For most anglers, the first wet-wading day of June shows up in the knees and hips rather than the ankles. Some of that is age and offseason conditioning, but a lot of it — probably most of it — is the boot. A wading boot fitted for a stockingfoot wader bootie has roughly a size of empty volume in it once the bootie comes out, and walking five miles in that kind of slop tends to push the work upward. Add 52°F water tightening the muscles and gravel finding its way through a guard system tuned for May, and the soreness usually appears above the ankles the boot was supposed to support.

What’s actually wrong with your June setup

The pain isn’t mysterious. The Patagonia Foot Tractor — to pick the most aspirational example, right now at $298.99 MSRP — weighs 86.8 ounces per pair (Deneki Outdoors’ measurement on the rubber model) and runs on a stitched-down leather shaft that’s stiffer than most hiking boots. It’s a magnificent piece of footwear for wading 45°F tailwater in waders — and a less ideal one for an August afternoon on the Madison without them. Patagonia knows this and says so on the product page: Foot Tractor boots are sized for thicker wader booties; if you want to wear them with thin booties or wet-wade, size down. A review of customer feedback by the Wild Human gear blog found that 38% of buyers had sizing problems before catching the note. Translation: most Foot Tractor owners are wet-wading in boots that are now an entire size too large.