Rubber or felt?
I’ve returned to my roots, wandering around up to my waste in river water with skinny rubber soles between me and the slimy, slippery, rolling rocks and boulders beneath my feet. But the sort of rubber is oh so very different. The material property scientists and engineers have performed magic. Rubber is back and I’m thinking it’s here to stay.
What on Earth am I talking about? If you fly fish to any degree you likely guessed right. When you walk into your local fly shop, or browse online shops, with wading boots on your mind, you have basically two options. Most models of boots are sold with either felt or rubber soles. You have to make a decision and this week I’m going to talk about the pros and cons.
For those of you who do not choose to partake in fishing, let me explain about wading boots. There was a time long ago when anglers went fishing with simple pull on rubber boots, the sort that commercial fishermen wear, only longer, either to the hip or to the chest. Then some genius got the bright idea to make waders with stocking feet, and then wear hiking boots outside of the waterproof foot.
Neoprene is most popular as the waterproof sock material, the rest of the wader typically fashioned of lighter breathable fabric. So the boot itself need not be waterproof. The simple hiking boot evolved quickly to a specialized wading variety, with a sole material that adhered to slippery rocks. Now anglers could fish with hiking boot foot protection and ankle support, along with stick to rock technology. The world would never be the same. So for the non-angling crowd, that is a wading boot.
If you think I’m going overboard praising to the clouds and genius status whoever invented stocking foot waders, I guess you didn’t salmon fish in the good old days. I still have remnants of scars and blisters from hiking Castors River for 14 straight days in those stupid old rubber boots. The ones with support were slippery as waking on banana peels, and the soft variety that stuck a bit better, had absolutely zero foot support. So you could either fall and bust you skull, maybe drown, either that or suffer through fresh blisters on top of yesterday’s blisters. Your feet were constantly rolling about in soft boots and jamming between rocks. God almighty it was horrible. One dark night crossing Castors River I whacked my already tender big toe into an unseen rock. Every nerve screamed pain. I had to put it out of my mind and not cry in front of my buddies. Good old days, bloody hell I say.
So there you go, don’t even think about doing serious salmon fishing without a decent pair of wading boots. Enough said on that, now let’s get back to the gritty business of felt or rubber for those snotty river stones.
There is nothing that sticks to slippery rocks better that felt. It is amazing how well it works for such a cheap readily available material. But there is a price to pay. First off, felt wears down pretty fast and the boots don’t last a long as a rubber pair, although modern felt boots are much more durable than they once were. Back in the ’90s I could only get one season out of a pair of felts. Secondly, snow sticks to felt and they are useless in winter, no good for February sea trout fishing.
Felt is wickedly slippery on grass, especially wet grass, and also on mud or clay. Generally they are treacherous on trails, especially on a rainy day. I fell once carrying a canoe on my head, grass being the culprit. Last but not least, felt can transmit disease from one river to another. Actually felt soles are banned in a growing list of jurisdictions. You soon may have no choice at all.
The race has been on to find a rubber compound that gives traction on river rocks approaching the friction factor of felt. That would be wonderful because rubber is far better between you and Mother Earth when you aren’t in water, and we do have to walk on trails to get to the river. I almost cracked my neck in that canoe incident. At least water softens the touchdown.
I am happy to say that I am finally OK with wearing rubber bottom boots in the Pinware River. The Pinware is not an easy river to wade. The rocks are slippery and they tumble about under your weight. And there are times in higher water that your life might be at risk if you lose footing. I have been toying around with rubber boots for years, winter sea trout fishing and the like, but I wouldn’t even consider using them salmon fishing in Labrador. But my latest pair, I felt were worthy of a go. They were 10 times better on paths and riverbanks, and almost as good as felt in the river. The rubber gives a tad less traction than felt, but the difference is minimal, no deal breaker. I’m finished with felt.
One more point I forgot. Did you ever walk into a store or gas station after fishing with your felt boots still on? My God what a mess they make, and in your truck too. You’d have the floor rusted out of your ride in no time.
I’m thinking the rubber might improve still further. The boots I tested were from Simms, and now they have a new technology on the market that they claim is even better. I’ll have to get a pair for next year, if only to keep you all informed on the latest.
I‘d love to hear your stories and opinions on rubber and felt. Maybe I have the only pair of magic rubber boots, a gift from the gods for not crying about my big toe on Castors River.
You can also buy boots in either felt or rubber with metal cleats or studs, like studded snow tires. I don’t like studded tires or studded boots. I’ll say more on that another time.
The race has been on to find a rubber compound that gives traction on river rocks approaching the friction factor of felt.