Simms To Reintroduce Felt Soles In 2012

[Zack Hoyt]

I wouldn't knock the vibrams until you try them. I ended up with a pair due to a price I couldn't say no to and they are awesome. They even grip the slickest riffles on the NFOW as well as felt does.

Agree. I have the korkers with studded and non-studded soles. Unstudded still grip and feel better than my felt Redingtons with felt. ESPECIALLY in mud and snow.

I am glad Exiledguide can appreciate a different opinion or point of view.

[exiledguide]

And what experiences, with what boots are you basing this statement on, sir?

OK from early 1970's until today, with one exception early 60's at Camp Mccoy WI I believe it was Indian Creek at Army Reserve summer camp catching Rainbows on Lazy Ikes wearing GI combat boots. From 70's on I have fished with combat boots, VN style boots, lug soled bootfoot waders, vibram soled boots, tennis shoes and felt soled wading boots. Probably 95% of the time I fished warm water streams for Smallmouth Bass, in Arkansas the Costatot above Lake Millwood You want to stay quite a way above Millwood because they have a population of Gators, Cado above Lake DeGray, Little Missouri above Lake Greeson, Ouchita above and below the lakes and all 3forks of the Saline River from the hills down to Benton Arkansas. In MO the Castor,St.Francis, Little St Francis,Marble creek, 12 Mile Creek below Cherokee Pass, Big River, Bourbouse, Meramac, Upper Big Piney from Simmons Ford to Mineral Springs,Indian Creek, Hog Creek and Brushy Creek in Texas County,Jacks Fork, Current over around Alley Springs, Floucom creek in Jefferson County before it was polluted,all 3 forks of the Black River including all of the East Fork from the road above the Shut Inns down past the lake on down to the river. St Joeseph River between Berrien Springs and Lake Michigan,the Wisconsin above Lake Delavan and the Cedar River above and below Cedar Falls Iowa. And of course the James River doen here.

In the streams with a lot of small gravel you won't have much with your footint no matter what kind of footwear you wear but in faster current streams and in streams with cobble rock or granite slab bottom like Marble Ceek below Johnson Shut ins.I think you need felt. How has your Vibram worked over on the Johnson Shut Inns or Marble Creek or the Castor River or The Oachita River Or The Piney where Brushy Creek flows in and washes away all the gravel?

[troutbum479]

I have a pair of Simms G4's with Vibram, they have saved my butt several times. The slickest river bottom that I've been around is at Roaring River down from the park at the conservation area. I think a few on here can a agree its slick. I have fished it with both felt and Vibrams, and the Vibrams (without studs) gripped far better than the felt. And the best part about Vibrams in my opinion is I can put them in the back of my car and they will be dry by the time that I'm home without soaking the carpet.

[Outside Bend]

How has your Vibram worked over on the Johnson Shut Inns or Marble Creek or the Castor River or The Oachita River Or The Piney where Brushy Creek flows in and washes away all the gravel?

I've spent a lot of time wading the St. Francis, the Castor, the Black and their tributaries and haven't had any issues with using rubber soles- they've performed pretty comparable to felt for me. They certainly haven't prevented me from getting where I need to be in order to properly present a fly. Yes there's a learning curve with them, and you do have to be a bit more careful- but like many other facets of the sport, safe wading is a skill, and sometimes the issue lay more with the user than with the gear. You shouldn't blame the rod if the angler is a bad caster, for example.

Besides, there's only a relative few bouldery, high-gradient streams you're worried about- most Ozark streams have the finer gravel and cobble substrates that are no problem for most waders. For the majority of Ozark waters rubber soles will work just fine for the average wader, and have the added advantage of being easier to clean- so why not use them? It's like saying I shouldn't use a 5 weight fly rod, because it's only for 80 or 90% of my fishing situations.