Ice Fishing
What are the best Ice Fishing Boots?
Finding the best boots for winter fishing is not a bed of roses. When fishing on the ice in winter circumstances, most anglers are looking for the perfect shoe that would give warmth and optimal protection for their feet. In addition, the studded sole will provide the best traction with the surface. However, these shoes cause my feet to become quite fatigued. My yeezys are one of my favorite pairs of shoes since they are very comfortable. Unfortunately, there are no spiked footwear like this available for fishing, lol. I'd absolutely put these on. What are your thoughts?
After reviewing this thread last year, I decided to try the black Mickey Mouse boots. $160 at the local surplus store. I am slender and get cold easy but they have kept me warm and dry on my 5 outings so far this year. I wear a light wicking undersock and a cheap woolblend heavy sock over that. Sometimes at the end of the day the socks are a little damp but that is all. Coldest day I was out was 15 deg. with some wind.
I own a pair of Baffin Impact and a pair of Baffin Apex. Bought the impacts first and they are toasty, but I couldn't get my ice fishing bibs to close around the uppers, so I wear them for work. The Apex are a little shorter and smaller diameter around the top.
I wore Iceman's and then Ice Kings for 30 years. Even though they were the best boots out there at the time, my feet got cold due to sweat. I started wearing wool socks and bags over the socks, which helped, but still eventually got cold.
In the 4 years I have had my Baffins, my feet have never once gotten even remotely cold. They are much lighter than Ice Kings, very comfortable, and very easy to walk in. The only real drawbacks that I can think of with them have been not being able to zip the lower leg on the ice fishing bibs (on the impacts) and arches can ache by day's end because they have a soft sole. The soft sole is great for traction on bare ice. I would think an insole might help.
I will not wear my Baffins deer hunting because they would be too warm. I end up walking around a fair amount and they would just make me too hot. Only if it was down around zero would I wear them hunting. For deer hunting, I like my Muck Arctic Pro's and add a pair of boot blankets if it's below 20 degrees. For ice fishing, though, oh yeah!
BTW, if you don't need them immediately, just do some checking around on the web for a while and you can usually find an overstock site selling them for cheap. I got my size 15 Apex for around $140 a couple years ago. Also, I recommend buying 2 sizes larger than your shoe size - they run pretty tight. I wear a 13 shoe and the 15 Baffins fit perfectly. Good luck.