My Bestard SAR Pro Water rescue boots look like they are coming to the end of their time - would I buy another pair? (final review)

You need to know that I am an absolute nightmare on shoes and boots. I can almost guarantee you that you will get double the time out of anything shoe or boot related when compared to me. Back in my bait days the manager of Blacks in Plymouth asked me to stop coming in because I kept bringing expensive Gore-tex hiking boots back which were failing within a few months. I walk the dog three times a day on a normal day and I go through trainers, walking boots and wellies in no time at all (expensive or cheap, it makes no difference, I trash them). I am heavy, I walk fast, I walk a lot, and most of the fishing I do also revolves around a lot of walking and scrambling and wading and so on, often over hectic ground. Let’s be honest, saltwater lure fishing is a nightmare for any kind of footwear……………

The boots as they are at the time of writing this blog post

I started wearing this pair of Bestard SAR Pro Water rescue boots in February 2021 (I know this because I have kept notes). I started off by putting 4 x 3000A SupaTracks studs in each heel and 8 x 3000B SupaTracks studs in each front sole, and then at the end of January 2022 I slightly moved all the studs in the boots to make sure they were sitting in parts of the soles which hadn’t had studs in yet. I like to think that I have washed the boots down in freshwater after every single fishing session, but I haven’t. I have actually looked after the boots pretty wel,l but they have also spent plenty of time sitting outside in the elements until I go to put them on for fishing again. About a year or so into wearing these boots I put a load of that Shoe Goo stuff around the fronts of them where the boot meets the sole. In a few areas the sole was just starting to pull away from the front of the boots, and whilst I think the Shoe Goo has helped, it doesn’t adhere to the materials perfectly (by the way, Shoe Goo is perfect for wader repairs, it does just the same job as the far more expensive Aquasure. I store mine in the freezer and defrost it when I need it).

The laces which came with the boots didn’t last very long so I reverted to paracord laces and haven’t had a single problem save for the fact that you can’t clamp down those two “fastening” eyelets on the side of the boots. To be honest I just miss this eyelet out anyway and I don’t notice any difference in how the boots feel. I have only used them in saltwater by the way. They have been washed down in freshwater fairly regularly, and for ages there were no signs of rust on any of the metal components - but there are now, although to be fair none of the components have failed and I see no reason why any of them will before the boots themselves fall apart. I am a UK size 11 shoe and I went for a UK size 13 pair of these boots to allow for neoprene socks on the bottom of waders or with the Palm neoprene kayaking leggings I have been trying out.

I think that the inbuilt gravel guard bit which you can fasten around the top of the boots and around your neoprene sock before securing the gravel guards on your waders over it all is useful, but when you fish in the surf you’re going to end up with a bit of sand in the boots. This is not a complaint because it’s to be expected, but I do believe that the inbuilt gravel guard things on the boots themselves are doing a certain amount of good in keeping a fair amount of sand and small bits of grit out. I will always wash any sand or grit out of any boots I wear for fishing because it’s just about the best way to put holes in the neoprene socks on waders (and then complain that the waders are crap!). The one thing that does niggle me about these boots is that the yellow flaps which the eyelets sit on are a natural place for sand and grit to collect underneath them. You need to keep an eye on this and when you wash the boots down you need to sort of lift the flaps up and hose the crap out.

So it’s now the middle of November 2022, and whilst I reckon/hope I might still have a fair bit of life left in these Bestard boots, they are quite understandably looking slightly worse for wear and I wonder when they will say no more and give up! If you look here at the UK stockists of these boots they are not exactly cheap, so will I be buying another pair when mine do finally fall apart?

November 2022 and the boots are still going………

I do have a couple of minor issues with the boots which aren’t actually complaints because I am obviously using them not quite as they are intended. Both these issues are actually linked, and it’s based around my guiding work which requires me to be on my feet for often 12+ hours a day. When I go fishing myself around where I live, I tend to do plenty of short, sharp sessions to take advantage of specific states of tide on specific marks, and fit my fishing in around work and family and so on. These Bestard boots are absolutely perfect for the way I fish. They are lightweight, they are incredibly comfortable, they are completely unlike wearing the more traditional, usually heavier wading boots, I find them so easy to move around in, and with those studs in the soles that I mentioned further up this blog post the grip is essentially perfect. Some of the studs have moved around a bit in the soles, and from memory I think I did lose a couple of studs which were easy to replace.

So as a pair of wading style boots to wear for my fishing, these Bestard SAR Pro Water rescue boots are absolutely bloody outstanding. For sure you can save a heap of cash and go down the Dunlop safety boot route, but without a doubt wearing these Bestard boots for my fishing are a big, big step up. I have worn some really good and some really bad “proper” wading boots over many years now, but I’d take these Bestard boots over any of them for my saltwater fishing. There is no comparison.

But, and whilst it’s not a major but at all, I can’t wear these Bestard boots for my guiding work because I don’t find them comfortable enough to be on my feet on hard surfaces for hours and hours. As I said, for my fishing they are essentially perfect, but after a fair few hours I think the thinner soles cause my feet to start aching a bit. Nothing drastic I might add, but I did try these Bestard boots for guiding when the world started returning to what we hoped was normal after covid - and after the first day and aching feet I went back to traditional wading boots with much thicker soles. But I am me and you are you. You might well not get this at all because there is enough of me weighing down on the relatively thin soles on these Bestard boots to make them relatively uncomfortable after hours and hours on them. If you don’t spend that many hours on your feet then it’s not going to be an issue.

So will I be buying another pair of these Bestard SAR Pro Water rescue boots when they do finally give up on me? In a word, yes. I think they are bloody brilliant, and I would like to thank the select few anglers who nudged me into getting a pair and trying them out. As my fishing boots these Bestard boots are essentially perfect, but if I had my way I’d love to see a version made for fishing without those lace eyelet flap things, and with say double thickness soles to allow me to put the longer SupaTracks studs in the front soles as well as the heels, and for what I think could be an improved comfort thing when you are on your feet for long periods. I dread to think how many miles I have walked and scrambled in these things, and they have spent most of their fishing life with me either in saltwater or getting soaked by saltwater. These Bestard SAR Pro Water rescue boots are every bit as good as I was led to believe, and I think they are more than worth the money for the kind of fishing I do.