Welcome to ‘The Rundown’, an editorial series where we provide an all-encompassing look at the latest and greatest products from your favorite brands in the fly fishing and outdoor space. Here, we’ll run over high-level info, tech specs, and our opinions – all paired with a behind-the-scenes interview with product designers who have poured their hearts into bringing these creations from blueprints to the showroom floor.
Last February, popular hunting brand SITKA officially announced an unexpected move, adding fishing gear to its verticals. Focusing heavily on both conventional and fly, SITKA shook up the market by dropping, overnight, a full array of fishing apparel, ranging from sun hoodies to bibs, to waders and jackets, and more. SITKA, owned by W. L. Gore & Associates (the creators and makers of the popular, durable, waterproof material GORE-TEX), entered the fishing industry with intent. As part of their fishing debut, SITKA launched the CrossCurrent GTX Waders and Wading Boots. In this feature, we are going to break down everything you need to know about this wading kit, including our own personal experiences with it after 4 months.
Table of Contents:
Background:
If you’re familiar with the SITKA name, chances are you’re a hunter—or at least, your uncle or old man is. It’s a name proudly touted in the duck blind or the deer woods, and is associated with the utmost quality in durability and weather resistance, as well as another undeniable attribute: its price.
SITKA was founded in 2005 by Jason Hairston (who, interestingly enough, had a short stint playing in the NFL for teams such as the 49ers and the Denver Broncos), as well as his business partner, Jonathan Hart. The two men were avid hunters who demanded more from their gear, and after four years of growing the brand, they sold it to a global materials science company, W. L. Gore & Associates, the creators of GORE-TEX. At this point in the outdoor space, the demand for durable, breathable, actually waterproof gear was at an all-time high, and GORE-TEX, much as it still is, was considered the cream of the crop in this regard.
Fast forward to 2026, and the brand is a household name amongst hunters, sparking controversy wherever mentioned. On one side of the aisle, consumers refer to the gear as overpriced ‘designer’ wear for hunters who prioritize fashion over function. With the other half of consumers coming to the quick defense of their favorite camo manufacturer, assuring their peers that if they could only try the gear, they’d immediately understand the difference it made when it really counted. Regardless of what your position was, if you hunted, you knew the name. Then, last January, SITKA dropped a groundbreaking announcement.
The brand so commonly regarded as the best in the biz for hunters was jumping into the fishing industry. From the time that announcement went public, it was only a few weeks before all of the SITKA Fish offerings went live. Initially, feedback was mixed. People carried forward the same rhetoric of it being overpriced “Gucci” gear. However, during this same time, the people who had actually used this gear in the field before were pumping their fists and grabbing their credit cards.
Within the robust release, SITKA announced its insertion into the now raging “Wader Wars” with the CrossCurrent GTX Wader line. Within the collection, SITKA introduced two wader models: the CrossCurrent GTX Zip, a fully featured wader built with a four-layer GORE-TEX Pro laminate, and the CrossCurrent GTX, a convertible wader featuring a three-layer upper and four-layer lower. The collection also includes two wading boot options, available with rubber or felt soles. Again, people were immediately divided, as another $1000+ pair of waders had just entered the market, and major shifts within the industry were already happening regarding who “owned” the wader market. Now, after five months, the great question remains: are these waders worth their price tag? And, is SITKA Fish here to stay?
Tech Specs:
(From sitkagear.com)
SITKA CrossCurrent GTX Zip Wader:
Crosscurrent GTX Zip Wader
Key Features:
- Full upper and lower 4-layer GORE-TEX® Pro laminate delivers uncompromising waterproof protection
- Anatomically engineered 5mm neoprene stocking feet
- Customizable, padded suspension with air-mesh lining
- Chest pocket system includes a magnetic one-hand access pocket and a secure zippered pocket
- Zippered handwarmer pockets
- Dual internal mesh storage pockets
- YKK® AquaSeal® (Watertight) center-front zipper
- Stretch-woven gravel guards
- Low-profile tool dock
- Stretch elastic wading belt
- Integrated knee pad sleeves compatible with SITKA knee pads
SITKA CrossCurrent Wading Boot – Rubber:
CrossCurrent GTX Wading Boot
Key Features:
- Customizable aluminum cleat system
- Ballistic textiles and zonal overlays
- TPU heel counter and reinforced toe cap
- Full-length EVA midsole
- Aggressive, sticky rubber outsole
- Hydrophobic synthetic materials and forefoot drain ports reduce water retention
- Includes one full set of screws, wrench, and 20-cleat sets of both aluminum and TPU cleats
- Weight (per boot): 28.4 oz [30.4 oz w/ cleats]
Our experience:
In my personal experience, I’m no stranger to the SITKA Gear brand or products. Once October rolls around, my dog and I shift all cognitive capacity (which at this point of the year, isn’t much) towards thinking about hunting ducks. Just like fly fishing, it’s an addiction. And come fall, I trade my fishing waders for bootfoots and my fly rod for a shotgun. It’s during this time, especially as we get into the blizzards of January, that I trust my comfort and composure to the good folks in Bozeman: SITKA. I have no shame in saying I believe their cold-weather gear, both in layers and waders, is second to none. That being said, I was extremely excited to hear they were going to be applying the same technology to the other all-consuming facet of my life: fishing, with their own spin on what a pair of fishing waders should look like. However, with that excitement came great skepticism.
For most of us, we probably started fishing, or still fish in, bootfoot waders. Some of us probably still use the neoprene duck waders handed down from Dad or the most recent sale at our local Bass Pro. Those of us who have graduated from those same waders, however, understand that once you get a proper fitting pair of stockingfoots and wading boots, the thought of going back is nearly unthinkable. With this in mind, I wasn’t sure at all how a manufacturer of bootfoot duck hunting waders was going to adapt to the challenge of catering to an entirely different audience. So, last January, I decided I was going to see for myself.
Initial Thoughts
The package arrived on my doorstep during an unseasonably warm winter week. While it didn’t bode well for the summer ahead (aka: Now), I was eager to get out and try on these new waders. So, I hastily unpacked the box and got my first look at the waders.
Off the bat, I liked what I saw. The colors were unique, and I immediately noticed the adjustable metal latching system on the shoulder straps, which SITKA calls “G-hooks”. These were a staple of the duck waders and made adjusting the shoulder length extremely easy. Going down the waders, some of the pockets had zippers (always a welcome sight for someone whose phone loves escaping into the depths of whatever waterway I’m occupying), and the chest pocket had a magnetic closure. The material felt like standard GORE-TEX quality, which I’ve grown accustomed to, and the booties were thick and felt a little more robust than my other pairs of waders.
Then came the boots. I think on first glance, the boots actually got me more excited than the waders. They were a rigid construction with reinforced ankles. On the underside, there were stud guides, ready to accomodate 1 of the 2 packs of studs the boots came with. Although I usually don’t wear them, I immediately grabbed the driver and popped the metal studs in—it was very easy.
With initial inspection out of the way, I decided now was as good a time as ever to pop them on and see how they felt. Once I’d adjusted the shoulders, I zipped up the front (thank the fishing gods for front zip waders), and definitely felt some initial resistance. I ordered a large pair of waders, as over the last year and a change, I’d gotten married and spent considerably more time sitting behind a desk than ever before. With these factors in mind, paired with my propensity for a nice glass of scotch in the evening, I had, admittedly, put on some weight in the belly area. However, I still felt like these waders were a bit snug for a size large.
It wasn’t, however, too tight for me to be able to bend down and slide into the CrossCurrent wading boots, now freshly studded. I was able to slide into them with ease, and after tightening them up thoroughly, I started walking about the garage. The ankles were tall, which I was thankful for as someone who’s been compromised by their own ankles before. However, they did really bite into my foot. Enough so that after just a few minutes, my ankles were noticeably sore. Discomfort aside, I took a quick jaunt down to the water and managed to land a few decent trout.
Five Months Later
Now, with the initial feelings out of the way, let’s fast-forward 5 months.
With a warm winter giving way to a warm spring, now leading into a warm summer, I’ve had lots of time to get on the water and fish. Be it after work or full weekends dedicated to it, I’ve since worn these waders in, probably over 50-75 hours. Here’s what I found…
The initial snugness of the waders around the stomach has actually subsided dramatically. Some of this, admittedly, has come from a better diet and more time outside, but the wader material has settled in so much so that I almost feel like they were custom-tailored for me (no joke). Additionally, the initial irritation on my ankles has completely gone away. The boots took about two trips out to break in, but now, they fit like a glove and are extremely comfortable to walk in. The sole is dense and supportive, and the ankles are still robust, but perfectly contoured to my feet. Additionally, the studs stick like glue to slippery rocks in heavy current. I don’t know if this is something that can be directly attributed to SITKA, but the ease of installation made me put the studs on in the first place, so they can have their flowers for that design regardless.
In terms of the waders themselves, I am blown away by how balanced they are in terms of durability and breathability. This is obviously where GORE-TEX shines, but nevertheless, I’m extremely impressed. These waders have endured tumbles down rocky hills, marches through fields of briers, and some close encounters with old barbed wire on public land. Through all that, still no leaks… I’ve even been blown away by the gravel guards. Admittedly, I wrote them off pretty quickly on first glance. I thought they looked silly compared to their typical neoprene counterparts, but boy, was I wrong. These gravel guards can take a beating and feel great doing it. What I really like about them is how thin they are. They keep an incredibly low profile, and pulling hooks out of them is incredibly easy as opposed to when a fly embeds itself in thick neoprene.
Additionally, as previously noted, this has been one heck of a year for heat. I’m someone who likes wearing waders no matter what. I know that puts me in an oddball category, but I like the feel of them, and the protection and storage they offer. So, as I’ve fished the Colorado River in my own backyard or Grand Lake Stream in Northern Maine, I’ve felt nothing but comfortable, no matter how hot or cold the day decides to be.
An important part of waders is the pockets. The two zip pockets on the CrossCurrent GTX Zip are great. They’re not waterproof, nor are they advertised as such, but they stay closed and keep my important items safe, which is really all that I can ask for. Additionally, they are nice and out of the way, so when I’m using a chest pack or have a silly camera rig dangling around my neck, my gear is still easily accessible and not building up on my chest. The magnet pocket in the front is something I’m still a little tentative to adopt. I now keep a single pack of leader and a spool of tipper in there, and it has yet to go anywhere. It is really nice for the tippet, as it offers excellent ease of access, but I don’t think I’d trust it to anything more valuable than $20.
As a kit overall, I’m extremely happy with the CrossCurrent wading system, and will continue to push it until SOMETHING breaks. However, I’ve yet to reach that point. Reference my final thoughts below…
An interview with Sitka’s product designer: Matt Carara
After testing the SITKA Fish Collection this spring, we sat down with Apparel PLM (Product Line Manager) Leader Matt Cara to learn more about this lineup of technical fishing apparel and what’s next for the brand.
Flylords: Who are you and what do you do at SITKA?
Matt Carara: “My role at SITKA is Apparel PLM Leader. I lead our team of Apparel PLMs, and I’m also the working Product Line Manager for the Fish & Waterfowl categories”.
Flylords: What went into designing these waders? What did the process look like (high-level) from start to release?
Matt Carara: “High level – with any product that we bring to market, we start with a product brief that identifies the problem or set of problems that require unique design solutions. In general, that brief goes to our Design Team, who find the solutions to the problems in the brief and sketch those ideas in 2D/3D, and from there we go to Development, where the product gets multiple rounds of prototyping and is really brought to life and made functional by our Development team.
We took a pretty unique approach to waders in SP26 – we took our existing hunt waders, stripped out the kneepads, attached stockingfeet (that were made in-house at SITKA) instead of boots, and got them on anglers who spend significant time in waders and asked questions about everything you could imagine – fit, storage, functionality, etc. We took that love/hate list in combination with gathering feedback from users all over the country about their own time using waders from other manufacturers and really pulled out what we felt were the common themes in terms of unmet needs and gaps in performance. From there, we went through the design/development process, which took about 18 months of prototyping, field testing, and tweaking”.
Flylords: What are some of the ways Sitka quality tests their waders? What technology goes into this?
Matt Carara: “I’ve been around waders for a long time, but my experience at SITKA is the first time I’ve ever reviewed wader puncture morphology in a Scanning Electron Microscope photograph, which I think is really telling about how serious we are about wader performance. We’re lucky to have the relationship we do with WL Gore – there’s so much impactful quantitative (lab) work that we can do on the laminates (fabric) and components of the wader we use to validate that those pieces will be up to task in terms of durability or performance – measuring all of those things before we put product in the field to ensure that it’ll work in theory. For this, we use the GORE-TEX Labs, which is essentially a giant laboratory full of equipment that’s used to push things to the limit. We’ll use all the scientific apparatus that is required – things like a Martinsdale machine to test abrasion or an Instron to test tear strength. But we’re lucky to have things like GORE’s Comfort Chamber, where we can simulate a real-world environment in a controlled manner – we’ll use this to do some crazy stuff.
On top of that, we have a team dedicated strictly to in-field testing at SITKA. We build our product creation calendar such that we can test multiple rounds of prototype products in the field for a full season. This means that it takes us longer to bring things to market, but we validate them on real users and adjust the product where we need to based on real-world feedback. In the case of waders, we have a high bar, and to make sure we cover a range of environments, we’ll often put a wader in the field for a few months, bring it back and evaluate, and then send it to a different user in a different part of the world to see how it stands up in a range of environments. We’ll often put Frankenstein waders out in the field to do A/B testing on feature set, fabrics, etc. We survey all of the testers and use that feedback to adjust before we put things in the market”.
Flylords: There are a lot of fishing waders and boots on the market. What makes this kit different? How does it break the mold of the typical $1K pair of waders?
Matt Carara: “There are a lot of really good waders and boots on the market today, and anglers are lucky with the breadth of options and accessible technology. What sets ours apart is how the whole package works together—we focused on delivering ultimate functionality without adding features just for the sake of it. We start with the best ingredient: 4-layer GORE-TEX fabric, so they last, don’t need repairs immediately after some bushwhacking, and when the inevitably need a tuneup, they’re easily serviceable by SITKA or the user, and covered by a warranty that makes repairs reasonably priced (no charge in the first year of ownership, and never more than $100 after that) and defects fully covered under warranty.
The chassis and patterning make a huge difference—proven in waterfowl hunting—and help minimize seams and failure points without sacrificing mobility, so the wader stays in the field longer before leaking. We also chose the most durable neoprene we could find, since that’s often the first failure point. From there, we added features that truly serve the angler without being distracting or superfluous. Kneepad sleeves are there if you want them, but invisible if you don’t. We reduced line snag with flat, rounded-edge belt hardware and a fully contained loop design. Pocketing strikes a balance: secure zippered storage for valuables, plus quick-access magnetic pockets for essentials like floatant or tippet. Fishing can happen fast, and nothing sucks more than having to unzip 4 different pockets just for your floatant – building a magnetic access pocket for that kind of tackle was the direct result of in-field feedback. And, we added zippers to the hand pockets—because nothing’s worse than an oar catching your wader pocket.
Finally, the harness is best-in-class: highly adjustable for a near-custom fit, with great stretch, breathability, and comfort across layers. On the non-zip wader, the magnetic convertible feature is truly a first of its kind”.
Flylords: How has SITKA Gear’s history of making waders for duck hunters made its way into these waders and boots? Additionally, what was changed to suit anglers as opposed to duck hunters?
Matt Carara: “At the end of the day, the most important thing that waders do is keep the user dry and comfortable. So, regardless of the pursuit, that has to be the North Star for performance in a pair of waders. The wader with the coolest features that leaks after 3 days out probably isn’t going to get used much.
Waterfowl hunting is unique in terms of the demands that it places on waders – hunting in flooded timber swamps leads to a lot of puncture failures, hunting in the marsh causes tons of abrasion, and breaking ice can put leaks in waders in a hurry. So by considering all of those demands, we’ve created a pattern and method of construction that we know prevents seam failure and reduces the areas for failure in waders. We took that chassis and tweaked it for fishing, and then rethought the pocketing, harnessing, and details. The waders are ideally suited for angling. Building waders is like a lot of things – you learn the most by failing. So by having all of this data and experience about how waders fail in the waterfowl environment, and our own field testing in the fishing use case, we have a ton of information to draw on to make waders that do the most important thing well – keep you dry and comfortable while you’re wearing them.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that internally at our product team at SITKA, we have a ton of experience in designing and developing Gore-Tex fishing waders, which has been a huge asset thus far. Wait until you see what we have in store in waders in the next 2 years!”
Final Thoughts:
To bring this all home, I think we need to answer an important question: Does the fly fishing industry need another $1000+ pair of waders, and more importantly, are the CrossCurrent GTX Waders worth the price tag they boast? The answer to this question is as multifaceted as the question itself. In short, and in order, our answers are “No and Yes”, and “Yes”. Let me expand:
Unfortunately, we live in a day and age where the price of ‘premium’ waders has already been set. If you’re looking to invest in a pair of waders, you’ll spend around $1,000—it’s a pretty standard transaction. Do I think any waders should be priced that high? No. Of course not. But, you also won’t see me picketing around Bozeman demanding lower wader prices. The fact of the matter is, this price tag is just what we pay for most (not all) premium waders. So to have SITKA Gear come in and declare the worth of their top-of-the-line waders at $1K on the nose isn’t fun, but it is understandable. To be completely and brutally honest, if they came in lower, a lot of you would probably think there is something wrong with them.
So the question remains: are they actually worth it? My short answer is yes. My long answer is yeeeesssss. Here’s why: We’re in the middle of a wader war, and to be honest, it’s never been a better time to be a consumer. We are witnessing 4-5 premium brands claw their way to the top of the wading market, and as a result, we are seeing more thoughtful development in wading tech than EVER before. Companies finally understand that the claim to wader supremacy is up for grabs, and it won’t be won with marketing alone. SITKA Gear’s release of this wader system is no exception to this battle. They released a kit that is just as good, if not better, than anything the endemic fly brands have put out in years, and it’s because they had to. SITKA didn’t come to the fish market bashfully. They came with a massive product catalog, backed by some of the biggest pros in the game. They came here to kick ass, and that is extremely apparent in the design of their feature piece: the CrossCurrent GTX Zip Wader system. Overall, the system is adaptable, tough, breathable, and comfortable (after being broken in), and, to be honest, it looks great—which definitely counts for something. If you’d ask me, personally, if I’d recommend these waders, I’d respond with a resounding “absolutely”, and I’ll be looking forward to doing everything in my power moving ahead to absolutely destroy them. Fortunately, in that regard, I know I’ve got my work cut out for me.
