This is Ben Carmichael with another one on the fly, this is my dad Andy Sparks.
We're here at the main beach house doing the second installment in our gear and beer video
reviews.
Pairing two of our favorite things, main micro breweries and some of our favorite fishing
products.
Not necessarily in that order, but anyway.
So what do we have on tap today?
So today is Funky Bo.
Funky Bo is a local brewery up in Lyman, Maine.
We're here in Ocean Park, Maine.
So Lyman's about 10 miles out of town.
Funky Bo g-string, pale ale, you enjoy the name, g-string, get it, but it's a play on
the bow before you get thinking.
Musical instruments.
Musical g-string.
Right.
So anyway, pale ale, awesome beer, one of our favorites.
If you're in town, Funky Bo and Lyman's got a great Friday and Saturday night party.
They have a bluegrass band every Friday and Saturday night, wood-fired pizza.
We're not getting anything for the kudos to them, but we love their beer and we drink
a couple of versions of it.
And if you stay tuned to more of these, you'll find some more of their beer getting reviewed.
So the gear that we're talking about today is Sim's new intruder weighting boot.
This is Sim's entrance into a weightless wet weighting boot.
As you can see here, no felt on the bottom.
This version also doesn't have studs.
It's a Vibram sole that's really sturdy.
It's got some real deep treads to it.
It's got a neoprene sock and then some sort of mesh exterior with what I think of sort
of like a keen sandal toe guard here so you don't stub your toe as well.
We've been trying these out here on the coast of Maine in a couple of different scenarios,
and Andy's going to walk you through some of those scenarios.
So we live just about a half a block from the beach.
It is a sandy beach where we live and in full disclosure, I'm a spin fishing striper fisherman.
So Ben's fly, I'm spin- Catch and release though, so that's good.
I'll catch and release.
So not being a huge waiter guy, especially in the summer, I love to fish in the bathing
suit.
Wearing one now, it's usually what you see is my fishing gear.
So the Sim's sort of weightless boot has been great.
I'd never had one before.
I have waiters just for disclosure again.
I'm going to go fly fishing and do some salmon fishing around the waiters, but it's been
a blast to use these Sim's boots.
I have to say that they are built for warmer water and rocks.
They have a great sole, great grip, work perfect on the rocks of the coast of Maine.
So if you're out banging around off the rocks in Maine, quite frankly, what else would you
wear if you think about it?
If you're going to wear your sneakers out on the rocks, you're not going to do that.
You're going to wear your waiters.
You're not because you're standing up on rocks all day long.
So this boot actually is perfect for it.
With the amount of beach fishing I do, I have to say that the boot probably is sort of over-engineered
probably for beach fishing in that.
And Sim's has a flat boot that I frankly haven't tried yet, and I imagine that probably serves
the purpose on the beach.
But for the rocky coast of Maine, it would be great.
And I know that Ben has had a trip recently up to the Cascopedia in which he wished he
had these.
Yeah, I just got back from an Atlantic salmon fishing trip up on the Gas Bay Peninsula.
It was hot, hot, hot, hot up there.
We explored a couple of different rivers, a couple of different rivers I actually hadn't
fished before in addition to the Cascopedia, including the Matapedia of St. Anne and Capchat.
And we just hauled our asses into a whole bunch of different rivers, hiking in, bushwhacking.
It was high 80s, sunny, and I was wearing some breathable waders by Sims, actually.
I love them.
But there's nothing that in those scenarios isn't going to make you sweat, and I sweat
a lot.
I wish I had had these with me, actually, it would have been perfect.
Wear some nice wicking shorts, wear these, you'd have all the protection that you need.
Here in Maine in August, it was 90 and felt like 100% humidity yesterday, going out fishing.
You don't want to put on a pair of waders in those conditions, you just don't.
So we fish a lot of rock jetties.
These are great on the rock jetties, even with some of the slime.
The tread is so sturdy, and the vibrant soles are so great that you've got some grip.
And then if you're out at two light state park, we were talking about that this morning.
There's a big sort of rocky banks there.
You don't want to be waiting in flip flops or sandals.
You want something a little bit more sturdy, and this would be perfect for it.
So the neoprene sock is attached, so it's not something you have to put on or wear differently.
It's got a tight fit on your ankle, which works great, keeps the slime and sand out
of your ankle.
I have to say that it's got some great drain holes on the side.
In some of the finer sand beaches I fish, I have found that I get a little sand in there.
It's no matter how fine the sand holes are, or the breathing holes and the water exit
holes are, a little sand gets on in there.
So if you're looking at just full beach wear, just be aware of that.
You'll get a little bit of sand in there, but for the rocks, it's no problem.
And I would totally recommend them, and glad I have them.
Went out fishing today, water is 70 degrees or so, it's about 70 degrees out.
You're not wearing waders, you're wearing your light shoes.
So that's the Sims Intruder Boot.
It's a new entrance for the 2016 lineup.
It's about 179 MSRP, so in terms of weight and boot, that's pretty good.
Great new addition to the Sims products line, love the Sims products.
This is something that if you do a lot of wet weighting, or you've wanted to but haven't
been able to for fear of the rocks and other materials you can be scrambling over, I highly
recommend these boots.
And not just a beach boot, it is, you can spend all day in a local stream, kicking rocks
over with this, wearing your shorts, not wearing your waders.
So that's beer and beer part two.
Stay tuned for more.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Okay.
I think we could be famous.
Hahaha.
Hahaha.
