare soles, search to make sure they are available in your size first.
Mike
I find they work on any surface but mud. I’ve taken some mighty falls trying to get out of streams with muddy banks. They work so well on other surfaces that the first time I encountered mud with them–the result was a shock.
Oh, I also found they were a bit slippery on the North Umpqua. I think the submerged rocks there are quartzite, which is a very hard rock.
Sorry, and you’re 100% right on the “Hiking soles” that my Korkers have!!
THOSE, I love!! And, DID NOT, get rid of THOSE!!
I wasn’t clear, I realize, sorry. I MEANT to say that the “Aquastealth soles” were the ones I “trashed” after falling down, “3 for 3” when I tried them out.
Maybe, with a few studs, mounted in them, they’re okay, but alone, the A-Stealth was like wearing smooth bottom tennis shoes when I got around moss covered ANYTHING.
The actual “hiking soles”, I’ve almost worn smooth, hiking into places, then using felt/ studs to fish,then hiking back out, with the trail soles again.
Sorry, I was not as clear as I should have been.
(Not too sure, what Korkers is now saying about “straight A-Stealth soles”, because I noticed they only mention them for “wading in wet conditions”!?? Is there such a thing as “DRY wading conditions”!?)
Not to highjack the thread, but FYI, I have scheduled myself for bilateral knee replacement in September! For several of us I think that is what I would advise. I always use a wading staff and felt soles, the waters I fish usually dont require studs. The falls I have had are from going up and down muddy baks into and out of streams, because my knees don’t bend! So I am going bionic. I advise you to do the same, or at least get an Orthopedic consult about it. Then you would not have to worry so much about soles;)
I suppose I should have mentioned that I only need boots for the Idaho fish in on the Selway and the Lochsa Rivers. My knees don’t allow me to wade out more than a foot or two from shore anyway. That is the only time I fish moving waters. Falling down ruined my fish in last fall so I figure a pair of fish-in only boots would be a smart way to go.
I have a used pair, (nice leather, felt, free) will work fine. Where do
I mail them to? Or, do I bring them to the Idaho FI?
Seems like bringing them to Idaho might be the easiest. OK?
