Defective Korkers Lurking In A Store Near You

You have to wear stream cleats of some kind to fish the Salmon River. Which is
a damned good idea if you don't want to put your ass on the line while wading.

Rather than renting Korkers again, I decided to invest in a pair.
Bought them locally, properly fitted by the dealer, all looked good.

And they gripped the stream bottom like a kitten on curtains - but just long
enough for me to get out to the far side of a hip-deep,
slipperier-than-puppy-poop freestone stream.

It was when I wanted to head back that the problem became apparent: I couldn't
keep my hold on the river bottom to save my ass from a soaking. I went down
twice before I got out of that spot. And later the same day I got into a
similar predicament that only a prompting by Paul to deploy my Folstaff kept
me from another dunking.

I thought I was just being careless, but later in the day, looking at the
bottom of the sandals, I realized I was missing 14 of the original 21 studs on
one boot, and 11 on the other. This from just a half day on the water. Then I
checked Paul's Korkers, and all but one of his studs were still present - and
that after many many days on the same river - and likely in the same spot.

When I got back home the local fly shop graciously refunded my money. Today I
called the folks at Korkers and found out exactly what I suspected: they had
made a design change to the soles and studs that proved to be a disaster,
causing the soles to shed studs with little provocation. Within two months
they had changed the design again to fix the problem, and the guy I spoke to
claimed they tried to get the defective stock returned, but achieved only
modest success.

So there's still a lot of these floating around in stores - and very likely at
distributors - waiting for some unsuspecting person to buy them and use them
to get into a tricky situation that they may not be able to get out of in a
dry, alive state.

I am 100% certain the defective sandals securely attached to my corpse would
have led to a whole supply chain being indicted with a very high likelihood of
conviction - or at least a healthy settlement (once again, another opportunity
for my spouse to obtain great wealth has slid by the board ;-)

Anyway...If you're considering a new pair of Korkers stream cleats, make sure
you buy model K1100 or K1100+ (the + has more cleats) or K5000 which use
threaded cleats that screw into metal receivers in the sole (although,
interestingly, the Korkers guy explained the K5000 requires much maintenance
to keep from corroding - I'd stay away from them based on what he told me...

Cheers - and safe wading...

/daytripper

daytripper wrote:
You have to wear stream cleats of some kind to fish the Salmon River. Which is
a damned good idea if you don't want to put your ass on the line while wading.

While fishing a the steelie water a couple hundred yards down from the
Altmar bridge, I actually hooked and landed a Korker, right foot, size
M. I have no information as to whether or not the original owner was
in it at the time it became part of the river bottom.

Maybe it's just me, but the river seemed much more slick this year. I
can usually dance around with Korkers on my boots, but I felt damned
insecure this year, even at those modest conditions. I'm fairly sure I
still have all my studs. I was told the river has been unusually low
this year because of work on the NIMO dam. Maybe that's had an effect
on the bottom growth and the resultant slipperiness. Maybe it's
because I gave my wading staff to the offspring. Maybe I'm just
getting to be an old guy.

Joe F.

"daytripper" wrote

So there's still a lot of these floating around in stores - and very
likely at
distributors - waiting for some unsuspecting person to buy them and use
them
to get into a tricky situation that they may not be able to get out of in
a
dry, alive state.

I am 100% certain the defective sandals securely attached to my corpse
would
have led to a whole supply chain being indicted with a very high
likelihood of
conviction - or at least a healthy settlement (once again, another
opportunity
for my spouse to obtain great wealth has slid by the board ;-)

have this addy laminated, and keep it in your wallet:
a. wayne harrison
attorney at law
101 s. elm st.
greensboro, nc
your estate, and my second wife, will thank you for this.

yfitons
wayno

daytripper wrote in
:

You have to wear stream cleats of some kind to fish the Salmon River.
Which is a damned good idea if you don't want to put your ass on the
line while wading.


I've waded the Salmon, and I've waded Penn's, and I'll take the Salmon any
day.

Good heads up about the Korkers, though.

If you're going to get into the trib bidness, I like my Bean Aquastealth,
studded. Helps stop those embarassing moments when you realize you're
walking on a half inch of ice that forms on your felts.

Of course, the drift boat guides don't appreciate your studs, but the good
ones put down carpet in the boat so you don't have to worry. The only
place that really can't accomodate the studs is that diner with the no
studs sign. Waders are fine, but no studs.


--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Wayne Harrison typed:
"daytripper" wrote

So there's still a lot of these floating around in stores - and very
likely at
distributors - waiting for some unsuspecting person to buy them and
use them
to get into a tricky situation that they may not be able to get out
of in a
dry, alive state.

I am 100% certain the defective sandals securely attached to my
corpse would
have led to a whole supply chain being indicted with a very high
likelihood of
conviction - or at least a healthy settlement (once again, another
opportunity
for my spouse to obtain great wealth has slid by the board ;-)

have this addy laminated, and keep it in your wallet:
a. wayne harrison
attorney at law
101 s. elm st.
greensboro, nc
your estate, and my second wife, will thank you for this.

There is something very, very wrong with pre-ambulance chasing. ;-)
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:56:26 -0400, "Tim J."
wrote:


Wayne Harrison typed:
"daytripper" wrote

So there's still a lot of these floating around in stores - and very
likely at
distributors - waiting for some unsuspecting person to buy them and
use them
to get into a tricky situation that they may not be able to get out
of in a
dry, alive state.

I am 100% certain the defective sandals securely attached to my
corpse would
have led to a whole supply chain being indicted with a very high
likelihood of
conviction - or at least a healthy settlement (once again, another
opportunity
for my spouse to obtain great wealth has slid by the board ;-)

have this addy laminated, and keep it in your wallet:
a. wayne harrison
attorney at law
101 s. elm st.
greensboro, nc
your estate, and my second wife, will thank you for this.

There is something very, very wrong with pre-ambulance chasing. ;-)

Sounds more like coroner's van-chasing...I have no idea why this
reminded me of this joke, but it did:

A state cop is on his first day in a rural assignment area. He sees and
starts chasing a speeding luxury car, rare in those parts. He hits his
lights, and then his siren, and nothing - the car keeps going. The cop
gets the sense that while the driver isn't stopping or slowing down, he
isn't driving REALLY crazy, either, so runs the plates and the car is
registered to a well-known community leader. He can't really figure out
what's going on, and he doesn't really know the, er, "local score," so
he calls in to his supervisor for advice. The supervisor says just stay
with the car and he'll be right there and join the "chase." As soon as
the supervisor is visible, the car pulls right over. The cop and his
supervisor get out, and so does the driver. "What the hell are you
doing, pal?," asks the cop. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry, officer...my wife ran
off with one of your fellow officers last week, and I was afraid it was
him trying to give her back..."

TC,
R

I've waded the Salmon, and I've waded Penn's, and I'll take the Salmon any
day.

Scott

I've never been to the Salmon but I've always thought Penn's is
difficult wading compared to other local streams.

Glad to hear agreement.

vince

I agree Penns is slickI have yet to really do a full Ried or a Bumpo in
the water but damn i have slipped on the friggin mud trying to get out
or into the water more time than I care to remember.......Will proberly
fall on my ass this weekend again...........

"Mike" wrote in message
oups.com...

I agree Penns is slickI have yet to really do a full Ried or a Bumpo in
the water but damn i have slipped on the friggin mud trying to get out
or into the water more time than I care to remember.......Will proberly
fall on my ass this weekend again...........


mike.... try a pirate slide ;-)

waldo

"ezflyfisher" wrote in news:gX3_g.535
:


"Mike" wrote in message
oups.com...

I agree Penns is slickI have yet to really do a full Ried or a Bumpo in
the water but damn i have slipped on the friggin mud trying to get out
or into the water more time than I care to remember.......Will proberly
fall on my ass this weekend again...........


mike.... try a pirate slide ;-)

waldo




Good to hear from you, Waldo. That was some slide. I have that picture of
you and Op in the cabin showing the aftermath!!



--
Scott