Wading boots in tandem with waders are one of the most important pieces of fly fishing gear. They are responsible for getting you to and from spots, and fishing safely and comfortably. A good pair of wading boots should have the durability to last seasons on the water, the comfort to minimize fatigue, and the stability and traction to tackle the toughest rivers. When you add up all these requirements for a good wading boot and look at what’s on the market, the Skwala RS Wading Boot is the obvious choice. I’ve been using these boots for a few months now, and they’re hands-down the best boots I’ve ever worn.
Skwala RS Wading Boot
How We Tested
I do a fair bit of hiking while fishing—more than the average, but I’m no outlier who puts eight to ten miles on their boots every trip. Most of my local streams are freestones, and wading through them feels more like I’m walking on bowling balls than a riverbed. I’ll spend a good deal of time scrambling around on the banks, crawling over deadfall and boulders, to navigate the slippery, fast sections of river that aren’t worth wading through. I also make a few long treks into high-country lakes or spend a few days following creeks up into the cirques every season.
So, when it comes to the abuse I put my wading boots through, I reckon it’s a bit more than most. I’m also on the water around 150 days a year, so my boots see a lot of use, even if it’s just standing in a driftboat, or wading a wide, relaxed tailwater.
I need boots that have great ankle support (my ankles are made of glass), but still have enough flex and movement to respond well to longer hikes. Few things are more uncomfortable than trekking up river in boots that make your feet feel like numb chunks of concrete plodding along the trail.
And within reason, I want boots that are light. Some weight is good and necessary for working through swift, tough water. But you’ll be significantly more comfortable with boots that don’t weigh a ton.
Finally, I need an outsole that’s bombproof. It needs to handle scrambling through scree at 10,000 feet, bumping around boulders down in the valleys, and long hikes on uneven ground. Once I’m in the water, those soles need to provide plenty of traction, otherwise I’ll be recreating that A River Runs Through It scene, but without any of the Maclean family’s grace.
What I Love
Unmatched Comfort
Skwala’s company ethos is building gear that works and moves with you. They want you to have the fullest range of motion possible, so that it feels like you’re not wearing traditional fishing gear.
The end result for us anglers is gear that gives us nearly unlimited freedom of movement, and with that, unmatched comfort. Nowhere is this design philosophy more prominent than in the RS Boots. Clocking in at just over 4 pounds per pair (a hair over 2 pounds per boot), they’re right in line with the weight of other top-tier boots on the market. Sturdy enough to support you in the water, but not so heavy that they’re awful to wear for long hikes.
I spent one afternoon in the RS Boots where I walked five miles, mostly on train tracks that followed a river, and my feet felt fantastic afterwards. Well, as good as your feet can feel after that sort of walk. Whether I’ve been walking train tracks or traversing scree fields in the high country, I’ve been more comfortable than in any other boot I’ve used.
A big reason these boots are so comfortable is thanks to the raised midsole Skwala used, which feels more like a hiking boot than a wading boot. Other wading boots use a raised midsole, but Skwala took theirs a bit higher to give you even more arch support. And that’s in addition to removable Ortholite insoles, as well.
Another key in the comfort game is the Enhanced Stability System (ESS) plate Skwala used for the RS. An ESS plate is a piece of metal, used in the soles of most wading boots, to give the boot rigidity and strength while you’re in the water. When you slap a big metal plate into the sole of a boot, though, you actually lose some of your ability to feel the river bottom (or whatever you’re walking on). This can make you feel unstable, as though you’re about to fall into the water.
Skwala uses a figure-8 ESS plate that still allows you to attach studs to the boot, but its smaller surface area means you feel more through your feet, and therefore, feel more confident while wading.
The higher ankle on this boot (compared to the lower-profile Carbon boot from Skwala) is sturdy enough to keep my glass ankles from rolling, but not so stiff that I can’t move and pivot as needed.
Traction
All that comfort ain’t worth a hill of beans if the boots don’t do what they’re designed to—help you wade comfortably through a river. Skwala worked with Vibram, a leader in outsole design, to come up with a proprietary lug pattern on the sole. I don’t think a casual observer will notice a huge difference between this sole and, say, the sole on an Orvis PRO Wading Boot. But the results are immediately clear once you’re in the water.
Until I started reviewing the RS Boots, I ran studded rubber soles in my previous wading boots, and I’ve done so for the better part of a decade. Studded rubber is the best solution I’ve found for the combination of hiking and wading I do, especially on some of the slippery freestones near my place.
I haven’t studded the RS Boots yet because I wanted to see how they held up on their own. To my surprise, I don’t know if I’ll need to stud these boots. They’ve held up spectacularly well on a handful of rivers that are known for tough wading conditions. Just last week, I was almost chest-deep in a stream high from runoff, trying not to lose my balance, and I never felt like the RS Boots were about to give out on me.
I’ll likely stud these boots anyways, because I prefer that extra bite, but the RS Boots are excellent without them.
Durability
I’ve used these boots for roughly three months. It’s hard to touch on durability right off the bat, but I know that’s one of the major qualities anglers want from their gear. We spend good money on this stuff, and it had better last.
The RS Boots are built to survive a bear attack. Seriously, you could give these to a lion as a chew toy, and the lion might need to get its teeth sharpened afterwards.
Alright, I’m exaggerating, but the RS Boots feel like they’ll last a good, long time. All the seams are bonded (glued together instead of just stitched), and they feature a double-lasted construction. What that means is Skwala uses two layers of material to build the upper portion of the boot, instead of just one. Since most boot failures occur in the upper, double-lasting increases the durability. The RS Boots also feature a molded toe-cap to prevent seam failures there, and the entire body is built from a mixture of synthetic leather and thermoplastic polyurethane. Skwala also eliminated as much stitching as possible.
In layman’s terms, Skwala looked at the most failure-prone areas of a wading boot and added more material or eliminated the problems that cause those failures (stitching, single-layer construction, etc.). Time will tell, of course, just how durable the RS Boots are. But after long days of trekking across rock fields, scrambling around boulders, and sliding down steep banks, the RS Boots look just as ready for the water as they did when they arrived. I don’t have any doubts about the durability here.
Even the lacing system was rebuilt to be better than what’s currently on the market. Skwala created a glass-impregnated D-Ring system for the laces to slide through, which reduces wear-and-tear on your laces.
Final Thoughts
It’s rare that I get to review a product where I don’t have any suggestions on how to improve it. With wading gear, in particular, there always seems to be a trade-off or a corner cut that didn’t need to be.
The Skwala RS Wading Boot is as close to a perfect pair of wading boots that I’ve ever come across. They’re a bit bulky, sure, but that’s the point. They’re a bomber-style boot built to last, and until we make some intuitive leap forward in textiles, that’ll always mean a bulkier product.
They’re supremely comfortable, a joy to walk in, and stable in the water. I’m not sure what else you could ask for from these boots. I also won’t shy away from calling these the best boots currently on the market, because I think they are.