I’m 6 months into fishing my Chrome Boots from Korkers. With the interchangeable soles and Boa lacing, I thought these boots would be perfect for a wide range of fishing. The past two seasons, I used the Korkers Guide Boots, which have since been discontinued to make way for the new Chrome boots. The Guide Boots also featured interchangeable soles and a Boa lacing system, but unfortunately, neither of the two pairs I owned survived an entire season.

The first pair met its fate along the sandy beaches on the South Side of Long Island. The big waves brought some nice stripers and bluefish into the surf, and they also drove sand deep into the inner-workings of my Boa lacing system. With the Boas hopelessly locked up I was unable to shed my waders, and had to deliver the November Issue of OTW to Long Island tackle shops and marinas in full surfcasting attire.

Realizing that I couldn’t live the rest of my life in neoprenes, that afternoon, I went into a Dunkin Donuts restroom and attempted to wash the sand out of the Boa System. With my foot on the sink and the faucet running, I hopped around on one foot to try and get the lacing contraption under the water. It should be no surprise that I lost my balance and fell to the tile floor. At that point I hurried out of the DD’s and into the parking lot, where I frantically cut the boots off my feet with a fillet knife, removed my waders and sped toward Cape Cod before anyone connected the weirdo in the waders to the broken sink.

The Chrome Boots share many of the attributes I liked about the Guide Boots – the light weight and comfort – and improved on some of the aspects of the Guide Boots that were lacking. For one, the lace holders are reinforced, so they won’t eventually cut through after being tightened up and loosened a couple hundred times (as happened with my second pair of Guide Boots). The toe of the Chrome boots is also reinforced. On my last pair of Guide Boots, I wore a hole in the front of them where gravel and sand would easily get into the boot. The interchangeable soles have been improved, allowing for total coverage with the felt, Kling-On or studded soles. They are also much easier to switch out than previous generations. And lastly, Nick Colasurdo from Korkers has assured me that the Boa Lacing System has been improved too, and will be far less likely to seize up with salt or sand.

So far, these boots have fished all over the Northeast from the surf to the streams and in Alaska, and I’ve been pretty happy with them overall. The soles stay in place and are easier to change out. The boa lacing system works flawlessly, though rinsing them occasionally seems to help loosen them up a bit if some dirt or debris gets in there. The Chrome Boots don’t seem to tighten up quite as well as the Guide boots, however.  I could get the guide boots nice and snug on my feet with the Boa system, but this hasn’t been the case with the Chromes. Most of the time, after some walking, I’ll be able to tighten the boots a bit more for a more comfortable fit. With September just around the corner, I plan on putting these boots through the ringer again in the surf and on the Lake Ontario tributaries, and even though they seem much more reliable than their Guide Boot predecessors, I still won’t be wearing my Chrome Boots to any Dunkin Donuts in western Long Island.