More water time for our test boots

We’re not quite ready to spring our testing extravaganza post yet, but the Simms Vibram-soled wading boots sent for testing have been seeing more river time at the hands (or feet, actually) of a pair of local fly fishing guides.

While Dave Roberts and I thought they performed surprisingly well on the rock-snotty Rogue River, reports from local guides Wayne Eng and Steve Bertrand aren’t quite as encouraging.

First, keep in mind we’re testing the bare rubber soles – to which no screws have been added.

Screwing in a couple of Simms metal studs would likely improve their traction in difficult circumstances, though it would also negate some of the benefits of non-studded boots (they don’t make guides crazy in drift boats, you can wear them in your car without attaching yourself to the gas pedal at an inopportune time, etc)

The Guide Word

First, Wayne said “I was feeling pretty good about the new boots… until I hit the McCloud. When I needed them, they simply weren’t there for me.”

Wayne has worn the Simms boots more than I have – and generally liked them – but once he hit the bigger, rounder, smoother rocks of the McCloud, he became an unhappy camper, suggesting the grip was simply unreliable.

A couple Undergrounders commented on similar experiences on the Pit River’s devilishly difficult bigger, smoother rocks, which clearly isn’t the strong suit of the Simms boots.

Steve Bertrand has also worn the boots enough to decide that they’re “a great wading boot, just not on this river.” Bertrand bemoaned almost falling twice on an Upper Sacramento river crossing he normally handles easily while wearing Simms’ older-model studded rubber boots.

Again, everybody loves the way they work out of the water – and how they operate under most conditions – but on the bigger, smoother surfaces, the no-studs Vibram sole isn’t making the grade.

Oddly, this isn’t end-of-the-world stuff. The McCloud and Pit are notoriously difficult rivers to wade, and the fact that the Vibram rubber soles have performed this well – sans a few easily installed studs – is a promising development.

In gravelly or cobbled rock environments, the Simms soles seems to be working well. For those fishing tougher water, screwing in a few studs might just offer the best of all worlds; a long-wearing rubber sole that works better than felt in many less-challenging environments (like climbing a bank or in the snow), but still grips well in the tougher stuff.

In other words, these rubber soles are clearly an improvement over Simms’ older rubber soles, so it stands to reason they’ll also exceed the performance of the older models once you add a few studs – while lasting far longer than felt.

Patagonia Riverwalkers

Sadly, the Patagonia Riverwalker boots (subject of a review here, and possessors of a softer sole material but a less-aggressive tread) weren’t being tested on the McCloud, so a side-by-side comparison isn’t yet possible (we’re working on it).

Ian Rutter – intrigued by my earlier post about the Riverwalkers – got a pair and has been testing them on the tailwaters and small streams of Eastern Tennessee, and has decided they’re close – but that slipping (and windmilling) an extra 10% of the time probably isn’t worth it to him.

He’s especially uncomfortable with their grip on very smooth, “bedrock” style surfaces.

Like the rest of us, he loves their dry-land performance and comfort, but will probably be sticking with felt a while longer.

We’ve got our hands full simply testing two pair of rubber soled boots, but we were still intrigued to learn that Cloudveil’s boots are going for a test ride over on the roughfisher.com blog.

So many boots. So little fly fishing time.

Still, we’ll keep you posted.

See you on the test range, Tom Chandler.