Multiple wading boots

[dryflyguy]

Aqua Stealth. that was it. Better than any rubber sole i've used but nothing like good old felt. It was a stiff boot. Let my kid use them on Penns during a Jam many moons ago and he came back missing the entire bottom of the shoe. Not just the sole but the whole bottom fell off and he waded back on the bottom of his waders. got em used and cheap and got several year out of them so I was good but went back to felt.

I had a pair of bean boots do the same thing.
Believe they were called River Treads, or something like that.
They were like 10 years old at the time, so I certainly got my use out of them.
But, yeah, the whole bottom of the boot came off.
I had to walk gingerly back to the truck, with the bootie bottom the only thing between my foot and the ground.
Never had that happen with any other boot

 

[dryflyguy]

Having come to the conclusion that not one type of sole works good in all streams and the fact I seem to go through wading boots faster than I do waders. I decided to have multiple pairs of wading boots with different soles.

I have been using Simms G3s with rubber soles and studs. They are great for a lot of creeks and for the hike in. But streams with "greased bowling balls" not so much.

I decided to get a pair of felt bottom boots and found a lightly used pair of Weinbrenner felt soles:
View attachment 1641236576

They work great in the creek but are slick as snot in the mud. I literally couldn't climb up the bank and had to crawl out.

I ordered some Yaktrax to use out of the stream and store in my pack while fishing.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I don't think the mid sole has enough meat to hold studs.

I found a pair of those Weinbrenners at the flea market table of our Cabin Fever show , quite awhile ago now.
Size 12, felt soles with carbide studs.

Great traction wth good support.
But they are kinda heavy

 

[dryflyguy]

I like felt soles, and still think they give the best traction
After a year or two, the felt does wear down, and they start losing traction.
Then I'll either add studs, or replace the soles

 

[Bamboozle]

I'll add one thing to the discussion of felt, there is felt and there is FELT...

The first pair of wading shoes I ever owned was a pair of Russell's that were essentially a custom made & fitted leather wading shoe with a canvas upper. Later Russell updated the shoes with heavy nylon uppers because the canvas would eventually dry rot.

Russell would put any sole you wanted on their shoes as evidenced by the custom AquaStealth rubber bottomed pair I own. However, the normal shoes featured VERY thick REAL WOOL felt on the soles & heels that was glued & stitched with glue & screws used to secure the stacked heel. The felt they used is the same very high quality & dense wool felt used for the mallets on a piano.

I've owned two pair of Russell Felt sole waders (I still have one pair in rotation) and the grip from the real wool felt is hands down better than any synthetic felt bottom I've ever used which includes the felt used on Korkers, Weinbrenner, Chota and any other felt bottomed wading shoes I've tried.

Russell shoes were pricey in the day but they were custom made to YOUR feet and super comfortable. Since they made the shoes from scratch, they offered any repairs needed including complete refurbishment in addition to resoling. New soles and heels were glued, stitched & screwed just like the originals.

The all leather shoes required TLC, but if you took care of them they lasted a LONG, LONG time, longer than any other shoe I've used since. That might explain why I still have two pair I've been using for decades.

Russell Moccasin discontinued the wading shoes a while back because of all of the imported synthetic competition however they would still make a pair as a special order. Sadly the company was sold a few years ago, the custom fitting and all of the custom work & choices are a thing of the past and the prices on their regular shoes & boots has at minimum doubled.

 

[jifigz]

I don't mean to troll, but I respectfully disagree that fishing Penns or LJR is is dangerous of even very tough using rubber soles. Are there a few, limited places, maybe. But as a rule people should not fear rubber on these streams.

I've always been fine. I've never had felt or studs, just plain rubber.

I have a brand new pair of boots right now. They just showed up. I can't wait to try em out tomorrow!

 

[Kms]

I tried Vibram soles and skated, then added aluminum cleats which noticeably improved traction, but all you felt fans convinced me to grab some closeout felt G3s from eBay.

Simms studs on sale here btw (20 for $20)

Simms HardBite Wading Boot Studs for Sale | Slide Inn

Enhance your wading grip with Simms HardBite Stud. Slide Inn offers the HardBite wading boot studs for superior traction and safety on your fishing trips.

www.slideinn.com