As fellow YakAngler's you probably realize how important a good pair of shoes are. While kayak fishing we often get in and out of our kayaks to fish eddys, walk up on the banks, or just loading and unloading our kayaks.
I received my Columbia Drainmakers this past summer and was pretty excited when Mark dropped them off. Right off the bat I put them on and walked around the house in them. They were cool, comfortable, and looked like a pair of shoes that I could wear for everyday use.
My first outing with these shoes was a 3.5-mile downstream fishing trip on Floyds fork. We launched (Coach Joe and myself) at the Fisherville Canoe Launch and worked our way down to the temporary Cane Run Canoe Launch.
The creek was running very low around 5-10 cfs so needless to say that there was a lot of portaging. Looking back this was probably a great first test for the Drainmakers because I was in and out of the water non-stop for hours that day.
As I mentioned, before, when I first put these shoes on, I loved them. They are lightweight, looked cool, and most importantly were comfortable in and out of the water. After about 5 hours on the water though, my feet just above the heal where your Achilles is located were beginning to get very sore, to the point that I would look forward to the cold water on my feet to help alleviate some of the pain. By the time that we made it to the take out, the back of my foot was bleeding. I had Scabs there for the next week or so.
I think that the fairly stiff Achilles notch rubbing against the bare skin on my foot caused this issue.
But, I wanted to write a fair review, so I manned up and continued to wear them on my next several outings. Honestly, once I broke them in, they got more and more comfortable. I don’t really notice that Achilles notch causing me any issues.
I now wear them on about half of my warm weather fishing trips.
The water does drain well but sand and small rocks will get caught in there. But that’s going to happen with any closed shoe other a type of sandal.
Overall I would say that I recommend these shoes but will certainly advise to break them in a few times before spending hours in them.
First time wearing comfort - 3
Overall Comfort – 7
Style – 9
Ability to drain water – 10
Keeps small gravel and sand out – 6
Price – 7
Adam’s overall rating – 7.5
About the Author: Adam Hayes is an avid kayak angler and the Co. Founder of YakAngler.com He is addicted to fishing tackle and gear and is dedicated to growing the sport of kayak fishing.
Adam considers himself a pretty poor writer and "crappy" photographer but still loves to share his stories and findings with the readers of YakAngler.
