DIY Super Grippy Felt Sole Fishing Shoes

If you fish on rock jetties then you know how slippery they can be, particularly on rocks that are down in the wave zone. Inspired by the felt soled wading boots used by stream fishermen I decided to build myself some lightweight felt soled fishing shoes for scrambling around on our rock jetty.

I started with an inexpensive pair of athletic shoes from our local Walmart. These are a nice breathable fabric that will dry quickly when they get wet and the soles aren’t very aggressive so I’ll have minimal work getting them ready.

For the felt soles I used heavy duty felt from a fabric store.

Next I made a template from an old file folder.

Note that both the toes and heels of the sole are curved so I had to rock the shoe up to get an accurate tracing.

Using a piece of chalk sharpened in a pencil sharpener I traced out 2 sets of felt soles. Although this is “heavy duty” felt I wanted to do at least 2 layers on each shoe so the thickness would be similar to regular wading boots and not wear out too quickly.

The chalk lines are still fairly thick, so cut just to the inside in order to get an accurately fitting piece.

Even though the soles of these shoes don’t have a very aggressive tread pattern I still want to make sure that I maximize the adhesive area as well as rough up the surface some. To do that I used a 4″ angle grinder with a flap type sanding disc.

Sanding the shoes makes a huge mess so I did it outside and kept my face up wind to avoid breathing any of the plastic dust I created. I had to be careful with the grinder as it wanted to “grab” the plastic and carve out a big gouge. After a bit of work I had soles that were prepped and ready for glue.

I used regular contact cement for the adhesive. Its strong, waterproof, and will work with both the felt and the plastic soles.

Apply the adhesive to both surfaces and let it dry until it has a matte finish.

Use a roller and press firmly to smooth out the felt and make sure the glue has full contact of both surfaces.

Then repeat the application of the glue and add a second layer of felt.

Allow the adhesive to dry for 24 hours and you’ve got felt soled shoes ready for a trip to the jetty!