One of our favorite ways to target bonefish (and we have a feeling, your’s too) is on foot. There’s something about stalking fish on foot that gets an angler’s blood pumping, and we’re really lucky to do a lot of it at Andros South.
In fisheries like ours, there are a whole bunch of huge flats made up of all kinds of different bottoms from hard sand, to soft mud, to sharp limestone. It’s not uncommon to hop out of the boat in the morning and not return until lunch time. Therefore, a sturdy pair of flats boots are really, really important.
One pair of boots that we seen a lot of on our flats over the past couple seasons are the Orvis Andros Flats Hiker Boots. In fact, we heard so many good things about them from our guests that we felt we had to stomp around in them ourselves! We logged a good amount of miles on our flats with them this season, really liked them, and today we’ll tell you why.
- Sturdy, but not stiff. One thing we really like about these boots is that even though they are more than sturdy enough for any bottom you might encounter, and provide plenty of support, the sole still flexes enough to provide some ‘feel’ of the bottom when you’re walking. In other words, they feel less clunky, and more nimble when creeping around the flats, and thus more comfortable as well.
- Really good ankle support. Miles from the boat on a remote bonefish flat is no place to roll an ankle. Therefore we really dig the high ankle support on these boots.
- Surprisingly light. We’ll be the first to admit that the first time we saw these boots we thought they’d be uncomfortably heavy. But, outside of neoprene booties, they’re actually some of the lightest flats boots we’ve used.. Seriously!
- They’re appropriately named. For fisheries like ours on South Andros, we think these boots are some of the better boots on the market today.. So yeah, we can’t help but like the name.
The Andros Flats Hiker Boots retail for $149.00. For more information, check them out on Orvis’ website, here.
Having used the Orvis flats boat on numerous trips I can only say for me-they are the BEST for all the reasons you mentioned. dennis
Is that the pair of boots I left for you guys?
Hands down, the best saltwater boot I’ve ever fished in…and I was a HUGE Simms fan! Extremely durable, comfortable, and surprisingly light weight.
Thanks for sharing Andrew! We know the feeling!!
I just abandoned a very well used pair in the Seychelles.
They are extremely good but they do need some customising to provide even greater longevity.
First, the front cap of the sole parted from the top. I fixed this with some decent glue but eventually the top began to pull away from the sole on the side of the cap. At this stage they were so well worn that the sole under the cap had worn through.
I’m about to buy a new pair but will reinforce the caps with either stitching or 5/6 small pop-rivets.
JFYI