DIY Wading Boots

[MattT]

Hey Everyone. 

Looking at wading boots, and also my wallet... and the two aren't friends. Thought about getting a cheap pair of hiking boots and having at it. I talked with a few people who mentioned slipping being a problem... and came up with the idea to throw these on the bottom.  Has anyone tried this? Success stories/ warnings?

[TurbineBlade]

The late Jack Gartside apparently wore a pair of cheap loafers as wading boots over top of his waders.  I see no reason not to try it out.  

Gene

[Jeffrey Silvan]

What material is holding the spikes? If it is plastic, I wonder how slippery that would be? The only situation it should matter would be uneven rocks where the bridge of your foot ends up being the contact point. I image the hiking boots would be about the same level of durability, but make sure you consider that so you don't end up spending more by buying those spikes and several pairs of hiking boots when you could have just bought one pair of wading boots.

You may also want to consider mesh sides or poking small holes in the sides. My wading boots have those holes to allow water to drain out. Maybe also to help prevent an air bubble from building in the toes.

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[Scott Stankus]

The other thing to consider is that wading boots are made to be wet and dry quickly. I image most hiking boots will take a long time to dry fully (up to a week?) and may begin to rot/break down. 

Also, for the sake of the waters you'll be in, you always want to let boots and other gear dry completely before entering a new water shed to prevent the spread of invasive species. Using hiking boots that take a long time to fully dry could limit your fishing opportunities. 

--Scott

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[Matthew Longley]

I was in the same place as you last year (you can probably find that thread in the forum).  I bought a pair of low hiking boots at target for 30 bucks, and used those for maybe 9 months, during which I completely tore them apart.  Those things aren't made for that kind of use, so you'll want to budget in at least a pair a year.  Got a pair of grey ghost wader boots from beans over xmas, cost about $80 on sale, and the difference is night and day.  They are much more stable, MUCH lighters, and they dry really quickly (as opposed to sitting damp for a week).  So basically I was in the same position as you, everyone on the forum told me to just buy boots, and now I'm parroting them.

As for the cleats, I have a pair of Yak tracks that I put over my (unstudded) wading boots and they work pretty well.  Just check them occasionally to make sure they are staying on.

On Saturday, January 25, 2014 11:29:08 AM UTC-5, Scott S wrote:

The other thing to consider is that wading boots are made to be wet and dry quickly. I image most hiking boots will take a long time to dry fully (up to a week?) and may begin to rot/break down. 

Also, for the sake of the waters you'll be in, you always want to let boots and other gear dry completely before entering a new water shed to prevent the spread of invasive species. Using hiking boots that take a long time to fully dry could limit your fishing opportunities. 

--Scott

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 25, 2014, at 11:21 AM, Jeffrey Silvan <jeffre...@gmail.com> wrote:

What material is holding the spikes? If it is plastic, I wonder how slippery that would be? The only situation it should matter would be uneven rocks where the bridge of your foot ends up being the contact point. I image the hiking boots would be about the same level of durability, but make sure you consider that so you don't end up spending more by buying those spikes and several pairs of hiking boots when you could have just bought one pair of wading boots.

You may also want to consider mesh sides or poking small holes in the sides. My wading boots have those holes to allow water to drain out. Maybe also to help prevent an air bubble from building in the toes.

On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 11:11 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:

The late Jack Gartside apparently wore a pair of cheap loafers as wading boots over top of his waders.  I see no reason not to try it out.  

Gene

On Saturday, January 25, 2014 10:45:07 AM UTC-5, MattT wrote:

Hey Everyone. 

Looking at wading boots, and also my wallet... and the two aren't friends. Thought about getting a cheap pair of hiking boots and having at it. I talked with a few people who mentioned slipping being a problem... and came up with the idea to throw these on the bottom.  Has anyone tried this? Success stories/ warnings?

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[Andrew Wiggins]

Last year, I took my wife steelheading a number of times on Lake Erie tribs and hacked together some wading boots for her based on old hiking boots. Being oversized they fit the wader booties and a number of pairs of socks well. The height was also good as it is easy to roll your ankle wading. For studs, necessary for the shale on those rivers, I used carbide ice-screws, which are pretty cheap (http://www.koldkutter.com/catalog/index.php). The other key was to drill holes in the boots so that they could drain for this I matched the pattern on my wading boots. If you're interested I went a little nuts (no pun intended) and bought a 250 pack of the ice screws -- I'd be happy to share if you need some.  

Good luck,

Andrew

On Saturday, January 25, 2014 10:45:07 AM UTC-5, MattT wrote:

[peter odell]

Its all where you fish.  I've had nowhere near the slips here compared to the Deschutes in Oregon, which required good boots and a waading staff to stay upright most of the time.  What is the slippriest river around the VA/MD area?

[namfos]

Savage River, in my experience. But then I could just be a klutz with balance problems, or I forgot my wading staff at hom

Mark

[Eric Y.]

A long time ago, I used some worn out New Balance 991s as wading shoes over my waders. I cut all the mesh parts out and removed the insole. I started with a set of those ice over-soles and they worked alright (the black parts are rubber) and then I eventually put some STABILicers in the soles - about 9 or 10 per shoe. They worked great, actually. Eventually a I got a pair of bootfoots and threw out the NBs, and now I'm back in stocking foots with studded boots. They have fewer studs (which could be remedied with some STABILicers) and so not as good of traction as the NBs and not quite as nice to wear with neoprene socks for wet wading. 

TL/DR: STABILicers are a good bet if you have a pair of shoes you want to make dedicated wading shoes. Short of that, those over-soles will work okay. 

[Dalton Terrell]

A while back there was a discussion of wet wading shoes, and McFly suggested the possibility of gluing indoor-outdoor carpet to some Chuck Taylors. This option probably won't give much comfort or support but is certainly affordable.

Dalton

[Luke Moon]

I hit up Goodwill in the spring and got a cheap and well worn pair of hiking books for $10. The rubber on the soles were a bit hard so I roughed it up with a file and drilled some holes for drainage. Worked great.

[john]

Actually what Dalton mentioned is not that crazy, I remember as a kid when the stocking foot waders first came out the wading boots consisted of a wool sock and an oversize pair of Chuck Taylor's or similar sneaker/boot setup at least that's what I remember. I have some old pictures from my dad of guys doing this, also as a kid we would take a pair of hip boots and glue carpet to the bottom to make the rubber bottoms less slippery. I would not recommend this today especially with all that's available, I just through away two old pair (Gary Borger wading shoes) a few weeks back I would have given them away if I knew anyone had an interest in them. Anyway I see Orvis has a basic pair for $90 and I get a 25$ discount coupon from them all the time so $65 is decent I'm sure llbean, cabelas, etc have some inexpensive options. I would go this route have good footwear so you don't fall, slip, etc in the river and get hurt or worse.

[Matthew Longley]

Just remember if you glue carpet on the boots you can't wear them in Maryland...

On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 9:37 PM, john <jmat...@gmail.com> wrote:

Actually what Dalton mentioned is not that crazy, I remember as a kid when the stocking foot waders first came out the wading boots consisted of a wool sock and an oversize pair of Chuck Taylor's or similar sneaker/boot setup at least that's what I remember.  I have some old pictures from my dad of guys doing this, also as a kid we would take a pair of hip boots and glue carpet to the bottom to make the rubber bottoms less slippery.  I would not recommend this today especially with all that's available, I just through away two old pair (Gary Borger wading shoes) a few weeks back I would have given them away if I knew anyone had an interest in them.  Anyway I see Orvis has a basic pair for $90 and I get a 25$ discount coupon from them all the time so $65 is decent I'm sure llbean, cabelas, etc have some inexpensive options.  I would go this route have good footwear so you don't fall, slip, etc in the river and get hurt or worse.

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[namfos]

http://www.dsd.state.md.us/COMAR/getfile.aspx?file=08.02.19.07.htm: 

"An individual may not use footgear with external felt soles in State waters or within five feet of State waters" 

Info here, http://bit.ly/yGGBrX and 2014 MD fishing guide here: http://bit.ly/LjLznn

Mark

[Eric Y.]

I don't know if this counts as a commercial post, but the Goodwill on Glebe Road in Arlington had a pair of Orvis wading boots for a very reasonable price. Felt soles, but they were in very serviceable condition - perhaps even previously owned by a club member. 

[Richard Farino]

There in lies the conundrum.  Korkers came out with a pair of insert for their boots called SVELTE.  It's like a lofty Scotch-Brite pad, and works well, but when sent to MD DNR they listed it a porous substance and said it would be treated as felt.

I guess it depends on the enforcing officer whether or not he'll consider carpet a "porous substance".

R

Richard Farino

Urban Angler VA | 108 N. Washington Street  2nd Floor | Alexandria, VA 22314 

(703) 527-2524 | fax: (703) 527-3313 | ric...@urbanangler.com    

From: namfos <mark....@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:32 AM
To: <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: DIY Wading Boots

"An individual may not use footgear with external felt soles in State waters or within five feet of State waters" 

Info here, http://bit.ly/yGGBrX and 2014 MD fishing guide here: http://bit.ly/LjLznn

Mark

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:11:02 AM UTC-5, Matthew Longley wrote:

Just remember if you glue carpet on the boots you can't wear them in Maryland...

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[Matthew Longley]

Anyone ever strip the felt off of felt wading boots and refinish with rubber?  Wondering how well that would work.  I scored a pair of brand new neoprene waders (felt boot foot) for my little sister at goodwill, and was thinking of doing that for her.

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[Bruce Mathews]

Searching Google for "diy vibram soles"  turned up some interesting re-cover kits for rubber soles...........

https://www.google.com/search?q=diy+vibram+soles&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7cznUpz-DbHjsASRvYLgAQ&ved=0CGAQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=985#imgdii=_

 

Bruce Mathews
703.772.7167

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 10:17 AM, Matthew Longley <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:

Anyone ever strip the felt off of felt wading boots and refinish with rubber?  Wondering how well that would work.  I scored a pair of brand new neoprene waders (felt boot foot) for my little sister at goodwill, and was thinking of doing that for her.

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:10 AM, Eric Y. <theeri...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't know if this counts as a commercial post, but the Goodwill on Glebe Road in Arlington had a pair of Orvis wading boots for a very reasonable price. Felt soles, but they were in very serviceable condition - perhaps even previously owned by a club member. 

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:39:14 AM UTC-5, namfos wrote:

http://www.dsd.state.md.us/COMAR/getfile.aspx?file=08.02.19.07.htm: 

"An individual may not use footgear with external felt soles in State waters or within five feet of State waters" 

Info here, http://bit.ly/yGGBrX and 2014 MD fishing guide here: http://bit.ly/LjLznn

Mark

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:11:02 AM UTC-5, Matthew Longley wrote:

Just remember if you glue carpet on the boots you can't wear them in Maryland...

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[TurbineBlade]

Vibram soles are not good for anything other than slack water, silt bottom streams IMO -- I don't care what the tag on the boot says or what random unpublished source they reference for "cling-on" data.  They're also good if you have to walk over a lot of pavement to get to a stream so you don't sound like King Krispy (like one of the cereal box guys but blown-up 1000 times) walking around.  

However, vibram soles with studs are the jimmy jam. I use those 98% of the time (I make sure that 2 out of every 100 times I fish I use something else just to maintain the statistic)-- only using felts when I'm in this one spot on the Jackson river where it seems to do better.  

Gene

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 10:32:43 AM UTC-5, Bruce wrote:

Searching Google for "diy vibram soles"  turned up some interesting re-cover kits for rubber soles...........

https://www.google.com/search?q=diy+vibram+soles&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7cznUpz-DbHjsASRvYLgAQ&ved=0CGAQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=985#imgdii=_

 

Bruce Mathews
703.772.7167

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 10:17 AM, Matthew Longley <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:

Anyone ever strip the felt off of felt wading boots and refinish with rubber?  Wondering how well that would work.  I scored a pair of brand new neoprene waders (felt boot foot) for my little sister at goodwill, and was thinking of doing that for her.

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:10 AM, Eric Y. <theeri...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't know if this counts as a commercial post, but the Goodwill on Glebe Road in Arlington had a pair of Orvis wading boots for a very reasonable price. Felt soles, but they were in very serviceable condition - perhaps even previously owned by a club member. 

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:39:14 AM UTC-5, namfos wrote:

http://www.dsd.state.md.us/COMAR/getfile.aspx?file=08.02.19.07.htm: 

"An individual may not use footgear with external felt soles in State waters or within five feet of State waters" 

Info here, http://bit.ly/yGGBrX and 2014 MD fishing guide here: http://bit.ly/LjLznn

Mark

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:11:02 AM UTC-5, Matthew Longley wrote:

Just remember if you glue carpet on the boots you can't wear them in Maryland...

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[Nedak]

Dan- check this to make sure it doesn't violate the buy/sell/trade prohibition

Andrew-

I would like to trade a beer or two at the next mutually convenient beer tie for a handful of the ice screws.

I am gonna try to make March.

John