Grip on wading boots

[basstastic]

Hi All

I have some questions about wading boots. I recently started fishing the cape streams and after my first trip it became apparent that I needed a pair of wading boots.

I first used a pair of water “booties” which were fantastic. They had plenty of grip on the rocks but because of their thin soles, my feet felt like they had been massaged by a gorilla for five hours.

I bought a pair of hodgman H3 wading boots (cleated). On my first trip on Elandspad I was surprised at how poor the grip was compared to my other booties. I wasn’t expecting miracles from the boots but wasn’t planning on 5 hours of dancing on ice either. Literally could not stand on any submerged rocks. I had to wedge my boots into the gaps between rocks to make any headway and went swimming quite a few times.
Here are my questions:

- Am I being unreasonable in my expectations of the soles?
- Should I rather be using felt on Cape Streams?
- Should I invest in some studs to screw into my soles?

Thanks in advance.

[Nepptune]

Best advice would be to get the soles redone with Aquastealth or Vibram or whatever its called at Rocksole on Wale Street in Cape Town... for our streams, this is the best all round material as its good to hike in and offers pretty good grip on the wet stream bead as well.. Felt is great, but dangerous to hike the paths etc that the streams here require..

I fished with Kev Cox recently who had also just punched a pair of the H3's and found them comfy, but slippery, and I think he is looking at retreading them with Aquastealth/Vibram soles which are what most of the Simms boots etc have..

[DJR]

Best advice would be to get the soles redone with Aquastealth or Vibram or whatever its called at Rocksole on Wale Street in Cape Town... for our streams, this is the best all round material as its good to hike in and offers pretty good grip on the wet stream bead as well.. Felt is great, but dangerous to hike the paths etc that the streams here require..

I fished with Kev Cox recently who had also just punched a pair of the H3's and found them comfy, but slippery, and I think he is looking at retreading them with Aquastealth/Vibram soles which are what most of the Simms boots etc have..

I have tried recently and that rubber is simply not available. Story ( I was told) is that 5.10 that developed it, was bought out by Adidas. They now refuse to let anyone else use it, except if they get paid big royalties. It is no longer sold in sheets at all. I tried the usual locals (including Rocksole) and all told me the same thing. I tried companies in the USA, no luck. If you find some of it, let us know.

[Nepptune]

I have tried recently and that rubber is simply not available. Story ( I was told) is that 5.10 that developed it, was bought out by Adidas. They now refuse to let anyone else use it, except if they get paid big royalties. It is no longer sold in sheets at all. I tried the usual locals (including Rocksole) and all told me the same thing. I tried companies in the USA, no luck. If you find some of it, let us know.

Ag nee man thats a k@k story, what a pity... thanks for the intel DJR, I had no idea that was the case as a number of years back if was pretty easy to get hold of..

Well then BAsstastic perhaps something worth trying, depending on the soles of the boots is "roughing" them up somehow... to try and soften the sole, and give you more surface area and hopefully grip... this could be done with a super heavy wire brush perhaps, depending on the hardness of the sole, or even a wire brush disc on a small grinder.. I am not saying destroy your soles of course, but the issue with some new boots is that the sole is very hard and as such quite slippery .. if you "shred" the sole a little, it creates a softer finish, with a larger surface area which can give you a bit more grip...

PLEASE NOTE - I am not suggesting you take an angle grinder to your boots and destroy them!! I'm saying scuff them up a little..

By all accounts studs are not a great idea on our streams.. for one thing they are noisy, which is not ideal on our small streams...

Good luck mate, perhaps try going on a few afternoon hikes in the H3's to wear them in and get that new "slick" finish worn off them.. before trying the angle grinder approach!

[basstastic]

Good luck mate, perhaps try going on a few afternoon hikes in the H3's to wear them in and get that new "slick" finish worn off them.. before trying the angle grinder approach!

Thanks for all the input. I did some more reading after I posted and yeah, this can be a tricky thing to deal with. I might try getting hold of a pair of felt soles test out. Could then use Hodgmans on the Orange and felt on the streams. I'll do some more testing and post back here is I have any luck.

[shector]

There are tons of threads on this forum regarding wading boots for the Cape Streams. The consensus is that there is no perfect boot yet. Due to the fact that we have to compromise on grip in the water, comfort when hiking, ankle and toe protection when wading, durability and weight. If your boots have new rubber soles they are still smooth at the bottom and some hiking trips should rough them up a bit to get better underwater grip. The other thing to learn that comes into play when fishing the Cape streams is wading "skill". By that I mean which rocks to stand on and which ones to avoid etc. Shuffle or slide your feet instead of taking steps, this will tell you whether a rock is slippery or has some grip etc.

[basstastic]

Couple of trips in and the grip is getting a bit better.