Ahhhh, felt!

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kbobb

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Got a pair of cheapo hip boots with felt soles -- haven't used felt in a few years, only studded rubber soles. Wore them today to a local rocky stream - it was like i was 10 years younger - i could wade with confidence because they felt (no pun) so dang good and surefooted. I think I'm gonna have to invest in felt soled wading boots.

Caught a couple nice fish too!
 
Must be different than the ones I use at times, because wearing those for me is nearly a guarantee that I am going for a swim. Mine are lousy on flat rocks. In comparison, I rarely take a dip with regular boot foot waders and when I do it is most often due to a trip rather than a slip
 
kbobb,

I agree 100%. I have never found anything that works as good as felt. The only negative I have ever found with felt was snow builds up on it in the winter.

Good luck, Tony
 
Mike - some felts grip better than others. The best I've found are Chotas. I think the fiber there is polypropylene. It is also more durable.

 
"The only negative I have ever found with felt was snow builds up on it in the winter."

I discovered this the hard way in Rocky Mountain National Park the last week of April.... I didn't get injured but I was a lot more cautious after the fall.

Don
 
Felt is very hard to find, I can't stand the rubber soled wading shoes, you may as well grease you feet and go barefoot.
 
I'll have to agree with Mike.

I have used felt soles, and still have a pair and wear once in a while. I've waded with both extensively for a long time and wouldn't trade my rubber/stud boots for any felt soles. Felt is really slippery on the bank for me in areas of mud and even wet leaves. I see no real advantage wading in the water overall when compared to rubber/studs.

I guess like everything else, you've got to try things out and decide for yourself. One thing to keep in mind is the performance of either may vary with the brand.

The one thing I would remind everyone is to properly clean/treat your boots after every trip to reduce the chance of spreading invasives. And felt is extremely difficult to clean properly. Soaking in a diluted solution of chlorine bleach is a sure way to assure you are not spreading undesirables from one stream to the next.
 
Agree 100 % with the clean dry boots!

I've worn Simms Guide boots with felt since the 1990s. I've always considered the savage river in MD a tough river to wade and has been my "test river" for boots. When didymo got into that system I bought a pair of Chota with rubber soles and then Simms guide boots with rubber (model before the current version) and added kold kutter studs in the simms recommended pattern. Wading was slightly less than treacherous on a good day. I haven't worn felts back to the savage in a few years but a pair of simms guide boots with felt is currently on the "to buy" list and I'll see how they work with the same studs.

I understand the snow -mud -felt combo problems but fortunately i usually don't have trouble on the land - sometimes I do the "dance of the seven veils" in the tough water though!
 
Thanks, Lestrout. That helps with the questions that kept going through my mind about felts every time I ended up in the drink or on a knee, especially with a 30 lb backpack electrofisher on my shoulders and 150 vts in the water. Before felts , or before we knew about them in the late 1970's, we used to grind the tread off of our hip boots, cut indoor-outdoor carpet to the shapes of our feet, and glue it to the modified boot. We had great traction, but the carpet work needed to be done at least a couple of times a season due too all of the miles that we put on our boots. It is nothing for us to be wading a mile a day and walking nearly that distance in the riparian areas.
 
Used to have felt, but with the didiamo concerns, went to studs on rubber sole. Maybe I had the wrong kind of felt, but I thought it was slippier than the studs, particularly on mud.
 
I always just wore rubber soled wading boots. For a trip to a very rocky stream this spring I decided to put in some metal studs. I had never used them before and thought they may help. I had only fallen in a few times wearing the rubber soled boots. Those studs made it like I was on ice skates. I regretted putting them in as I fell in the creek within the first hour of fishing. I was told they will 'wear down' and get grippier, but am suspect of them.
 
I'm used to the felt soles, and have no real complaints other than steelhead fishing in the winter with the snow. IT is like strapping a sheet of ice to the bottom of you boot when it is time to get out.

I'm guessing studded felt bottoms would be ideal.

A few years back (OK, several) I decided to just wear my boot food hip waders because of a long walk to the stream. Was more concerned about the long walk down the hill (a good mile). Well, more concerned about the walk back out. Once getting to the stream in fine fashion, my first step into the creek, I went down. I mean completely, sideways. Fortunately the water was only about a foot deep, so I only soaked one side of my body. Did I mention it was snowing at the time?

After fishing for a couple hours, we went back to my brother's place. I gave those hip boots to my little brother who I think was wet wading that day.;-)

I don't like the regular lug sole boots. For hiking they are great. Stream wading? not so much (in my experience).

Now I have had times where even with the felt, it was very difficult wading. Elk Creek (steelhead) and Penns creek come to mind. Both are quite slick when on the rocks. I had fallen at both the last time out at each, but both times it started with a trip rather than a slip. But the slips kept me from regaining my balance.

I figured out a long time ago that it is usually less painful if you just fall in a semi-controlled manner rather than try to catch yourself... and then fall.
 
I wear felt w/studs in virtually all flowing water situations. I wear treads w/studs in all stillwaters and some of the larger more silty/clay banked smallmouth streams I fish.

There are a number of places where the substrate is such that you're probably going to fall at some point regardless of what you do. In these places, I'll sometimes just go ahead and fall down as soon as I get there and get it out of the way and over with..
 
Make sure that the state you are in approves the use of felt soled waders. Or you may face a fine.
 
RLeep2 wrote:
I wear felt w/studs in virtually all flowing water situations. I wear treads w/studs in all stillwaters and some of the larger more silty/clay banked smallmouth streams I fish.

There are a number of places where the substrate is such that you're probably going to fall at some point regardless of what you do. In these places, I'll sometimes just go ahead and fall down as soon as I get there and get it out of the way and over with..
Click to expand...

LOL! I thought of the same thing. Like offering one up to the water gods. When I still golfed, I used to toss an old golf ball into the first water hazard I came to. It seemed to help. :lol:
 
There are a number of places where the substrate is such that you're probably going to fall at some point regardless of what you do. In these places, I'll sometimes just go ahead and fall down as soon as I get there and get it out of the way and over with..
Click to expand...

Classic. Reminds me of a particularly clumsy cousin who hunts with us. Takes a nasty fall every season. First morning of buck, on the drive over, he's telling us over and over how he's not gonna fall this year, new fancy boots and the works. We park, he steps out the car, and his second foot never even hit the ground before he was on his back.

Anyway, for me, in order of grippiness on rock.

1. Felt with studs.
2. Felt without studs.
3. Newfangled fancy rubber with studs
4. Newfangled fancy rubber.
5. Old PVC rubber like on the cheap bootfoot rubber waders.

Yeah, rubber is better on leaves & mud, but in my fishing

- Rock is the trickiest substrate, hence choose for that.
- I spend more time on rock anyway.

After my Simms guide boots wear out, I will be going back to studded felt, likely with the rubber as a spare pair.
 
Pocketwater,

I've experienced the stud skates before. In the Simms guide, I got the aluminum star cleats, and couldn't hardly walk on dry flat rock. I took them out and got some smaller, carbide cleats, which work much better.

And whoever was looking for Simms Guide boots with felt, you'll find no such thing. Though I'd think you can grind down the tread and glue some felt on there.

For me, though, my next pair will be Chota STL's with studded felt.
 
pcray,
The Star Cleats are exactly what I got. I couldn't believe how much worse my traction was! I am going to try and rough them up a bit on my concrete driveway prior to my next trip, hoping it will help. If not, they are coming out.
 
I was steered away from the aluminum star cleats at the shop I purchased my boots at. I have the hardbite star cleats which have carbide chips welded to them. They are pretty effective IMO.

I am most susceptible to falling in due to tripping or stumbling on a rock than slipping. I have a bad habit of casting to the next likely looking spot while moving towards it rather than getting safely into position first then resuming my fishing. I need to slow down sometimes.

My two worst falls of recent vintage. 1. Tripped on a rock in a knee deep riffle in Penns creek. Fell forward and stuck my hands out to break the fall. Unfortunately I was also holding my Z-Axis and it snapped like a toothpick. 2. Walking on dry but rocky stream bank on Elk Creek fishing for steelhead. Tripped and fell flat on my face. Had my prescription sunglasses in a jacket or chest pack pocket. Yes - they broke.
 
PocketWater wrote:
pcray,
The Star Cleats are exactly what I got. I couldn't believe how much worse my traction was! I am going to try and rough them up a bit on my concrete driveway prior to my next trip, hoping it will help. If not, they are coming out.
Click to expand...

These must be the aluminum cleats. The hardbite cleats need no roughing up. They have carbide chips that you could probably cut yourself on if you tried hard enough.
 
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