Besides having a good paddle the other accessory that a kayak angler has got to have is exceptional footwear. Footwear allows the angler to move around on the bank by providing traction on various surfaces. An exceptional pair of footwear not only provides traction, but support when portaging over rocky terrain, dragging your kayak over shallow shoals, or wading through creek bottoms with slippery rocks. If you wear anything less than high quality, performance footwear your day out kayak fishing can turn into a calamity. Footwear technology is what separates average water sport shoes from great. With that in mind, Sperry Top-Sider® developed their SON-R technology, a patented “outsole-to-insole-to-brain” sensory feedback system.

The Sperry Top-Sider SON-R Bootie (www.sperrytopsider.com) gives anglers the ability to feel what’s under the surface of the water just like a submarine utilizes SONAR to navigate uncharted waters. Each step an angler takes the SON-R provides sensory feed back to what is underneath their foot charting what cannot be seen. This is done by a patented design that features anatomically positioned pods in an ultra-flexible outsole that works together with a textured insole having independent chambers. These independent chambers react to pressure exerted to the food thru enhancing proprioceptive feedback. This feedback allows anglers the ability to actually feel what the terrain is under their feet and helps them to retain their balance plus stability.

Features of the Men’s SON-R Bootie
•    Metatarsal Pods improve sensory feedback delivering information from the ground through your feet to your brain.
•    Hydro-Grip Rubber Outsole provides excellent traction on various surfaces.
•    Breathable Hydrophobic Meshes promote quick drying.
•    Anti-Microbial Linings minimize odor.
•    Internal Drainage improves comfort and promotes a quicker drying shoe.
•    Easy care by just rinsing them with fresh water and air drying.

The Sperry Top-Sider SON-R Bootie comes in either a Mid or Low style. The Men’s SON-R Bootie in Mid is available in black and green while the Low in black and green or black and blue. Another popular style among kayak anglers is the Sperry Top-Sider Men’s SON-R Buckle with the same SON-R technology.

Unlike other kayak fishing accessories all you do with the Sperry Top-Sider SON-R Bootie put them on at the start of your float. That’s it because they are designed with internal draining system. So each time you get in and out of the water to fish they drain quickly letting you worry more about what lure to fish with than dumping water from your footwear. That’s great, but the number one reason to wear them is it eliminates getting rocks between your toes or the bottom of your feet and shoe soles. For anyone not wearing water sports footwear you know what I am talking about. You stop to fish a stretch of a stream loaded with big smallmouth and before you can do that you have to take off your shoes, drain the water out, dump out the rocks, rinse the rocks off your foot then put your shoe back on so you can walk along shore or in the stream to fish. On the other hand, if you have water sports footwear on you jump out of the kayak with your fishing rod and start fishing. Plus you don’t end up with cuts, scrapes or bruises all over your feet after a day of fishing.

One other situation where wearing high performance water sports footwear can make the difference between having a great day floating down the creek or a terrible day. Later in the summer algae will start to grow everywhere in areas without a strong current to keep the bottom free from this super slippery surface. It also likes to grow on slab rocks. On one section creek that comes to mind of this situation happens on the float from Kelly Slab to the Yellville take out on Crooked Creek, a blue ribbon smallmouth stream in Arkansas. The algae is so slick there they should rename it the ice skate hole. Anyone not wearing performance water sports footwear will slip, slide, and fall down there.

For anyone kayak fishing there are only two things that you need beside your kayak. First is a paddle. Without that you just might as well go home. The second thing is performance water sports footwear. Of course you can fish without a pair, but why would you. They eliminate subjecting your feet to abuse and let you have more time to fish; in addition to providing balance and stability. Without them you just might as well go home.