I have used the Best-Grip boot studs for years now, and I reckon these specific ones are the best for most boots

When all that I ever used was “proper” wading boots, it didn’t seem to matter what sort of boot studs you put in them. As long as they were good of course - there are some really crappy ones out there - but stick a set of (decent) studs in the soles of a pair of wading boots and for me they wouldn’t tend to move around or fall out or anything like that. For sure they would for the most part eventually need replacing, but I used to get a hell of a lot of time out of those rather expensive Orvis Posigrip boot studs for example.

What got me thinking about specific boot studs was my gradual adoption of “not proper” wading boots because I began to get fed up with so many of them being so useless in a harsh saltwater environment. I am a bit out of touch at the moment with the higher-end Simms and Patagonia etc. wading boots, but even then I have had some really good Simms wading boots and some really bad ones - and for the most part they ain’t bloody cheap. It was when I took a punt on a cheap as chips pair of Dunlop safety boots that I began to realise that not all soles were the same. This was when I think I came across the brilliant Best-Grip wading studs which seem to have been available via the excellent SupaTracks people here in the UK for a good while now.

But the slightly confusing bit always was that there are a few different styles of Best-Grip boot studs. All the ones I have used give me outstanding grip, and even though they might end up looking a bit rusty or discoloured when they are actually in the soles of your boots, when you take them out to use them again - they always last longer than the actual boots! - you find that in fact the Best-Grip studs are just fine and can very effectively be inserted into the soles of a new pair of whatever boots you might be pressing into service for your fishing. I learnt a long time ago how best to actually insert the slightly tricky to get to grips with Best-Grip studs into the sole of a boot, but for a first-timer I wonder if a few how-to videos would be helpful.

I am a massive fan of the outstanding Bestard water based boots which I find to be incredibly comfortable for my shore based fishing, plus they last what I think is long enough for what I pay for them (find them here in the UK and go two sizes over your UK shoe size if you are going to wear them with BCWs) - but I think they need studs in their soles to give me the best possible grip. You need to be careful though because the soles on the Bestard SAR Pro Water Rescue Boots and slightly cheaper Bestard Wildwater Pro boots are not actually designed to take studs. If you were to use the longer insert bit ones you could end up coming through the sole and puncturing the neoprene socks on the bottom of your BCWs. This is where the Best-Grip studs are so perfect, because they don’t need to go in very far so they work with soles like on these Bestard boots and on the inexpensive Dunlops etc.

I have extensively used the different Best-Grip studs which SupaTracks make available, but sometimes I find that in certain soles some of the stud types can move around a bit or even sink right back into the actual sole. Bearing in mind that these non-wading boots which we press into service as wading boots obviously don’t have soles designed to take boot studs, so we do the best we can. When I started using my second pair of Bestard boots, the Wildwater Pro ones, I put my “usual” array of Best-Grip studs in the soles and got on with fishing. 4 x 3000A Best-Grip studs in each heel and 8 x 3000B Best-Grip studs from Supatracks in each front sole. Outstanding grip as always, but over a bit of time I noticed some of the studs had literally disappeared into the sole, or sort of squashed right over so they didn’t provide any grip, plus I actually lost a couple of studs as well.

The extra holes you can see in the soles of my boots are where I took the original lot of Best-Grip boot studs out, to replace with them the 1605 versions

So I did a bit of experimenting and over a good bit of time I now turn to the code 1605 Best-Grip boot studs for any time I am using boots which aren’t actually wading boots. The 1605 studs are also the easiest to put into any soles. These 1605 Best-Grip boot studs move around in the sole far less, and what I do is wear a new pair of boots a couple of times, have a good look at the sole, then if any individual studs look like they are starting to sink into the sole I will remove it/them and move it/them slightly in the sole. I guess there are various pressure points on the sole of a pair of boots where more of your weight presses down. Look at the photos here of the soles on my Bestard Wildwater Pro boots and you might think no way, those Best-Grip studs are gently rusting away. But they aren’t, and I could quite easily take all those studs out and use them again when I have gone through the boots and moved onto another pair.