Felt wader soles?????????

Hey guys,

Starting this fishing season felt soles are a no no on fishing waders her in MO. You can slather your current felt soles with contact cement to seal them or you can replace the felt soles.

I have a pair of Simms wading boots that the felt is about half wore out on. I am playing with the idea of just replacing the soles with some kind of grippy rubber. A friend of mine is coating his with anti skid liquid bedliner stuff. The MDC is recomending a contact cement treatment. If I am going to lose my felt I would like some kind of cleat or spike to be able to put in the sole to help with traction on algae slime.

I paid well over $200 for these boots and they are one of the few wading boots that actually feel good on my extra wide feet. I do not want to replace them.

My current thinking is to cut the felt soles off and replace them with some kind of rubber that I can install studs in and use the screw in track/golf cleats. Sealing the felt is an option but from what I hear if an agent catches you with worn coating and you have felt showing through they will ticket you. A guy spends three days on the water and you bound to have some felt wear through no matter how well you seal them.

I am sure that some of you have already had to find solutions for this anti felt didymo movement that is moving across the country. Have any of you found a successful way to seal or replace felt soles on your favorite pair of wading boots?

Thanks in advance

Ray, what is the purpose for the new rule?

Apparently felt acts as a breading ground for this stuff
Didymo Fact Sheet

And the MDC is trying to prevent the spread of it. I understand wanting to stop the rock snot but its puts guys like me who pay for GOOD equipment in a pickle. IF they were cheapy $50 boots I would just look at it as an excuse to buy new boots. BUT I really like my Simms G3 boots.

So what can replace the felt? Just do without.

I need some kind of sole on my wading boots. There is a Craftwell and Dunnright boot repair shop in town. I may see if they have anything going to replace felt soles with cleated/spiked rubber soles.

I am hoping someone on here has been there-done that and has a good solution.

Ray

Maybe rough side leather to grip. That scotch brite stuff?

I always felt safer with studded wader soles.

First I've heard of this, but I do all my fishing in MI. I can tell you this much, I HATE rubber sole waders. Nothing worse then slipping and sliding all over a fast moving river in waist deep water.

If I HAD to replace the felt I would probably try a very soft foam rubber, like heavy duty weatherstrip. I would probably glue the strips with rubber cement in some random pattern and then glue to the boot, then scuff up with sandpaper. Just thinking out loud though. Curious to know what you try, and how it works for you though.

have used a rubberback doormat that is made to look like faux grass.

I would think anything that has any sort of texture to it like (Scotch brite) is going to present the same hazard of spreading didymo. I think golf spikes is a good bet. Maybe you could cut up and old tire tread and put some threaded inserts in those? I have no clue. The Bedliner stuff sounds like the best option, if it's flexible enough. Or rubber cement mixed with sand?

I think the scotch brite might be easier to clean or replace regularly. Damn I thought I had chased you off! LOL

Good thing my felt boots were almost shot. I bought some of the new light weight boots last year and have not put the spikes in yet. I have heard pro's and con's regarding how slippery the spikes are. I can attest that the plain rubber soles definitely remain slick on the rocks. Feel way weird for an old man with 2 new metal hips.

Have fun.

I went to my local boot repair shop this morning and they want $70 to resole with a hard rubber stuff that looked like it would be slick as grease on algae covered rocks. With Pixelfixed's idea in the back of my head I went to K-Mart and found this mat.

This mat cost me $7.50 and is large enough to do 3 pairs of boots so if it doesn't work the greatest I'm not out a bunch of money. I am sure the nubs will eventually wear off but felts soles wear and need maintenance too so I figure that's a 6 of one half dozen of another type thing as far as the maintenance goes.

The nubs are a fairly soft grippy rubber that stand about 3/16 above the surface of the mat base. I am going to see if I can incorporate this with some golf spikes running around the arch of the toe. We'll see how it works out.

Main reason at my age I fish from a boat:)

We can still mostly get away with felt down here in the Carolinas, though I still try to wash/disinfect/dry my boots between different river drainages (though it's not always feasible). My understanding is that didymo is more of a problem on some of the tailwaters. In fact, I remember a regular on the South Holston River in Tennessee posting a few years ago that you could actually see the algae blooms much more prominently in the areas where fishermen waded. At any rate, the connection between felt soles and the transmission of invasives is pretty well established (though they also travel on boat/trailer parts, and other equipment fishermen use).

I ordered a set of these last year to install on a new pair of the Simms river sandals with the Vibram soles: Simms Fishing Products : : HardBite™ Boot Studs - Felt Soles Though they are way better than slippery Vibram alone, the carbide ones are pricey (as are the Star-Bite cleats). I know of people who simply get a bunch of the similar-sized little screws from the hardware store for their rubber boots. Supposedly they work just as well, and are MUCH cheaper.

FWIW, I agree with the poster who said that some of the other rough/textured replacements could defeat the purpose of banning felt in the first place, and might also cause you a problem with the game warden?

that sucks. I always cote my boots with marine goop. Stuff works amazing! I can't wait to get into the grand river for some bass and pike this summer :)

I am also afraid anything that holds moisture or even looks porous will get me nailed by an MDC agent. The last thing I need is a healthy fine from the MDC. That's why I am trying the rubber mat. I am hoping the nubs proved enough grip but it is still molded rubber so the game agents can't give me any grief over it.

I am going to figure out how to install some kind of cleat or spike in conjunction with the rubber. I have used the little sheet metal screws in the past and they seem to work OK until you wear them flat on the rocks. Then they work like tiny skid plates.

I am undecided at this point as to whether it would be better to install a set of threaded lugs into the soles and use premade golf/track spikes or chuck some kind of sheet metal screw up in the lathe and turn the head to a spike point and just screw them right into the hard rubber sole.

DO any of you know what the standard thread pitch is on the premade spikes? If its a standard pitch like 1/4 20 or 1/4 28 making lug inserts would be easy enough. If they are a proprietary pitch or metric it wouldn't be so easy for me. I don't have any metric taps.

Ray