darkshadow
Well-known member
California has the lowest and the highest elevation in the 48 states, which definitely gives our hydrology its personality. A gentle flowing glassy meadow that you can wade upstream for miles are far and between in my neck of the woods, and pocket water is the name of the game. "Wading" upstream means navigating huge granite boulders, log jams, swift moving water, and a litany of other impediments through amazing canyons that make your average wading boot shake in their boots. And because I wet wade 90% of the time, and am covering a lot of water, finding the perfect wet wading boot became the search for the holy grail.
Until I finally found it.
So what do I look for in a wet wading boot? There are a lot of items that I personally need to take into consideration:
The Hike In
I wish I could park at a turn out and walk down to the local crick, but in California, you hike a lot before making your first cast. You also hike a lot after making your first cast, whether upstream in the river, or off on the trail. That alone requires the boot and the sole to be comfortable and durable, and provide ankle support, while being light weight.
Water
Obviously, a lot of time the boot will spend its time submerged under water, hence the 'wet' part of wet wading. Neoprene, I've found, is the best insulator and is comfortable wet and dry, while submerged in or out of the water. Combined with other materials, it makes sure drainage is key component, but the design needs to be tough as well. If the boot does not have neoprene, that's usually a bad indicator. I've had people recommend me boots whose shell was made out of GoreTex. You don't want to keep water in, unless blisters are your thing. Any necessary drainage holes cannot be large enough to let sediment and rocks in, unless blisters are your thing.
Terrain
Extremely wide range of terrain, on and off the water is the norm, including a lot of bush whacking. I've used 'water booties' and have had purple toenails after kicking rocks, or have had twisted ankles, so a reinforced toe box and ankle support is key, but not so reinforced that it becomes uncomfortable. Terrain also brings me to probably my most important item:
Grip
If you don't have confidence in being able to leap onto wet granite, then certain areas become inaccessible and travel upstream is limited, decreasing your chances of getting into fish who don't see anglers often. And, back tracking trying to find the 'trail' back upstream can be time consuming, and also an unnecessary strain on your body. The grip has to stick to a variety of sediment and rocks, dry or wet. So far, nothing has close to the Stealth S1 sole, which is a favorite among mountain climbers apparently. Sorry, Vibram, I haven't met one sole that has come close to the S1. The significant other tells me that I look like "Spiderman" when traveling upstream. Other fly fisherman have asked what on earth I was wearing, mostly because of the stickiness of the sole, but probably because the color schemes are a little on the bright side.
So, after 4 years, 150+ trips, and countless hundred miles, my 5.10 Canyoneers finally kicked the bucket, and come to find out, 5.10 got bought out by Adidas and they are no longer making the boot. I should've bought two, since it's becoming difficult to source my size in the U.S., and people that canyoneer are buying them all up. And mind you, I never really 'took care' of these boots like I should have. After a long day of hiking and wading, I'd toss them in the back of my truck in the heat of the sun, and often times leave them there for days or weeks.
Regardless, I found out the hard way that being barefoot in a river sucks after the soles finally delaminated as soon as I had reached my intended GPS waypoint a few miles from where I had parked my truck. (Perhaps some Shoe Goo may fix them, but we'll see what happens, since the stitching looks like it's on its last legs as well.) Stubbed toes, burnt soles of your feet, no traction whatsoever....There's a section on my leg which looks like I've Nair'ed it, after all the hair got sanded off after a slide down a rock face, and my toes feel like I spent the weekend kicking rocks, which I technically did.
Still got plenty of these guys to go tho!
And got to see groups of my oldest friends on this planet.
The good new is that I have a brand new pair of the newer Cayoneer model being shipped from the UK this week.
Until I finally found it.
So what do I look for in a wet wading boot? There are a lot of items that I personally need to take into consideration:
The Hike In
I wish I could park at a turn out and walk down to the local crick, but in California, you hike a lot before making your first cast. You also hike a lot after making your first cast, whether upstream in the river, or off on the trail. That alone requires the boot and the sole to be comfortable and durable, and provide ankle support, while being light weight.
Water
Obviously, a lot of time the boot will spend its time submerged under water, hence the 'wet' part of wet wading. Neoprene, I've found, is the best insulator and is comfortable wet and dry, while submerged in or out of the water. Combined with other materials, it makes sure drainage is key component, but the design needs to be tough as well. If the boot does not have neoprene, that's usually a bad indicator. I've had people recommend me boots whose shell was made out of GoreTex. You don't want to keep water in, unless blisters are your thing. Any necessary drainage holes cannot be large enough to let sediment and rocks in, unless blisters are your thing.
Terrain
Extremely wide range of terrain, on and off the water is the norm, including a lot of bush whacking. I've used 'water booties' and have had purple toenails after kicking rocks, or have had twisted ankles, so a reinforced toe box and ankle support is key, but not so reinforced that it becomes uncomfortable. Terrain also brings me to probably my most important item:
Grip
If you don't have confidence in being able to leap onto wet granite, then certain areas become inaccessible and travel upstream is limited, decreasing your chances of getting into fish who don't see anglers often. And, back tracking trying to find the 'trail' back upstream can be time consuming, and also an unnecessary strain on your body. The grip has to stick to a variety of sediment and rocks, dry or wet. So far, nothing has close to the Stealth S1 sole, which is a favorite among mountain climbers apparently. Sorry, Vibram, I haven't met one sole that has come close to the S1. The significant other tells me that I look like "Spiderman" when traveling upstream. Other fly fisherman have asked what on earth I was wearing, mostly because of the stickiness of the sole, but probably because the color schemes are a little on the bright side.
So, after 4 years, 150+ trips, and countless hundred miles, my 5.10 Canyoneers finally kicked the bucket, and come to find out, 5.10 got bought out by Adidas and they are no longer making the boot. I should've bought two, since it's becoming difficult to source my size in the U.S., and people that canyoneer are buying them all up. And mind you, I never really 'took care' of these boots like I should have. After a long day of hiking and wading, I'd toss them in the back of my truck in the heat of the sun, and often times leave them there for days or weeks.
Regardless, I found out the hard way that being barefoot in a river sucks after the soles finally delaminated as soon as I had reached my intended GPS waypoint a few miles from where I had parked my truck. (Perhaps some Shoe Goo may fix them, but we'll see what happens, since the stitching looks like it's on its last legs as well.) Stubbed toes, burnt soles of your feet, no traction whatsoever....There's a section on my leg which looks like I've Nair'ed it, after all the hair got sanded off after a slide down a rock face, and my toes feel like I spent the weekend kicking rocks, which I technically did.
Still got plenty of these guys to go tho!
And got to see groups of my oldest friends on this planet.
The good new is that I have a brand new pair of the newer Cayoneer model being shipped from the UK this week.
