Fins & Feathers have been carrying Korker wading boots this season, and now that the season is more or less over, we thought it was time to give you a report on the excellent Metalhead Wading boot. The Metalhead is a very versatile, functional boot at a very fair price by today’s market standards.
Perhaps the most recognizable feature of Korker boots is their Omnitrax interchangeable sole system. This system allows anglers to choose from several different sole options to suit the conditions of the day. The Metalhead boots come with both felt and rubber soles and we offer studded rubber soles as an aftermarket accessory. The soles change out easily and lock in to place very securely. It only takes a couple of minutes to make the switch and it can be done without taking off the boots. The process is easier if the boots are clean, but for the most part the change out is a breeze. We’ve had no failures with the soles coming loose once installed. We had heard reports that Korker had some problems with earlier generations of the Omnitrax soles but they seem to have those problems straightened out.
The rubber soles are the first we tried. The unstudded rubber sole is great for hiking a trail to the river, and greatly preferable to felt in the mud or snow. They hold fine on soft bottoms like sand and mud, again just as well if not better than felt. Slick rocks are where the plain rubber soles leave something to be desired. They are not what we recommend for wading difficult rivers like the Gallatin, Yellowstone, and Big Hole. Even little Hyalite Creek was pretty darn scary. This seems to be the standard report for most of the rubber sole wading boots on the market. The rubber soles basically give an excellent option for hiking to a river and saving felts from dry land, but they’re not what we recommend using for most actual fishing situations.
Korker’s felt soles, on the other hand, offer excellent traction on most river bottoms. The felt is of ample thickness and seems a bit softer than the average felt sole we’ve used. The soft felt seems to grab rocks better than most other felt soles and is very pleasant to fish with. The down side to this softer felt is that it will probably wear a little faster, but the option to wear rubber soles on long hikes should make up for this and provide a better hiking sole in the process. Also, when the felts do wear out they are much easier to replace. Another downside is fishing in the snow. Like any felt sole, they will pick up a mound of snow and make walking uncomfortable and possibly treacherous. The rubber soles or studded rubber will be a better choice in the snow.
The studded rubber soles are perhaps the most versatile of the sole options and our favorite for winter fishing. After the poor wading performance of the rubber soles we were dubious as to how much the studs would help. They help a lot. The studs seem to do an excellent job of cutting through the slime on river rocks and biting into the rock itself. Occasionally the studs will have to “find” the rock and you’ll feel a small bit of slippage until they do, but for the most part they offer a very stable grip on the river. One common complaint of studded boots is that it feels like your skating on just the studs when walking on dry rocks. We didn’t notice this too badly with the reasonably sized studs on the Korker boots. When snow is on the stream bank, the studded rubber soles give quality traction while wading without snow build up, making it our favorite for winter fishing. One common problem with any studded boot is that very few boat owners will be glad to see you show up in them. Also, as studs wear they become less effective just like felts. Again, the Omnitrax system makes both of these issues far smaller problems than with other boots.
One of the other marquee features of Korker’s high end boots is the Boa lacing system. The Boa system uses a dial to crank up steel laces, making for a very secure fit. The dial makes getting the boots on and off much faster than with conventional laces, especially in cold weather. The steel laces make it far less likely that your wading will be hampered by a broken boot lace. The Boa system is also very low profile and less likely to get caught on fly lines, streamside and aquatic vegetation, monofilament, etc. We have heard that if the dial gets filled with mud it can jam. These reports were from earlier generation boots and isn’t a problem we’ve encountered yet. We basically see no downside to the Boa lacing system compared to traditional laces; they’re great to use and will spoil you with their convenience.
Finally some general words about the boot. The Metalhead is made of synthetic leather uppers and lowers, with generous reinforcement in the toe and heal. The boots both dry and drain quickly, which make them very light and comfortable to hike in once out of the water and theoretically helps prevent the spread of invasive species. They seem to be holding up well so far, although this is admittedly our first season of experience with them. Time will tell on their durability. The boots are very comfortable and not too terribly stiff. If you prefer a heavy wading brogue you might wish they were a little stiffer. The Metalheads wear more like most company’s lightweight boots. At $149.99 dollars, the Metalhead boots offer a lot of features for the money. The studded rubber soles retail for $34.99 and provide even more versatility. If you’re in the market for a quality wading boot and want to try some of the different sole options on the market without committing to only one, we highly recommend the Korker Metalheads.