an observation about my non-felt boots

I bought a pair of Cabela's Guidewear wading boots with the vibram soles a few weeks ago. I used them a couple of times on the upper Skagit, which I thought was a good test. They performed pretty damned well. Then yesterday I used them on the upper Sky and they were pretty good there too. I had been skeptical of non-felt soles but the last few trips turned me into a believer.
Today I fished the NF Stilly and traction was HORRIBLE. I've never slipped around that much. Any rocks I stepped on that were under any amount of water were like wading on greased bowling balls. I fish the Stilly a lot and it's never been tougher wading than other rivers. Out of the places I frequent, the upper Skagit stands out as being the slickest, yet these boots did fine there.
I don't know what it is about the north fork, but for some reason the vibram soles on these boots are worthless there. I didn't have a thermometer, but I wonder if the north fork is a touch warmer than the other two rivers and therefore the growing season for river slime starts a little earlier.

I made the mistake of wearing the Vibram soles on my Korkers the first time into an Idaho wilderness stream. They worked great hiking in on the trail but wading downriver while fishing on the way back, I could not believe how slippery they were. It was probably one of the worst experiences I ever had while fishing. Even though the fishing was great, I simply could not enjoy it as I literally had to crawl back downriver because the soles were so bad. I actually threw them away so that I couldn't even accidently bring them along on another trip. The felt and studded rubber have worked pretty good.

Do you have studs on your boots? I found that studs made a huge difference.

I have always used the term "greased billiard balls" for describing the NF Stilly. However, I have come to notice that this mainly applies to shallow areas where there is little current flow over the rocks. I have a pair of vibram sole wading boots & have found that I have to slow down quite a bit when I encounter such conditions. I've owned them for 3 years now and overall I've been very satisfied with these boots.

A couple of years ago I tested six different rubber-soled wading shoes for an article in F&TJ. Most of that testing was done on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish and I found that early in the season they worked better than a little later when the growth of algae on the rocks had increased. This was true of all six different pairs of boots. I believe another factor might be the amount of clay in that watershed; as flows begin to drop in the summer, the rocks ( particularly in areas of slower current) become coated with a thin, slippery layer of the blue clay so prevalent there.

All of the boots I tested had rubber soles without studs in order to evaluate the efficacy of the different rubber compounds and, as a comparison, I sometimes wore an old, felt-soled Weinbrenner on one foot and one of the rubber-soled boots on the other. While the traction of the rubber soles varied, none of them provided as secure a grip as the felt sole under any of the conditions encountered.

I bought a pair of Simms Guideboots a couple of seasons ago when they stopped making felt soles for a bit. My experience is that rubber alone was scary at times compared to my old felt boots. I put on the star cleats and also added an old set of studs I had never used. That combination seemed to work better than felt alone. I realized after fishing this weekend that both are getting worn out. The boots are still in good shape, but the cleats + stud approach is a bit pricey.

I don't recall anybody (other than some on this forum) EVER suggesting that Vibram soles BY THEMSELVES were better than felts. Since Simms discontinued offering felt soles on their boots, they needed to put something on the bottoms and for now it's ended up being Vibrams. (Note: I've got more than enough boots in my closet for now, so I'm unaware whether SImms might have reintroduced felts soles as was rumored earlier this year.)

Generally speaking, Vibram soles by themselves are not as good as felts. But unlike felts, the Vibram soles on SImms boots allow you to install screw-in aftermarket studs and star cleats that DRAMATICALLY improve traction on river bottoms. Instead of complaining about how Vibrams aren't as good as felts, try out the studs and (especially) the star cleats. IMHO, they're a HUGE improvement over felts - even studded felts.

K

Simms has felt http://www.simmsfishing.com/site/guide_boot_felt.html

I had to install studs to be able to safely wade the Green and Cedar also. I can't imagine going without them honestly. The studs work great.

Studs are not allowed in the drift boat. I'm wondering if it's worth the effort to put some strips of felt on the soles.

I considered the clay issue, but I got the same results on different parts of the river. I waded upstream of one of the tribs that carries a lot of clay and found no difference below that tributary, in it, or above it.
There wasn't much algae visible, but it wouldn't take much to be slick. I still wonder if it's a temperature/algae growth issue. The two other rivers I've used the boots on recently are larger and fed more by snow.

I own a couple of drift boats and have never had a problem using the simms aluminum star cleats or their hardbite cleats in the boat-spike cleats of course are not allowed-When I go with a fussy friend I take a 3x4 piece of outdoor carpet to put in the bottom of his boat-an easy solution and I don't slip.Alternately Korkers make a fantastic set of spiked sole boot bottoms that you strap on with cordura straps and clips--they are only about 75 bucks and go on and off quickly.Use your felt bottomed or Vibram bottomed boots and add these as necessary.I am not taliking of the slip in soles sold for the Korker convertable boots these are a seperate item.On certain of our rivers you need the spikes.

Has anyone tried the new Patagonia Aluminum Bar boots? They are really pricey, but a bad fall in the river could make them feel really cheap. Are they as good as advertised? Are they far better than studded vibram soled shoes?

I went to Simms vibram with star cleats a couple of years ago and will probably never go back to felt. Especially as rivers get tougher and tougher to wade every year. Next will come the wading staff and bifocals.

Carpet in the drift boat solves the abraison problems. It protects the boat from the cleats and reels and other gear from the non-skid on the boat.

Man if you think the Stilly is slick you have no idea what slick really is. In spite of my age, I would wade the Stilly in tennis shoes but want studded felt and a staff for most of the steelhead streams that are not on the coast.

Wade the Thompson if you want slick. lol

Correction: There is no river slimier than the Spokane river, period. I don't know if it's a mutant kind of algae, or the tirds that float downstream from Coeur d' Alene Lake. Either way, steel wool glued to your boots doesn't even work.

I have never waded the Spokane, but I have taken a few rides in the Thompson, lost a few friends to that river too. One has cairn beside the Thompson just north of Spences Bridge.

The new Patagonia boots are pretty phenomal. I got a chance to spend two weeks demoing a pair and if I could afford them I'd still be using them.

I've been in felt up until this past winter where I tried studded rubber. It didn't work out for me and I went back to felt come spring. My homewaters in northern california are slick slick slick.
The experience left me skeptical of anything non-felt so when I was handed the Bar Boots they spent the first three trips in the back of my truck before I finally mustered up the courage to give them a shot.
Was very very impressed with how they handled in the water and they did very well on the trail and I put off getting them back to the shop for a couple extra days.
No affiliation with Patagonia, but if they were a little bit cheaper I'd be wearing them today over felt.

Ive been using the new Patagonia boots with the aluminum bars for a couple of outings so far, and I am generally very impressed. The fit and materials are top notch. The laces have a pulley to enable a tight lace up. The aluminum bars take a bit of getting used to, and can be a bit sketchy when walking on some surfaces, like steel grates or even scrambling over a log jam...but in the water the grip is simply amazing. Now for the bad:

The aluminum is rather soft material, as you can imagine, and while that is the key to the grip, it also can distort to the point of tearing out the inserts into which the bars are screwed into. I had to remove one bar on each foot to reshape it on the vise, and epoxy the insert back into the sole of the boot. This procedure held up nicely the next time out. Ive sent this information to Patagonia but have yet to hear back. I will be glad to send pics of the boot damage via email, just shoot me a PM