Need new boots- felt or not?

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paflyfisherman

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I need to replace my worn out felt wading boots. I'm not sure if I should buy another set with felt ( I believe safer wading ) or the new rubber soles which (supposedly) are better for the environment. Also, any recent news regarding Pa, NY or NJ banning felt. Your opinions will be appreciated.
 
Ditch the felt and just stud the rubber soled boots. Just as safe and not a giant sponge perfectly suited to spreading didymo.
 
I've been using boots without felt for 2 years with good success. Studs and wading staff are helpful options to assist wading. I don't feel unstable and think the rubber soles are way better than they used to be.
 
Gotta say go with studded soles much better all around especially on packed muddy stream sides. Swithched from felt a few years back and much more confident in the studs. If your looking for a good boot simms is my favorite after trying both them and korkers.
 
Boots with studs and a wading staff get my vote.
 
Vibram rubber soles and studs. Rubber doesn't collect snow, is better in the mud, and won't spread didymo. As long as you have studs, you'll be fine. Don't try rubber soles without studs, trust me I learned the hard way.
 
I'll agree with all of the above!
 
X2 with all above. My Simms Riversheds are awesome. Especially if you do alot of hiking with your fishing.
 
Let me just say, I JUST made the switch from felt to studded. I did it because I needed new wading boots. I love the studs. I loved felt too, but I feel as if the studs are more diverse. I feel much more secure when I'm in the woods, hiking in, climbing over bolders and rocks and tree roots and things like that than I did in felt sole boots. Also, although it didn't snow a lot this winter, I managed to go fishing during both snow storms. The one in October particularly, I was getting huge amounts of snow on my felt boots. It was annoying and exhausting. I look forward to next winter not having that problem.
 
Thanks for your comments. Very helpful. I am surprised that , so far, everyone favors rubber.
 
paflyfisherman wrote:
Thanks for your comments. Very helpful. I am surprised that , so far, everyone favors rubber.

I'm on the felt side of the fence and always have been. I have another pair of cabelas felts to go through but then I'll probably try the new studded boots just to see how I like them.
 
Does anyone think the metal studs spook fish? It just seems to me that they probably make an awful, unnatural sound, like nails on a chalkboard, when sliding around on rocks underwater.
 
iceyguides wrote:
Does anyone think the metal studs spook fish? It just seems to me that they probably make an awful, unnatural sound, like nails on a chalkboard, when sliding around on rocks underwater.

My felts have studs and I fish creeks with some spooky fish and do not seem to have any problem. But heck its like anything, if don't use common sense and spash through water, you are going to spoke fish, studs or not. I think if you walk cautiously even with studs, you would be fine.
 
I just ditched felts and went with studded rubber. reason being the felts and mud do not mix i found out the hard way with a broken ankle. i just got the new simms vibrim rubber with studs and tried them out on the water for the first time Tuesday . they work just as good in the water as the felts and even better on land. and the new boa lace system is very cool.
 
It's nice seeing others enjoying their rubber soled boots. I made the switch 5 years ago, well before the push for prevention of invasives (didymo).

Currently, I own 5 pairs of wading boots - studded aquastealth, unstudded Aquastealth, studded felt, and 2 pairs of unstudded felt.

My favorites are by far the studded Aquastealth. For me, they grip better in every situation - in and out of the water. There is no situation where studded felt is better (for me), and I fish some pretty tough wading waters.

I actually like the unstudded Aquastealth as much as studded felts, and on land, they're far superior. For all but the slickest streams, they work just fine for me.

At the end of last year, I decided to start wearing my studded felts as much as possible, since they're in great shape, and I wanted to get some use out of them. I was shocked to find that they were almost dangerous compared to my studded Aquastealth boots!

Some people say that studded felt is the best for wading very slippery streams - not me. I'll never buy felt soled boots again.
 
I have the korkers chrome. I can change between felt and rubber. I am a felt guy period! I like the studded rubber but i feel studded felt blows it away. If i know i will be fishing somewhere new i will soak the felt. If i dont have time to soak the felt i just put in the studded rubber.
 
I just bought a non-felt, bootfoot set of waders and wore them for the first time today. I wish I had bought felt soles again. If I wear these this year without studding them or getting some slipover studded sandals (or find and use my old wader chains, which always seemed to bunch up), I am going to fall, break something and drown. I guess I should really bite the bullet and buy stockingfoots and get a pair of felted, studded wading boots. I fish many days per year, but I have never been able to justify that to myself -- but in the interest of safety, I might just have to do it. Again, I wish I had bought felted boots.
 
With good studs, I simply cannot think of any reason why anyone would need felt.
 
I've never used studs. Are they really that helpful? I have myself talked into buying a pair of expensive (for me) stockingfoots and wading boots. I am leaning toward boots with felt bottoms to which I can screw in studs that come with the boots.
You've got to understand that I've always liked lightweight, bootfoot waders and the breathables I tried today were my first set of those. I feel kind of funny even thinking about throwing out the kind of money I'm planning to spend on waders. I've never spent more than 69.95 on waders in my 45 years on the water. I'll probably check this again tonight sometime and then order what I'm going to order then. Geez, hundreds of dollars for waders!
 
Paflyfishermen,
Lots of good info here. One thing to consider is Do you fish from a boat with your boots? I fish a lot from canoes/kayaks and you don't want cleats as they'll tear up your boat. If you're only wading and don't see any situation where you'll be walking on anybody's porch or going indoors.....then by all means studs. Also, if you fish in Maryland you cannot have felts.
 
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