When Simms came out with their "Pro Fishing Wading Staff" made of carbon fiber, I bought one and was dismayed to read this on the attached tag:
“The strength of carbon fiber is compromised if the staff’s surface is dented, scratched, fractured, chipped or damaged in any other manner, which could result in structural failure”
How does one avoid scratching a wading staff? Every wading staff I own including one of last versions of the Simms aluminum wading staff is scratched heavily in the tip section. It is unavoidable when you fish a rocky stream. There is no way the carbon fiber won’t get scratched up as well and possibly even gouged somewhat by larger rocks.
So I asked Simms, should I be concerned or is this just a CYA statement?
They basically had no good answer for me so I sent it back. It had other design issues which also made it unsuitable for me so overall it was good decision to get rid of it before it failed when I needed it most.
I own four wading staffs and they are all aluminum, none has ever failed me and I want to keep it that way.
