Paul Arden | Wednesday, 21 October 2026
These boots, the Bestard Canyon Guide boots, are simply the best wading boots I’ve owned. Seven years!! Not seven years on the river every day, but a lot of river fishing, a lot of jungle bashing, and I left the boots outside in my boat when not wearing them. Extraordinary!
I put studs in them. Supatracks 3000B. All but one of those stayed in place for seven years.
A far cry from any other wading boots I’ve owned. Lightweight, nimble, excellent grip, clever built-in gravel guards, shoe laces that tuck away after tying, and easy to quickly get on and off. Perfect.
Actually camouflage would have been perfect. So *very nearly* perfect!!
I spent many years moaning about boots. How they were too heavy or uncomfortable. Never fitting properly. Giving blisters after walking little more than a few hundred metres, let alone going hard up a river for 15km. Constantly filling up with gravel and needing duck tape to hold them together.
So it’s great to have a pair of boots that function as they are supposed to. Normally I’d get one season out of a pair of wading boots. Which I could push through to two with glue, field repairs and a lot of luck. And those are the good ones. I’ve also had boots fall apart in the first week.
I’m looking forward to beating up this new pair! I’m in River Tiang next weekend. It’s a big event with some government officials who fly fish. Fingers crossed the weather is kind to us. If it’s anything like last night there will be a lot more water than we want. I will take my fly tying kit just in case.
James and Tracy are just back from France. Exciting FP coming from them next week!
Cheers, Paul