Waders?

Big 5 sporting goods,Dicks Sporting Goods.
You get a lightweight quick drying pair of “breathable” waders. For $400 you get a comfortable multilayer pair of waders that can last for 15 year or more with care. I wore out my Simms after 12 years of heavy use in my Float Cat. I finally wore out the butt. It still works but it is thin as paper. If you are serious, the more expensive pair ends up costing less and is obviously better made. If you just need a pair for once in a while, the Box Store brands work well. Make sure to get a good pair of dive booties to protect you feet. I get them three times larger so they go on easy. Your fins strap them on tight. Finally put leashes on your fins, homemade or buy some, a fin will eventually fall off. The leash keeps you from spending the rest of your trip with one fin. Hopefully not going in circles.

 

Big 5 has waders for 15 bucks...won’t last long obviously but if you need some quick...dix has some but they’re the boot foot..I ordered some neoprene off amazon for 40 bucks a few months back..good enough for now although in the summer I’ll probably die

 

Slime is easy to fix, turn them inside out and soak in bleach water mixture or just dry out in full sunshine (inside out), the UV kills germs too, just need some dry weather for that.

 

Check out the Frogg Togg waders on Amazon. I got a pair 12 years ago for like $80 and they were awesome. Used them tubing in the bays and local ponds, bush-wacking Sierra creeks, and surf fishing in the winter. They held up great for over 10 years and I did nothing to maintain them except for rinsing them out after each use.

I picked a new pair for $105 this past summer and they've been just as good so far.

 

No, I got the stocking foot both times. They have served me extremely well. And when you factor in the cost, they have been amazing.

 

Yeah..I’m not with the boot foot..

 

I use neoprene reef booties. They are for wading on coral reefs. $35 from Bass Pro but many brands on ebay.. Get them 3 sizes up to go over both socks and waders. Long ago I used to use thrift store canvas tennis shoes.worked great for $10/pair.

 

I wear a size 12 shoe normally. On my first pair of stocking foot Frogg Togg waders, the foot was way too big (even though it said it was for shoe sizes 11-13). When i float tubed in them, I would wear a pair of thicker socks underneath, and then a pair of size 14 running shoes that I snagged out of the lost and found at the school I worked at. The extra room in the sneakers allowed me to fit the excess stocking foot in the shoes fairly comfortably. Then I used a cheap pair of strap-on fins that I attached over my sneakers. This set up worked fine when I tubed (full disclaimer: my tubing sessions were almost always 3 hour or less, so I'm not sure how comfortable this method would have been on an all-day outing).

For creek fishing, I just jammed the excess wader-foot into my regular wading boots (which are a little big to start with). This wasn't the most comfortable on my feet, but as long as I wasn't hiking long distances (especially downhill), it wasn't too bad. My toes would definitely feel a bit smashed at the end of the day, but since I was mostly doing this in cold, mountain streams, there's a bit of numbing factor involved so the pain wasn't bad. Pro-tip: make sure your toe nails are trimmed appropriately before jamming waders into tight boots.

 

Looking for some advice on the frogg toggs waders:

Hellbender Breathable Stockingfoot vs Canyon II ???

both say they come with 4mm booties. Are you guys recommending getting a 2nd set of booties to go over the frog toggs?

Although there maybe another thread on this, recommended fins? Will be used in small lakes / Barrett.

My son wears a size 10 shoe. Thanks

 

Breathable and not neoprene if you are planning on fishing when it’s warm. I buy a size up so they are easy on and easy off. Below are the best booties for the money but you only need to buy one size up! Wear socks, way easier to get off. If you buy booties which you should you have to get diving fins made for booties. The best thing is to get the fins last and try them on with the socks, waders and booties. Trust me, you do not want them too tight, you won’t last. Do not but waders with boots, they are way too heavy and you won’t last. We do 14+ hours on the lake, being comfortable and not worrying about puncturing your wader socks is crucial...

 

Looks like generally good advice has been given. Agree with wearing booties (dive or surf), Frogg Toggs are my 2nd favorite brand (LL Bean 1st so far) and stick with breathables. The more expensive Frogg Toggs will last longer than the less expensive. Seems like all waders eventually leak but they are not hard to fix. Fill with water to find the leak, mark, then seal on both sides with Shoe Goo, Amazing Goop, Seam Seal or even polyurethane construction glue. I like Plasti-Dip for coating seams on the booties. Welded seams last longer than sewn and taped seams. Keep unused glue in the freezer and it will last for years (put nail and red cap in construction glue cartridges). Way easier to put booties on if you wet them 1st, I usually do this before packing up, even a spray bottle works. Don't hesitate to go into a dive shop with your waders to find a pair of booties that fit, you will usually need 1 size larger than your regular shoe size. I fish every weekend so my gear gets a beating.

 

Agreed..boot foot is not the way to go..as far as booties go, if they’re cheap great otherwise an old pair of shoes or even a new cheap pair of shoes will do the trick..I actually use nike slides now..but I only wear them to get to my spot than I take em off and use my fins..if you’re just trying to protect your waders during setup I wouldn’t get to crazy on the shoe wear, but that’s just me...(you can find cheap bootleg slides at Ross) as far as fins go, I’ve had the ones that go over your shoes, now I have expensive forcefins..the cheapies worked fine...the force fins are better...personally I prefer fins that don’t go over my shoes..but I don’t think the fin thing is as important as the waders and the tube..just cause I have expensive fins now does not mean I can run laps around you at the lake..

 

Thanks for the info guys.

These waders will be for my son, seeing how he "challenges the life" of gear, im hesitant on going LLbean route, only because once he knows what it's like to destroy a pair of waders & buy another, will he appreciate / respect them. I will search for the LL bean though.

so what is a decent / inexpensive fin to get?

I see diving, snorkeling, scuba modeled fins? Recommended brand / model-style please

 

Buy waders and booties first then use them to get fitted for fins.. too tight and he will be miserable! You can find used fins pretty easy. Those booties are about 25 bucks. Allen’s, Frog Toggs and Hodegmen often offer breathable waders for around $100 most of the time! But one size up in all. Good times ahead!

 

I have Force-Fins and like them a lot. You don't have to spend that much but do get fins with similar shape (short and wide), it makes moving around on land a lot easier, avoid long and skinny dive fins.