Korkers

[Dejon Hamann]

Gonna order up my first pair.  Any recommendations?  Chrome vs Metalhead?  Which soles are your favorite? Any unnecessary?

[Ben Vandevender]

I have the Darkness and love them!  Metalheads come in second favorite. The studded Felt is hard to beat imo.  Havnt had to much use of the kling on but it does seem sticky and a possible option.  I still love felt though and it boosts my confidence.

[Mike Wisniewski]

I have the Korkers with the kling on  soles with studs.   I found them to be very slippery.    The studs are very small- more nubs than studs.  I actually bought a pair of the simms boots with the carbide screws.    However the Korkers are very comfortable boots.  Still use the Korkers with the cleated soles or the Salmon River.   Hope this helps.    If you have wide feet, order a size larger.

[Aaron Laing]

I've had my Korker Guidlines since the Quebec Nationals (love that lacing system).

I use the aqua-stealth (aka aqua-slip ) sole for most of my day-to-day fishing, but most of my rivers aren't too slimy or particularly treacherous to wade. I've also got the plain studded version and the hiking sole, and I've borrowed the felt soles from a friend on occasion.

Unless you do some serious trekking to get to your fishing spots, the ones I would definitely pass on are the hiking soles. I used to use them a bit when I had to walk a few km to get to the fishing hole, but it wasn't worth the hassle of changing them out and storing them while fishing. You can get away with humping it in most of the other soles so the hiking soles seem like a waste.

I'm iffy on the plain studs as well. If you're fishing over a softer substrate or jumping over logs they're the cat's bottom, but they're kind of specialized imho. A better choice would be the combo felt/studded bottoms. A buddy of mine fishes the Thompson for steelhead in these things--imagine trying to stand on greased bowling balls the size of baby's heads, and you get an idea of the Thompson river bottom. He swears by them.

If I wasn't sucking wind for cash I would get a pair of the straight felt for sure. A pair of felts and the aqua-stealth (or the new equivalent) would cover 90% of my fishing situations and I could probably fake the rest (the Thompson excepted).

Aaron

[Pat Brechbill]

I've got the Korker Darkness as well, and I love them. I use the studded felt and haven't tried the Klingon yet. My only complaint was with the Boa lacing system. It seems when sand gets on the laces it binds in the protective sleeves for the laces and they work their way out. I solved this by using Mucelin on the wire and now they work great.

[Tom Karazsia]

I purchased the Chrome Korkers in January 2011 and have used them probably 50 - 60 times. The boots are very comfortable. The studded sticky rubber soles are just OK for grip. Some of the studs came out of my original set of soles. I sent them back to Korkers, but had to purchase another pair to use while the first set was being replaced. I tried to use the sticky rubber soles that also came with my boots, but after one outing, I found them to be dangerous on rocky stream beds. They don't have nearly the grip of felt. By the time my replacements arrived back, some studs on my back-up pair started to snap off. I returned those for a replacement also. I don't mind returning them to Korkers for replacement, but it costs around $14 each time. I"m thinking of buying the studded felts to use until they're outlawed in the states I fish. The ''Boa" lacing system is awesome! It's such a time saver and so easy to use. Just as a side note, Korkers also came out with a new sole called "Svelt". The soles are made of the green scrubbing pad material used to clean pots and pans. I spoke with a rep. from Korkers and he states they are the closest thing to felt.

[Jim Frazier]

well fellas u might as well buy the redsides for 100 beans , they will last 2 yrs and pitch them . Thats 50 dollars a yr for use . If you buy guide boots for say 200 will they last five years ? the die hard simms guys will argue that the guide boots last longer than any other. What we have all seen is the fact that most boots every 2 yrs , waders every 2 (without 50 lbs of aquaseal in them ) A person who is very analytical can probably break it down to failure after so many outings !

[Brett Silber]

I purchased the chrome because of the boa and sole system.  I live in western maryland and there is a ban on felt so I thought it would be nice to be able to change the soles if i go to another state.  After two trips to the savage river the soles started falling apart pretty significantly.  I called korkers and they sent me out a replacement pair of soles with in the week.  In the meantime i noticed that the tubes where the cables went through started to pull out when the boa system is tightened down which left them rubbing the material on the boot.  Once again I called korkers and they told me to try and slide the tubes back in and try to super glue them in.  Once they dry it is nearly impossible so some of the cables still rub on the material of the boot.  Also by this point i have worn the boots about 5 times in 2 weeks to see just how long the original sole would last and found that the soles couldn't hack a stream with very large boulders or very gradient.  The actual sole is separating from the plastic on the inserts and i have lost about 4-5 studs on both soles.  Korkers said they would replace the boots or refund them but that i would have to wait until August when they get more stock in the warehouse.  I am not writing this to bash Korkers boots but to let others know I have had the same problems with the sole system. 

The idea of the sole system is excellent, the boots are very lightweight, they drain very good and dry faster than simms rivershed.  The simms boots held up but were very heavy and took forever to dry. 

Just wanted to pass along the information .....