Welcome to the Little River Outfitters Wading Boot Department. Here you will find wading boots from our three main brands, Chota, Orvis and Simms. We sell wading boots at all price points from these manufacturers. Higher priced wading boots usually relate to longer life, foot and ankle support and materials used to make them. If you are a casual angler, a lower priced boot will be fine and should last for several years. If you fish often, investing in a better made boot makes sense.
The Wading boots we sell have basically two types of soles, felt or rubber. Some rubber soles come with screw-in cleats or the cleats might be an option.
Rubber soled boots became popular due to the awareness of water-born pathogens such as didymo which is an invasive species of algae that covers and smothers the stream bottoms. It has been determined by some scientists that felt is more likely to transport these species from one river that is infested to another river that is not infested. However, felt soled wading boots, if treated in a solution of water and chlorine and allowed to completely dry, are not capable of transporting invasive species such ad didymo or whirling disease. And, don’t think that because you are wearing boots with rubber soles that you can’t infest rivers or streams with invasive species. Wet wading boots, no matter what they are made of are capable of transmitting these pests from one river to another.
For your personal safety we recommend felt soles when wading in the freestone streams in the Southern Appalachians including Great Smoky Mountains National Park. However, if you have used your felt wading boots in a stream, please disinfect them properly before wearing them in a different stream or river. You can learn how to do that by searching the internet for “Didymo”.
There is not a perfect wading boot sole. Even with felt, you can slip on rocks and fall. Wading in rivers can be safe if you are careful, use a wading staff, don’t take chances and even then it can happen. In this sport, you are going to fall sometime. It happens to all of us. Little River Outfitters is a family owned business and has been since 1994. Thank you for supporting us.
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