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Wet Wading Shoe Cross Comparison // Boots vs. Shoes vs. Sandals & Rubber vs. Felt
There are pros and cons to all the various shoe styles that we sell and use for wet wading during the summertime. We like 'em all and there is a niche product there for everyone.
The video here has a lot of intel but here is a short list of pro's and cons.
1. Wading Boots - You can use your standard wading boots for the best ankle support, traction, and wading confidence. I like to set mine up with the Korker's Wet Wading Conversion Kit, this is a NO BRAINER. It fills the additional gap left that waders and a pair of wool socks would have left. Instead of big sloppy boots, you'll have a snug fitting boot with less dead space for water to fill up. Good system and cheap. The downsides of wading boots is they are big and heavy when walking outside the river, they stay wet a long time, and its more to pack if you are doing some light wading on a road trip.
2. Shoes - I wear the Simms Pursuit Shoe a fair amount. It's a really good shoe and this model offers a neoprene "gasket" if you will and eliminates most sand and gravel from getting inside and pestering the heck out of you. Shoes are nice because I often wear them both on the water and off the water as an everyday footwear. The downsides of shoes are that if they don't have a way to prevent pebbles from getting in, you'll get rocks inside and you have to take the shoe completely off to get rid of these. In comparison to boots they lack support and are terrible in angular boulder rock.
3. Sandals - These are great because you can "wash" the pebbles out by shaking your foot around in current and those little rocks that drive you insane are easy to get rid of. Sandals also make a great daily shoe if you are going somewhere and packing space is limited. They lack the protection of a shoe and a boot, and are the worst in angular boulders.
Rubber vs. Felt Soles
Another topic of discussion is "Felt vs. Rubber"? A common question! I've decided to include another video in which I wore one felt sole and compared it to a rubber soled boot on my other foot.
Here's the jist! Rubber is much better for anglers that spend a lot of time hiking to/from or outside the river. The traction on these soles will keep you upright and you'll be able to ascend and descend steep hills without falling on your ass. The downside... rubber has come a long ways but is still way behind felt when it comes to in river traction. The felt wins especially in angular boulder rock.
Studs or cleats? These sure help on slick rocks but you have to consider whether or not you'll want these as they are awful when walking down a paved road or spending a lot of time hiking on dry riverbeds. Studs only enhance traction in the water, my experience has been that they are much slicker on dry rocks. It's a tradeoff. My personal program if I feel compelled to wear studs is the Korker's Devil's Canyon (or other interchangeable Korker's boot) and keep a set of studded felt soles that I plug in. I love these in slick boulders, nothing better.
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