I recently received a pair of LL Bean wading boots with Aqua Stealth rubber soles as a gift from my wife for Christmas. I have been looking at various “sticky” rubber sole wading boots for nearly a year. I have been using studded felts for as long as I can remember and have gone through several pair over the years. I wanted to help protect the waters I fish but was very concerned that I would be giving up mobility and safety on the water.
My first outing with the boots was on the Little Bald Eagle Creek near Tyrone Pennsylvania. The water had a varying degree of wading difficulty with a mixture of swift currents, large boulders, gravel beds, large logs and a deep green color that often made the bottom impossible to see. I nearly fell down within the first couple minutes in the water. The rocks were all coated with a thin layer of extremely slippery slime. My boots do not have studs on them and they had a difficult time cutting through the slime. I did find that if I took a second to clear away the layer of slime with a swipe of my sole, the boots would grab the bare rocks very well. For my next test I traversed the banks of the creek. This is where the Aqua Stealth soles greatly exceeded my expectations. They grabbed the rocks, both wet and dry, as if I had a thousand mini suction cups attached to the bottom of my feet and they handled the muddy parts of the bank better than a pair of sneakers. The final test was the walk to and from the car. Walking on the road with rubber soles was very nice as compared to felts with studs. I can only speculate as to the durability of the rubber soled boots but I can say that every pair of felts I have owned, the felt begins to detach from the boot within one to two years of use. In the case of the rubber soled boots there is simply no felt to detach and durability becomes more a function of overall construction.
Mud - Rubber gets much better traction in the mud
Gravel - Both perform similar
Clean Rocks - Slight advantage to rubber - studs tend to slip on rocks
Slimy Rocks - Advantage to studded felts (studded rubber should be considered)
Dry Rocks - Sticky rubber performs better than sneakers or hiking shoes
Roadway - Advantage to rubber - they are like wearing a pair of hiking shoes
Floors - Rubber is much gentler than studs and cleaner than felts
Durability - Only time will tell but rubber seems to have a clear advantage
Summary: I personally think that every fisherman should replace there felts with a pair of “sticky rubber” wading boots. Even if reducing the spread of invasive species from one waterway to another is not a concern, there are enough advantages to make the switch.
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4 comments:
I too converted to rubber. Simms stream tread (vibram). Not too much of a difference on slimmy rocks compared to felt (no studs). On all other substrates in and out of the water, the stream tread is superior in my opinion.
Everyone must remember when reading the post you are comparing felt+studs to just the aqua stealth without studs
You make a good point about my review. My comparison is between Felts+Studs vs. Rubber without studs. Another point I would like to make is that studs were nice in many situations but they could also be very slippery on rocks (two very hard surfaces interacting). In my opinion if you are making the switch to rubber than you no longer need studs.
Update as of March 6, 2010:
I fished the Little J this past weekend and had the opportunity to try rubber soles on limestone water. First, the water was very swift and the rocks on the J were very slimy. I had a lot of difficulty keeping my footing under these conditions. I am strongly considering adding removable studs to help in these situations.
I have been using the Aqua Stealth with studs for many years now and have found them to be an excellent tread. I found them to be the least effective on the glacial polished granite found in the Colorado streams above Basalt CO. But they performed excellently on an recent trip to the tribs of the Clearwater in ID. As long as there isn't a thick layer of slime and there is some texture to the rock surface they work great. In the case of slimy/very smooth rocks, those fishing with me had much better footing with felt. Personally, I'd prefer the Aqua Stealths with studs.
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