My thought on buying wading shoes

I got my new pair of wading shoes yesterday.  

It's a cheap pair of ordinary hiking boots from Columbia. It is light, comfortable, got no metal parts to corrode, and I picked it up for only $50 at a local Mountain Designs Store.

It is not purposely made for wading, but other than their soles, there isn't much design differences between wading shoes and hiking shoes anyway.  Since I have already given up on felt soles for their potential environmental risk of carrying waterborne parasites, I think any over size hiking shoes to go on thick neoprene socks will do the job.  If I need more traction on wet rocks, I am going to screw in some metal studs.

Speaking of old wading shoes, I went through five pairs of Patagonia wading shoes in the past. All of these started falling apart within 6 months. They are typical Patagonia's over priced piece of equipment carrying an expensive price tag for something doesn't last that long. 

I loved a pair of L.L Bean wading boots which I bought after giving up on Patagonia's boots.  They were comfortable and looked to be durable. However, those metal parts to hold shoe laces got corroded and came off rather quickly. I washed my boots every time after I came back from fishing, but it didn't help much. It was very disappointing as I was told that  these parts were "salt water resistant".  

I think no mater who makes or what they are, wading shoes won't last long. Glue will come off after having constant getting wet and drying process week after week. Saltwater and Sun's UV are too harsh on materials whether they are metal, plastic, or rubber.

It might be different if I fish only a few times in year, but for the number of days we fish, it will be good if the shoes last 12 months. For that, I no longer see the point of paying a lot of money for wading boots. I don't think $200 boots last 4 times more than $50 boots do.  Let's wait and see.

My old Patagonia's shoe before getting thrown into bin