I never heard of a specific Why. I know I liked them even with their faults. The ones with the zipper are the second generation. I think the original product that came out before Hodgman was the Predator Reef Boots and were even more popular at the time. They were thought of being sting ray protection and then reports of people getting their boot punctured came out. If my memory serves, Mike McBride got hit bad wearing one of these two brands.
They are very heavy and are full of water when you get out from wading. On the plus side they are great for shell, particularly mud mixed with shell. As I sink into the mud they protect my leg from being scraped and the five layers around the foot definitely stands up to oyster. I still have a pair as backups. _________________ kick your shoes off and cast a line
Bulldog - thanks for the NRS suggestion. A new rabbit hole for sure.
LifeAquatic - that makes sense about the reputation going down after some well known hits.
After 30 years away from here, I'm noticing the rays havent decided they like somewhere else better. What boggles me is that we have lightweight fabrics that can stop penetration, but no bootie manufacturer is using them. There's $200 river boots, and featherlight wading boots, but nothing new that's really focused on the rays, and that uses modern tech to make them comfy. Guess its the liability? Thanks for the responses and suggestions. _________________ Be sure to make good choices when you're being stupid.
Joined: 07 Feb 2017 Posts: 1061 Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:30 am Post subject:
I know how you feel, my very favorite hike/wade/kayak Hood River boot was discontinued by Keen 10 years ago, I bought an extra pair on closeout, re-glued the soles on my last pair twice, and have e-mailed Keen every 6 months aking them to reintroduce them - and to no avail.
Joined: 21 Mar 2013 Posts: 438 Location: United States
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:47 am Post subject:
I feel most comfortable with my Simms vapertreads with a neoprene sock. It keeps all the little shards of shell out of my feet and give me more stingray protection than scuba booties. But next best thing would be any scuba bootie and a neoprene sock. I have no idea why they quit making those boots.. probably too big and most newcomers want something smaller and lighter.
The Simms Zipit and current Hodgman bootie are probably my options. I need a bootie for slipping on when surfcasting on those days that my pendulum cast just doesnt quite get me there. Whatever your belief on shuffling as a prevention, its hard to shuffle when you stumble, jump a wave, or otherwise cant shuffle. My buddy got hit last summer helping launch a Zodiac in the surf. Things went less than perfect, as usual, had to hop a bit and came down on a ray. Must not be enough demand for lightweight ray boots for a mass production effort... plus liability. _________________ Be sure to make good choices when you're being stupid.
Joined: 11 Sep 2017 Posts: 243 Location: Texas dry land
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:55 pm Post subject:
Foghorn
I noticed the article specifically addressed 20-30 degree angles. I have often wondered when we are shuffling out though the surf has anyone ever heard of anyone basically shuffling straight into the barb? What was the result. _________________ Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. (Fishing is one of those things )
Can't say I have. I guess if you slid up its tail with your foot, towards the barb, it would scuttle off in a hurry. This video helps show what they are doing with their tail to get ya. Its certainly a stab and not a slice.
_________________ Be sure to make good choices when you're being stupid.
Watching the stingray strike, in the true spirit of corpusfishing, this calls for a movie quote: "these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're in, and they'll defend themselves, violently if necessary."
I did some searching to see what I might turn up on the subject. I was wrong about McBride. He did suffer though a horrendous injury but he wasn't wearing a so called stingray proof boot at the time. I did find where someone took an ice pick to the Hodgman reef boots and they passed the test. There is a story about a guide getting stuck though his boot (no brand specified), although I didn't find any first hand account of the incident. Some of the products have disclaimers that say they cannot prevent a stingray, which I would guess is being referred to as "liability" in this thread.
It would be interesting to have some data on where (foot, top of foot, ankle, calf) is the most likely spot to be hit. I've heard different things. Is there a significant difference in activity between surf and bay that would affect the hit data that might change the protection strategy? Maybe I'm getting too deep in this?
_________________ kick your shoes off and cast a line
Seems like area of impact would be closely related to length of tail and location of barb on that tail. The bigger the ray, the longer the tail, and potential for a higher place on the leg. But thats just a guess.
Those Soft Science are silly light. Seems like they could be made with a layer of that RhinoGuard and be pretty effective. _________________ Be sure to make good choices when you're being stupid.
Seems like area of impact would be closely related to length of tail and location of barb on that tail. The bigger the ray, the longer the tail, and potential for a higher place on the leg. But thats just a guess.
Those Soft Science are silly light. Seems like they could be made with a layer of that RhinoGuard and be pretty effective.
But wait...there's more. Could the impact site also be affected by the orientation and proximity of the foot to the barb? I doubt it takes stepping directly on a ray to trigger a strike. There are probably lots of other factors that come into play and I'll spare everyone by not going any deeper into the weeds here. Somehow I have the impression that most hits are on top of the foot and this is from sources like talk around the fish cleaning table, not from anything authoritative. My thought is going in the direction of protecting the most likely spot but in general that would be the lower leg and foot. Hopefully we all stay away from a big ray that would bring more vital areas into range.
You have an excellent point that there is technology available for a better boot. I wish I knew of something to recommend.
If the quote wasn't obvious it came from Jurassic Park. _________________ kick your shoes off and cast a line
Joined: 11 Sep 2017 Posts: 243 Location: Texas dry land
Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 11:06 am Post subject:
I guess if you stepped over the tail and right on top of the body he (by the video) could hit you in the back of the calf.
Kind of crazy idea but maybe snake guards like they wear with boots for walking through the brush? _________________ Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. (Fishing is one of those things )
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Could the impact site also be affected by the orientation and proximity of the foot to the barb? I doubt it takes stepping directly on a ray to trigger a strike. There are probably lots of other factors that come into play and I'll spare everyone by not going any deeper into the weeds here. Somehow I have the impression that most hits are on top of the foot and this is from sources like talk around the fish cleaning table, not from anything authoritative. My thought is going in the direction of protecting the most likely spot but in general that would be the lower leg and foot. Hopefully we all stay away from a big ray that would bring more vital areas into range. 