Korkers Devil’s Canyon Wading Boot

I do like, and often wear, Korkers boots. I like the ability to switch soles. The truth is that you either buy into the Korkers concept of interchangeable soles or you don’t.

I liked the notion of being able to switch out treads as soon as I started wearing Korkers boots about 15 years ago, because it’s like getting two or three pairs of boots in one. If I want to wear spikes, I wear spikes. If I need to wear plain felt soles when I jump in a boat, I can make the conversion and do that in about two minutes. If I’m conscious about transporting invasive species, and I am, I can toss my soles in the freezer overnight a lot easier than I can a whole pair of boots (but invasives cling to other parts of boots besides the soles, and you should wash/freeze/otherwise treat them accordingly).

The downside is, if you break the strap that holds those soles on, you’ll throw the tread, and the boot is pretty useless until you slap another replacement on it. If you’re out in the middle of nowhere with no replacement when that happens, you’re out of luck. I usually have a backup pair of soles in my kit when I fish Korkers.

Product story

It’s worth pointing out that Korkers CEO Brian Chaney warned me before I took a pair of these boots to eastern Russia years ago, about the straps breaking, and added that they’d been working on improving how the interchangeable soles adhered to the boots. That only made me want to test them out in those “extreme” situations more, which I did. So, over two weeks, I marched through a number of mucky bogs and sandy riverbanks on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and never threw a sole–if I had, I would have been disappointed, even though I had been warned. Korkers passed the test, and although I’m still really careful (and more importantly, I pay attention to how I maintain the interchangeable soles), I have trusted Korkers ever since.

It isn’t just about the soles. For the record, I feel less comfortable fishing in the middle of nowhere with any boots that rely on the BOA closure system. I once watched a nice gentleman from Austria, who had traveled all the way to British Columbia to fish the fabled Dean River, blow up a BOA knob, literally as he was cranking up on the first morning of the trip. He had to march around bear country the rest of the week with one boot duct-taped shut. And they were new boots (different manufacturer than Korkers) he’d bought for the trip. I still travel with BOA-closing boots, but nothing is safer than laces, and with extra laces packed in your kit. Bottom line: I worry more about the closure than I do about the treads with Korkers, but I have not had any blowouts or problems to report.

Performance

So, about Devil’s Canyon in particular: Korkers makes a “beefier” boot called River Ops, which I like, and will review later, and less expensive boots like Buckskin. They also make boots specifically for women, like Women’s Darkhorse and Buckskin Mary, named after a rapid on the Deschutes River. We will eventually cover them all, because our team has worn them.

But we start with Devil’s Canyon, because it’s my favorite model from Korkers.

Why? It’s light. I like the neoprene upper, which affords great flexibility. Were I planning to hike long distances and craving ankle support, I’d opt for River Ops.

But here’s the thing: If you drive to the fishing spot and walk a few hundred yards to get in the river, if you’re going to cover maybe a mile of water as you fish, if you’re going to wear wading boots in a raft or drift boat–the Devil’s Canyon more than fits the bill. It’s all the boot most of us really need, 99 percent of the time.

I want boots to wear with waders as I launch my boat. I want felt soles or plain rubber treads without spikes that won’t scratch up my boat. And when it’s particularly icy, or I know I’m going to be scrambling around round rocks on rivers like the Deschutes (Oregon), or the Roaring Fork (Colorado), I simply switch the soles, and I’m fine. For the record, my favorite trio of options consists of felt, studded felt and plain rubber. I like aluminum bars for traction also, but not so much for hiking, and since I just said I don’t like to hike long distances in Devil’s Canyon boots, I stick to those three options.