Last fall there were some questions here about good hip boots. My Lacrosse hippers were wearing out and my supplier had dropped them complaining that quality had become variable.
So I tried some Cabela's guide hip boots (NOT ankle fit) with air bob soles that were on sale. I promised to come back here with a report after really using them. Overall I like them. I've made a 5 or 6 trips subsistence fishing (set gill net 3- 6 hrs/ trip ) and another 4-5 trips sport fishing ( 4-6 hrs/ trip) but no heavy duty wading, bush whacking or tundra hiking - that comes in August and Sept. I can say these boots are comfortable, the velcro knee harness is ok, and I haven't damaged the boots jumping in and out of my old Lund skiff a whole bunch of times. They seem fairly tough. The nylon belt straps are sturdy and can't get lost but the plastic buckles can tangle with stuff. The strong strap and tangling buckles could be a hazard for some uses like commercial fishing, deep water heavy sport gear, fast water areas - I had a buckle catch in the gillnet but luckily yanked it out before I was in trouble. The nylon inside lining dries nicely. The air bob soles seem to provide a little better grip than the lug soles on my LaCrosses but they can carry a bigger load of mud, gravel and sand into the boat and can be hard clean off. Also the soles make hissy squishy sounds on my boat bottom and I'm always wondering what's leaking. But overall they seem pretty good and were a great buy for the $50 price I paid. They are definitely better- tougher- than the Cabela's boots I tried about 8 years ago.
Hope this helps folks planning fishing and hunting trips in AK - good luck.
