Felt Soles For Your Soul

[troutfiend1985]

How do you know this? You didn't fall and bust your butt so the felt soles saved you? But if you didn't fall and bust your butt, how do you know it was the felt that saved you? Maybe the felt didn't do anything and you really weren't in harms way as you may have thought you were.

I've worn vibram soles and stepped onto some slick rocks and felt my feet sliding along them. Had I had felt on and had the same thing happen, I don't think I would have been all that much of a believer in felt.

If those rocks are slippery and your felt soles are sliding off them, then your felt soles may not be any better than any of the vibram soles out there and you may be transporting whatever in the felt for no other reason than the fact that you are just too hard-headed to give them up.

So are you saying that vibram soles provide better traction than felt?

My big thing with this idea of didymo is that 1. There isn't conclusive evidence that felt is the major cause of transporting didymo, and 2) I already have felt soled boots, and I'm not going to shell out $100+ to get a boot that may or may not stop the transportation of didymo.

[KCRIVERRAT]

To be serious, in warm weather when the water temps are down I wade fish with golf shoes useing the old metal spikes. You can't use them on courses any more so I thought they'd really dig into pea gravel and small river rock beds. They are amazing! Mud and big flat rock areas don't work so much with them. For mud, I buy the smallest snowshoes I can find (Cabela's up here in K.C.). Then I cover them with Handi-Wrap, turning it around inside out, then bring it up to just above my ankle and wrapping it with clear packing tape. I've never sunk more than 3/4 of an inch. The walnut related post was interesting, because I have used silicone to attach walnut shell pieces to my boot waders to be able to wade the slick, flat rock areas. Works pretty darn good, except I've gotta change a few husks out for every trip that has a streambed such as that. Which is why when I squirrel hunt I only shoot the one's carrying a walnut back to it's nest.

[KCRIVERRAT]

Myself I only wear waders/felt sole boots on 4 Missouri streams, I only make it to Arkansas about once a year on average and I've pretty much quit fishing Taney completely (not that I don't like it, I do, but it's a haul for me and if I'm driving that far I'd just as soon go somewhere that horns don't blow and run me off the stream as soon as I get there.

I'm self employed and live a pretty simple life, I don't go traveling all over the darn country...unless it's a special occasion I fish fairly close to home, so I'm not gonna go out and buy new boots that are a hindrance and risk a fall just because some of you nation-wide travelers might bring something home from one of your spendy cross country jaunts.

Hell I can't afford health insurance and don't have much of a nest egg built up, so if I break a wrist, or worse, because of a bad step in a place where I'm used to being able to navigate without too much caution, it could put me in the poor house.

I don't know how financially secure everyone else here is, but loosing 4-6 weeks worth of work could have me wearing those Vibram boots to bed at night in a van down by the river eating hotdogs and instant potatoes.

Phil and Babs have taken care of us Wrench. As long as we're members of this forum you're health insured...

[flytyer57]

So are you saying that vibram soles provide better traction than felt?

My big thing with this idea of didymo is that 1. There isn't conclusive evidence that felt is the major cause of transporting didymo, and 2) I already have felt soled boots, and I'm not going to shell out $100+ to get a boot that may or may not stop the transportation of didymo.

No I'm not going to say that.

What I am saying is, how do you know the felt saved your butt if you didn't bust it? Did you feel your feet sliding out from under you like I do with the vibram soles? If so, then how do you know felt is better than vibram if your feet are sliding out from under you?

Everybody swears by felt, but unless you can put yourself in the same exact situation of busting your butt wearing vibram but not with felt, then how do you know felt is any better? Slide with vibram, change quickly into felt and repeat last step? Wear felt on one foot and vibram on ther other and see if one or the other provides better traction?

As for conclusive studies, I don't think we as anglers should really need it. Studies have shown that didymo can be transported in felt soles. Should we as anglers, conservators of our sport, let our sport be destroyed because there isn't 101% proof positive that felt soles are the sole transporter of didymo? I think not. I do think that we should be setting the pace to rid our streams of invasives, or at least be conscious of our efforts to help in any way possible.

When my old felt soles wore out, I went out and spent $100 on a pair of Simms vibram boots to do my part to help control the spread of these invasives as much as I can. I think every angler should be aware of and work to prevent the spread of invasives as much as possible. Even at the risk of spending a little more $ to do it.

As for the threat of falling? Wade a bit more carefully in the first place. When I wade out onto slick bedrock, I walk slowly, and if I feel my feet beginning to slide because the current is stronger than what my boots will hold, I stop and backtrack. My life is worth more to me than any fish.

[KCRIVERRAT]

SHUT THE HELL UP JD!... we're really impressed with your political view. Do you feed yourself first, or your livestock?

[drew03cmc]

No I'm not going to say that.

What I am saying is, how do you know the felt saved your butt if you didn't bust it? Did you feel your feet sliding out from under you like I do with the vibram soles? If so, then how do you know felt is better than vibram if your feet are sliding out from under you?

Everybody swears by felt, but unless you can put yourself in the same exact situation of busting your butt wearing vibram but not with felt, then how do you know felt is any better? Slide with vibram, change quickly into felt and repeat last step? Wear felt on one foot and vibram on ther other and see if one or the other provides better traction?

As for conclusive studies, I don't think we as anglers should really need it. Studies have shown that didymo can be transported in felt soles. Should we as anglers, conservators of our sport, let our sport be destroyed because there isn't 101% proof positive that felt soles are the sole transporter of didymo? I think not. I do think that we should be setting the pace to rid our streams of invasives, or at least be conscious of our efforts to help in any way possible.

When my old felt soles wore out, I went out and spent $100 on a pair of Simms vibram boots to do my part to help control the spread of these invasives as much as I can. I think every angler should be aware of and work to prevent the spread of invasives as much as possible. Even at the risk of spending a little more $ to do it.

As for the threat of falling? Wade a bit more carefully in the first place. When I wade out onto slick bedrock, I walk slowly, and if I feel my feet beginning to slide because the current is stronger than what my boots will hold, I stop and backtrack. My life is worth more to me than any fish.

Edited to say: I give up.

[flytyer57]

Oh Lord, we have to bend over backwards to stop the spread of something that there is little to no record of man spreading? This is like having to brake before you get on the highway because three miles up the road there MIGHT be an accident. Does THAT make sense?

Apparently some anglers don't care about our fisheries until they are contaminated.

Studies have shown that didymo can live in felt soles and be transported from one stream to another. What's the problem with that? Because it hasn't been proven conclusivley that felt soles are the only reason for the spread of didymo?

You don't have to put the brakes on before getting on the highway. But being prepared to put those brakes on helps. So does driving a little slower and defensively. Be prepared and don't wait till the last second and become a part of the problem.

Does THAT make sense?

[troutfiend1985]

No I'm not going to say that.

What I am saying is, how do you know the felt saved your butt if you didn't bust it? Did you feel your feet sliding out from under you like I do with the vibram soles? If so, then how do you know felt is better than vibram if your feet are sliding out from under you?

Everybody swears by felt, but unless you can put yourself in the same exact situation of busting your butt wearing vibram but not with felt, then how do you know felt is any better? Slide with vibram, change quickly into felt and repeat last step? Wear felt on one foot and vibram on ther other and see if one or the other provides better traction?

As for conclusive studies, I don't think we as anglers should really need it. Studies have shown that didymo can be transported in felt soles. Should we as anglers, conservators of our sport, let our sport be destroyed because there isn't 101% proof positive that felt soles are the sole transporter of didymo? I think not. I do think that we should be setting the pace to rid our streams of invasives, or at least be conscious of our efforts to help in any way possible.

When my old felt soles wore out, I went out and spent $100 on a pair of Simms vibram boots to do my part to help control the spread of these invasives as much as I can. I think every angler should be aware of and work to prevent the spread of invasives as much as possible. Even at the risk of spending a little more $ to do it.

As for the threat of falling? Wade a bit more carefully in the first place. When I wade out onto slick bedrock, I walk slowly, and if I feel my feet beginning to slide because the current is stronger than what my boots will hold, I stop and backtrack. My life is worth more to me than any fish.

Not asking for "101% proof" all I want is reasonable evidence. I'm glad that you are passionate and want to protect your environment, and I'm not going to bash anyone for doing that. However, until I get some study, conducted by an independent group that links felt to the spread of this didymo, then I am not going to switch from felt. Not only that, but I am not in a financial position to go and drop 100$ at a whim. There needs to be some link, and when that link pops up, then I will switch on the condition that these rubber soles are acceptable.

I understand the point about the traction that you are drawing, but I will decline to take that test. Any test that requires me to actively look for situations where I know that I will be putting my health in jeopardy is simply not worth it. Call me selfish, I don’t care.

[drew03cmc]

I give up.

[fishinwrench]

Everybody swears by felt, but unless you can put yourself in the same exact situation of busting your butt wearing vibram but not with felt, then how do you know felt is any better? Slide with vibram, change quickly into felt and repeat last step? Wear felt on one foot and vibram on ther other and see if one or the other provides better traction?

Done it. Not with Vibram but with Chota's latest/greatest gummy stuff, and with a boot that had marine carpeting glued to the soles. I don't need to test Vibram (side-by-side) because I already know the deal with it. I have a pair of Vibram soled boat shoes that will go right out from under you on a wet concrete boat ramp, dock, or wet trailer tongue. I wrote Irish Setter about it because they just RAVED about the wet traction capability of these shoes in their catalog, what a friggin' joke !

Premium marine carpeting (made from recycled tires) is possibly the second best thing to felt, but it has a tendency to fray from the edges inward so it doesn't last very long.

One way to get people to "care more" about our trout streams would be to manage them better AS TROUT STREAMS, I guarantee if a few of them fished a little better then more people would be dead set on protecting them more diligently. Simply dumping a few trout in one from time to time, or nailing a Blue Ribbon sign to a tree does not always a "trout stream" make.