Felt Sole Ban in Alaska

[Mark K]

http://troutunlimitedblog.com/alaska-enacts-statewide-ban-on-felt-sole-wading-gear/

[Mark K]

Gill lice in the driftless region. There was a pretty good article on this, for the life of me I can't find it.

 

http://forums.flyfisherman.com/forum/midwestern-states/gill-lice-popular-driftless-area-stream

[Mike Clifford]

Yeah, Simms has been on the cutting edge of this from the start.

[ronk]

While replacing felt will help curb invasive species transfer the replacement material's traction is inferior to felt.A friend of mine has a pair of Simms and reports that even though they're studded they provide less traction than plain felt soles.From looking at them part of the problem may be the design of the studs which are flattened metal rather than the traditional pointed metal studs.Before they prematurely fell apart I had a pair of studded Chotas & found their studs also provided less traction than the traditional style studs.

[Steve S.]

While replacing felt will help curb invasive species transfer the replacement material's traction is inferior to felt.A friend of mine has a pair of Simms and reports that even though they're studded they provide less traction than plain felt soles.From looking at them part of the problem may be the design of the studs which are flattened metal rather than the traditional pointed metal studs.Before they prematurely fell apart I had a pair of studded Chotas & found their studs also provided less traction than the traditional style studs.

 

I don't have them (yet) but I have heard the same complaints. Shouldn't affect the ability to wade rivers like the Fox, DuPage & K3. Their riverbeds are predominantly coarse rocks, gravel, sand and sediment and the Vibram type soles should work well as opposed to some of the rivers in WI & MI, which we liken to wading up a flight of greased stairs.

[Jim Kast]

I've worn them with cleats both here and up North. So far I have no complaints.