I made it out to the North Umpqua for a couple hours this past Saturday. My Cabela's GuideTech Waders were awesome. They kept me dry--this means I sweatws VERY little in them. They seem durable and are very easy to move around in. The only thing to watch is this. The neopreme booties are an the large size. I read this about them in a review on Cabela's website. I downloaded and printed Cabela's foot sizing chart and it said I needed a size 10. The foot size range on the waders was 7-10, and even though I am at the max the booties fit very loosely. I'd bet a size 11 or 12 would be comfotable in them. Though I am not a large person at 5'11 and 175 lbs (IE 15-20 too much for my frame) I ordered a "Medium Stout" to get the foot size and chest size I needed. They fit me well overall.
The Simms Freestone Studded Felt Wading Boots are excellent. Definitely more secure on slick rocks in fast water, though NOTHING is good on those basty rock shelves the North Umpqua is famout for. I'll barely try to cross one in shallow still water, and refuse to even try if there is current. The Simms have excellent ankle support and my knees didn't hurt after this last fishing trip--like they did with my new Hodgon wading boots.
The 3/4" Folstaff wading staff is as stout as a one-piece unit. Make sure you use the joint lube. I didn't and it was hard to break down. The staff has an attached lanyard about 3 feet long. This is a bad length if you decide to let the staff lay in the water behind you. I kept getting my line caught on it. However, I thought that might happen so I bought a net retractor, tied off the staff's lanyard, and it worked great. The net retractor kept the staff close and out of the way when I let it dangle, but did not restrict my movement when I needed it--which was a lot.
Now the bad. I broke my 7 yr old Cabela's Fish Eagle 9' 8 wt 4 piece fly rod by being stupid. I just bent it too far at the tip (being lazy) and broke off about 5/8" of the second piece from the tip. I whittled the broken end down a bit and made it work a little. Mananged to catch a bright resident rainbow (8-9" long) one of the times when I cast the tip off and the line was dangling downstream. When I got the rod back together I had this little fish on.
Today I ordered a TFO Teeney Series 10', 8 wt, 5 pc rod. I have developed a faster stroke that wasn't working well with the old 8 weight anyway, and since I'll now be a frequent steelhead fisherman I should have a real steelhead rod designed for steelhead in these waters. You guys who fish up here know how fast the current is and know how it just doesn't always allow a leaisuely pick-up.
A question on the old rod. Any reason I couldn't just epoxy the top two pieces together? I can get about 5/8", maybe 3/4" engagement.
