Vibram Simms soles

[sothereiwas]

I'm in need of new boots. The fact that felt is going away is as good a reason as any to take the plunge and get the new soles. My only hang up is I'm a die hard believer in studs. I have been doing a lot more fishing in the winter. There are many times I wish I was 6'6" when wading but 6" of snow stuck to the bottom of my boots isn't exactly what I had in mind.

Anybody tried these out yet with the Simms screw in studs?

[Jim Grant]

I bought a pair of the Simms Rivershead Aquastealth studded boots for my trip to NZ....love em. Fished/hiked a lot over slick and algae covered rocks found them very grippy and comfortable/light. Some hikes were 3+ hrs and they were as good as hiking boots. Read other reports that people find them slick/non grippy but that was not my experience.

Probably some still around in stock in various stores, but the new deal is the Vibram soles....also the studs on the riversheds are not screw in and may wear down after a while...

Hope that helps.

Jim

[sothereiwas]

Thanks Jim. I ordered some new Freestones with the Vibram soles. I'll let everyone know how they work out. I plan on taking a couple trips before I put the studs in. So I should have a well rounded review.

Brad

[Jim Grant]

Brad,
I look forward to your review. I really wanted the new Vibrams but could not find any store who had them (or from Simms directly) prior to my trip at the end of December. If they are an improvement over the aquastealth with non-removeable studs I would say they should be pretty darn good.

Cheers,
Jim

[golfman65]

I'm interested as well as I use the screw in studs when I'm up on the T. (My feet won't fit the bailey aluminum cleats) it's better then nothing BUT I still go for a swim just about every trip..the screw in's work fine for down here but SUCK when you walking into a run over a half mile bar with those freaking round boulders...It's nothing but constant ankle sprangs just about...

I sure hope the new soles work but can't see anything with a rubber compound being as sticky as felt..hope I'm wrong on these as I'm sick of wearing out my felts every year..

[Tom Johnston]

I wonder how they hold up to salt water fishing? Oyster/clam beds??? My felts are getting worn down and Ive not even had them close to a year! They are Simms Freestones too...

[Preston]

Don't expect to hear much soon. I talked to Simms' marketing manager yesterday and the first shipments of the new Vibram-soled boots have just come off the boat. It'll be a while before anyone can give you an accurate review.

[sothereiwas]

The shop I'm getting mine from had limited sizes in stock, but had my size

[riseform]

I'll undoubtedly be getting these as I've been very happy with my current aquastealth soles for many years. The option of removable studs makes this a no brainer. Pardon my ignorance, but can anyone tell me how these Hard Bite boot studs attach?

[sothereiwas]

They're screws. They look to be 1/4" drive and the perfect length for the soles. They come in different lengths based on the style of sole you have. I remember my dad putting 1/4" drive 1/2" galvanized screws in his old felts before stud were available. The worked good then should work good now

[SSPey]

I've been using the Vibrams for the past month. They're quite nice, FAR better than aquastealth. On my local waters, they grip most everything as well or even better than felt, but for some reason they're slicker than snot on some of the larger, flatter river rocks (more like bedrock chunks). I can't exactly figure out why they're ok on some rocks, but not on others. Might be related to micro-topography on some of the rocks, or the type of algae. Overall they're quite nice and a good replacement for felt - they've got felt beat by a large margin in every other category.

Simms is coming out with specific screw-in studs for the Vibrams, they go into the circular knobs on the sole. They told me Feb release on these studs. I don't know what makes them unique, but Simms are not recommending their current screw-ins for these new soles

[halcyon]

For your information and planning pleasure, George Cook the Simms rep in the PNW mentioned that the screw in studs seat best if installed using a power drill instead of doing it by hand.

[Bob Triggs]

Simms never has disappointed me with anything I have of theirs. I just wish they had not discontinued the simpler guideweight waders. The Aquastealth wader boot soles were really the best wader boot I ever had. But I sometimes felt like more tread depth was needed. I have been looking forward to the Simms Vibram soled wader boots for a while. cant wait to try them this winter on the snowy and icy trails.

[steelydan]

from the classifieds....
Re: FS - New Simms Vibram-Soled Freestone Boots

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I will be honest w you....I hate these boots. I got them bc I want to move away from felts. Like all Simms, they are well made, but with the new Vibram rubber sole, which is reportedly "better than felt." I wore them for one day on the Rapidan River in VA, which is a pretty small freestone mountain stream. They are nice for the hike in - very comofrtable - but, for the streams I fish out here (VA/MD/PA), they are pretty much worthless. They are terrible on smooth rocks, felt like I was wading in dress shoes. That said, judging from all the breathless reviews leading up to the release of this new sole, I may be in the minority.

They are well made and these obviously held up over the afternoon I used them . The soles just don't mesh with the streams I fish out here.

[riseform]

So is there a metal threaded sleeve that the stud screws into, or is it just going into a firm knob on the boot? The former would seem to be more realistic for repeated removal (drift boat versus wading days) as long as there was a Vibram rubber cap to screw in on non studded days to keep the threads clean.