Suggestions on new wading boots

[okumasheffield]

Started looking into getting myself a new pair of wading boots

 

What I have worn for two year is Chata Felt Sole with added studs and I have always complaint about

how easy it is to get ice stuck under the felt sole and how difficult it is to walk up slippery muddy hills

 

have seen and been advised by other anglers to get a pair of hiking boot with rubber thread to reduce ice stuck under

and to improve walking on slippery muddy hill with additional studs to provde grips on ice.

 

Not sure if so-called wading boots are any different from other boots and differences between different wading boots

 

Thanks

[okumasheffield]

Any recommendations?

[solopaddler]

Only one choice on boots, either Simms or LL Bean with studded aquastealth soles.

Nothing else comes close.

[JohnF]

Any recommendations?

 

I picked up a pair of Hodgman felt soled boots last spring for $40 or $50 (I believe they were on sale though) and they've stood up really well. I make a point of removing the insole and turning them upside down to dry at night. Admittedly they're only a season old but other than some scuffing and mudstains they're as good as new.

 

The felt soles are great for the slippery rocks and flat bottom we wade on. They're a bit of a trial when climbing up or down grassy or muddy banks. I often end up on my butt or crawling on my knees getting in or out of the water but I wouldn't go back to rubber cleated soles for my kind of fishing, and my stained knees and butt actually gives my waders a camo look.

 

I haven't tried studs but I doubt they'd be very good on flat rock riverbeds.

 

JF

[JohnF]

Only one choice on boots, either Simms or LL Bean with studded aquastealth soles.

Nothing else comes close.

 

Yeah sure. But yer rich and you fish 13 hours per day.

 

JF

[solopaddler]

Yeah sure. But yer rich and you fish 13 hours per day.

 

JF

 

Seriously aquastealth soles are the best.

 

Lug soles are useless without strap on cleats and snow sticks to felt soles.

 

The studded aquastealth have a gummy rubber sole with tiny carbide tips embedded.

They're fantastic on all surfaces, no other sole is that versatile.

 

(BTW it's only the very wealthy or very poor who can afford to fish all the time. I'm neither, somewhere in the middle I think. )