BE CAREFULL OF FELT BOOTS!

JUST THOUGHT I WOULD POST A STORY OF MY TRIP A FEW WEEKS BACK AND TELL A WARNING TO ALL WITH FELT TIP BOOTS. WE WERE ON UPPER ELK AND FISHING IN SNOW CONDITIONS AND WE DECIDED TO CROSS ABOVE THE HIGH TRUSSLE WATER WAS FAST BUT NOT UNCROSSABLE WE STARTED A CROSS AND MY BUDDY WAS LAGING BEHIND AND I TUNRED TO SEE IF EVEY THING WAS OK AND HE WAS STUCK HALF WAY ACROSS AND COULDN’T MOVE A MUSSEL , HIS FELTS FROZE SOLD LIKE ICE SKATES HE COULDN’T MOVE OR HE WAS IN, LUCKLY MINE WERE FINE AND I WAS ABLE TO AID HIM ACROSS. WHAT WE CAME TO FIND HAPPENED WAS IN THE SNOW YOUR FELTS WILL SNOW UP AND THEN WHEN IT HIT’S THE WATER IT FREEZES LIKE ICE. PLEASE CK YOUR FELT EVERY TIME BEFORE YOU HIT THE WATER ,WHO KNOWS WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF I WAS NOT THERE TO HELP. HOPE THIS HELPS GUYS WE NEED TO TELL ARE BAD STORIES AS MUCH AS ARE GOOD ONES . TIGHT LINES

Thats why rubber studded soles are the best best all around....my .02

your felts don't freeze in the water... they freeze and then collect snow/gravel/mud while walking
 
put your feet in the water and rub them on a rock... the ice and snow will melt off the felt in a sec
 
 

 
 
 
 
dave... I'm taking that personaly
 

its a wired feeling when your stuck in the middle of a stream and no were to go. how do you guys like studs on felt? do they hert to stand on all day? are they over kill?

Yeah mine are nice as well, and they are rig jobs. lol But, I wouldn't trade them for the world now that I've seen how they grip the shale. 

Years ago I was fishing the Salmon river in the late season.  It was freezing and one of the guys in our group who was wearing felt bottomed waders decided to get out of the water and stand on a rock.  After about 20 minutes or so he decided to move, one problem, he was frozen to the rock...  He took his knife out and cut his way off the rock.  We all were laughing at him, but in the end he really messed up his waders. 
 
Felt can be a problem when it is cold.  As all ready mentioned, if you get some build up of snow on the bottoms of your boots, get into the water and shuffle your feet.  The snow will melt off quickly.
 
 

Don't get caught driving with those eyes. (buzz city) !! LOL

ORIGINAL: KJH807

 



dave... I'm taking that personaly

ORIGINAL: whatsajob614

I even made my own studs for my felt boots. It works great. I just put screws in the bottom, and sawed of the heads. It is cheap and easy. Just make sure you don't go through the whole sole. And, I still always clean the snow off of the bottoms of my boots before entering the water. Just shimmy them around on some shale, it does the trick.

Wouldn't you be better off to leave the hex heads on instead of going through the trouble of cutting them off?  The more surface area to touch rocks and shale the more grip. This is the second year i've used hex head sheet metal screws and they are great. Probably fished 25 times with them and to date have had one work loose.

From what I have heard this might well become a moot point anyway. Major wader companies are phasing out felt beacause of it's propensity to transfser invasive organisns which are destructive to streams.