The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Info from two sources, one living in New Zealand says that Felt soled boots will not be permitted into the country as of beginning 2010, or earlier.

I have Aquastealth soles [w/o studs] on LL Bean boots - very happy with grippyness, but I am not a very aggressive wader.

Good friend recommends not buying waders with a fly - you'll NEVER buy a pair without again.

My local fly shop, Central Coast Fly Fishing has been discounting his felt soled Simms boots - might give him a call on Tuesday.... http://www.centralcoastflyfishing.com/

Goood luck!

By coincidence I'm headed there this coming weekend! I'll stop by and check them out.

I usually wear my waders as waist highs anyways, so it's pretty easy for me to "drop trau(sp?)", for my business. Thankfully I'm still of the age where my tank is large enough that it only gets full 3-4 times a day while on the stream.

At some of the high end prices, it seems like I could get two mid-range waders, that (combined lifetime) would last as long as one pair of the spendier ones?

Thanx for the heads-up on the sale.

I ran into Simon Gawesworth of Rio lines at the American when he was giving a bunch of shop guys and guides a clinic on Spey casting. He was testing a pair of Redington zippered waders. He said that he fished in them all winter and spring without failure.

Keep in mind that Redington is part of the Farbank group (Sage, Rio, Redington).

AB

I have the Simms Felt-Studded Freestone boot. Maybe two years old.
Those carbide studs rule. I would have thought they would be worn down
by now, but they are still going strong. I can't
imagine a hex head screw lasting that long.

That's a bummer on the Streamtread. I was hoping to get away from felt
but looks like I'll stick with it until it's no longer offered.

anglernut

I am going to start jogging in my STs so they wear out sooner, then I can get another pair of felts(might just anyways).

Really not happy with the STs. They are great getting to and from the water, but once in the water, ummm...not so great. Not even close to great, in fact not even close to "not so great".

Bought them because of the environmental plusses, hopefully the next generation will be better rock gippers.

Felts with cleats are still the best.

...the hex nuts do wear out a lot quicker than the carbide studs in a nice pair of wading boots. I do replace the nuts in the felt in my boots once, occasionally twice, a year. However, by the time I go through a box of 100 hex nuts, it's usually time to replace the boots anyhow. Six o' one, half dozen o' the other...

--FlyGuy (Dave)

That's a bummer. I thought they were onto something there with those ST soles.

I may look at the Chota STL's next pair of boots. My buddy swears by them and
beats the living crap out of everything he owns- he ought to be a field tester!

Thanks for the details on the Simms STs.

anglernut

Agreed. I fished with just felt the other day...pretty slippery.
Studs usually help me a ton....well, not at the Pit
last week. Thank god for wet wading cuz going in didn't matter!

I may just start wading in a full neoprene wetsuit at the Pit, seeing how
i fall in every damn time I fish there. Not fun in fall/winter.
Can you say Shrinkage!

anglernut