Non-felt wading boots review

On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:20:04 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

Alex Bell, a fly fishing guide in Sylva, North Cackcalacky reviews
some new wading boots with the non-felt soles in today's Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...how_index.html

I guess he likes the Korkers better than the Simms.

Has anybody tried the Chota RockLoc with the rubber soles and
optional cleats ? I love my Chota STL Plus but they're showing
their age and I want to replace them with something that's
not felt. And I ain't paying over $200 for a pair of Korkers.


I've been wet wading for the last month with first generation Aqua
Stealth soled wading boots. They are fantastic on dry rock but really
not much better than sneakers on the algae covered rocks we have
around here in the bass rivers. Finally I got sick of slipping and
sliding and yesterday threw a pair of insoles inside my studded felt
boots and cinched them up tight.

So much nicer, no comparison.

Rubber sole technology will have to go *a lot* farther before I
willingly give up my felts. I can rationalize my use of felts easy
enough. After all I don't seee the ducks and herons sterilizing their
feet between watersheds. I am also willing to bet that most fishermen
will forgo treating their rubber soled boots, thinking that felt was
the problem and therefor any gain that might be made against invasives
will be nullified by the critters that are imbedded in the nooks and
crannies of folks' $200 Simms.

BTW, Didymo is native to the northern tier of States and Canada. I
think something else is going on that is causing the explosion of
plankton in those areas and probably in areas where it isn't native.

(See, its not hard to rationalize anything when you really don't want
to believe something is true.)


George C.