Selling shoes is not the dream profession. Being my quasi link to the so-called “real world”, working at a local sporting goods store has its ups and downs. One of the advantages is being able to sell waders and wading boots.
Spring is a great time of year to upgrade yoru wading boots. As mentioned in an earlier post, good wading boots are an essential part of your fly fishing equipment.
But what to buy? There are so many choices available today. Wading boots have come a long way in recent years. One of the real rising trends is the move away from felt soles. The main reason for this is to help stop the spread of aquatic nuisance species.
Felt soles are just the kind of environment most of those invasive organisms love. Didymo, otherwise known as rock snot, zebra and quagga mussels and more are easily transmitted from stream to stream in felt soles. The best way to prevent this is to throughly clean and dry your gear after every trip. For more information, visit The Center For Aquatic Nuisance Species. Rubber soles are much easier to clean, and don’t provide as many hiding places for harmful parasites.
If you are like me, then you have had your doubts about the effectiveness of rubber soles on slick river rocks. The best way to improve your grip is with studs. Several models of wading boots have studs that you can screw in and out to fit the situation. I really like boots like this, becuase you don’t have to wear down your studs everytime you walk around.
Some companies, such as Patagonia, have been working on developing a better kind of rubber. Patagonia’s offering, 
sticky rubber, seems to work very well. Tom Chandler over at The Trout Underground did a good review of these boots here. Simms is another company that is taking rubber soles seriously. The Bozeman-based company has promised to stop using felt in their wading boots by 2010. Their sole technology, called Cleanstream, is currently offered on six different boot models. Cleanstream is designed with Vibram soles, an industry leader in durability and stickiness.
One of my favorite ideas in the wading boot world is interchangeable soles. Korkers makes excellent boots with this feature. The company manufactures seven or eight different soles, from felt to hiking to studded rubber, that can be switched to fit the current situation the best. Not having to buy several pairs of boots for the year is a plus.
