RedHead Waders

Who RedHead is, as far as we can confirm

RedHead is a name used by Bass Pro Shops, the outdoor retailer that Johnny Morris began in 1972 by selling fishing tackle in Springfield, Missouri, according to the company's history. The RedHead name shows up across its clothing, boots and waders. That is about as far as a source we could open goes. We did not find a RedHead brand story with a founding date, a factory location or an owner statement, and I would rather leave those blank than guess at them.

One caveat about this page. Bass Pro's product pages refused our automated fetch, so what follows about the RedHead range comes from the page descriptions as they appeared in search results, not from pages we could read in full. Treat the details as the retailer's own wording and check the live page before you buy. Most of the pages we saw were also marked as unavailable online, which may mean the pair is store-only or discontinued. The retailer's pages do not say which.

What the RedHead range seems to cover

Going by the pages we saw, RedHead waders fall into three groups.

Rubber hip waders. Described as vulcanized rubber, with a steel shank and reinforced toe caps, and sold under the Bone-Dry name for men, women and youth. A hip wader is a pair of separate legs that stop near the top of the thigh and fasten to your belt, which makes it light and quick to put on. It also gives you almost no margin for a deep step. Our hip waders and hip boots pages explain how they differ from chest waders, and how to wear hip waders covers the belt.

Hobbs Creek chest and hip waders. Described as an ozone-resistant rubber layer between two layers of lightweight nylon jersey, with a lug sole and 200 g Thinsulate insulation on the chest version. The hip version is listed with a 34-inch inseam for sizes up to 10. This is a laminated, rubberized fabric construction, which is a different thing from both a plain rubber boot and a breathable wader.

Neoprene bootfoot and stockingfoot. The BigMan Bone-Dry is described as 3.5 mm neoprene with a 600 g Thinsulate Ultra lining, built for larger users, and the Classic Series II as 3.5 mm neoprene in a stockingfoot style. A stockingfoot pair has a neoprene sock rather than a boot, so you add a separate wading boot.

"Bone-Dry" appears to be a line name used on several RedHead products, including boots and hunting clothing, so it does not tell you a pair's construction. Read the construction line on each page. (And keep the instructions somewhere you will find them. The Hook Drawer has swallowed more wader leaflets than any river.)

Why the table shows these alternatives

The searches we see for this name are for RedHead waders, chest waders, the Hobbs Creek hip waders and PVC hip waders. Since none of those are on Amazon in our data, we picked alternatives that are the same type as the chest waders in that list: chest height, boot attached, a fabric or rubber body, and a list of specs from the maker that you can actually check. We then kept only waders that the maker or the listing puts in hunting, or fishing-and-hunting, use, took them from the closest price tier and ranked them by maker-confirmed specs. They come from Banded, Drake Waterfowl, frogg toggs and Avery.

Be clear on two limits. First, the table has chest waders only. If you are looking for hip waders or the PVC type, our hip waders page is the better starting point, because a pair of separate legs is a different tool. Second, every pair in the table is a bootfoot sold for hunting, or for fishing and hunting, and none is a stockingfoot. They work for general wading, but a fly angler who walks a river a long way will usually be better served by the stockingfoot waders page and a separate wading boot.

Reading the table

Each value carries a small mark. Maker means the manufacturer's own page states it. Claimed means the maker says so with no independent lab or standard named, as with layers, membrane names and insulation grams. Listing means it comes from the Amazon listing and the maker has not confirmed it. A dash means we could not confirm it anywhere. Under each model name, "More specs" shows the rest.

Two columns do most of the work for this kind of wader.

Material type. Neoprene is a foamed rubber, thick and warm, and it stays warm when wet. Breathable fabric is a thin laminate, light and cool, and it relies on your clothing for warmth. Rubber and nylon-rubber, as in the RedHead range, are waterproof and tough but do not breathe at all, so you sweat inside them. Our breathable vs neoprene guide explains the trade.

Insulation. On bootfoot waders the figure in grams usually describes the boots, and it is a fill weight, not a temperature rating. On this list the frogg toggs Amphib neoprene pairs list 200 g and 600 g in the boot, Drake's Hardline lists 800 g, and Banded, Avery and other Drake pairs list 1,600 g. If you compare across makers, treat those as rough hints. Banded's Phantom X goes further and states a comfort range, 32 to 70 degrees F for the uninsulated version and minus 10 to 50 degrees F for the insulated one, which is easier to use.

How to choose

Match the pair to the day you actually have.

If your wading is short and wet, with mud, a marsh edge or a pond bank, a neoprene pair like the frogg toggs Amphib is the nearest in spirit to a rubber or rubberized RedHead pair: warm, waterproof, forgiving of scrapes. Its limits are weight and heat. Walk far in one on a mild day and you will find out where the heat goes.

If you walk a lot, a breathable pair makes more sense. The Drake Hardline and Vanguard are described by the maker as three-layer breathable pairs, and Banded lists three layers on the Phantom X. Those layer counts are maker claims, but they tell you how the fabric is built, and more layers usually means a more durable pair.

If your wading is in cold water for hours, choose a pair with both a warm boot and insulated or neoprene legs. That means 1,600 g boots or a neoprene body. A cold foot is the failure that sends people home first.

If kneeling is part of your day, look for reinforced knees. The frogg toggs Amphib, the Drake BMF1600 and the Avery Originals all list them.

Finally, the warranty. The pairs here list one to four years. A longer term does not mean a longer life, but it tells you how long the maker will answer for the seams.

Fit and sizing

RedHead's own sizing was not available to us, so use the maker's chart for whatever pair you buy. For the pairs in the table, the sizing is split in two. The boot is sized like a shoe (7 to 14 on the frogg toggs, 8 to 14 on most Drake and Banded pairs, up to 16 or 18 on Avery and Phantom X). The body is sized by chest, waist and inseam, with options such as Short, Tall, Stout, King, Husky and Slim. Measure those three numbers, not your trouser size, and read the maker's chart. Our size chart guide shows how.

Go up a boot size if you are between sizes or wear thick socks. A cramped boot compresses the socks, and compressed socks stop insulating. Do not buy a pair a size down for a snug fit: waders are cut to move with you, and a pair that pulls at the crotch or shoulders will wear at the seams first.

If you buy a RedHead pair in a store

Since the RedHead pages we saw were mostly store-only or unavailable online, you may end up buying one in person, which has one real advantage: you can try it on. Wear the socks and base layers you will use, do a deep knee bend and sit down, and raise your knee to your chest. If the pair pulls at the crotch, shoulders or thighs, go up a size. Check the lining and seams by hand, look inside the boot for the insulation the tag claims, and ask about the return window and the warranty in writing, because the retailer's pages we saw did not state a warranty term for these pairs. Ask, too, whether the pair is current stock or clearance, since that tells you how long it may have sat in a warehouse.

Safety on deep or cold water

A wading belt, cinched at the waist, matters on any chest wader, because it limits how much water can flood the legs after a fall. Wade only where you can see the bottom or feel your way with a staff, and treat cold water as the serious risk that it is. Waders do not make you buoyant, and they are not a substitute for a life jacket in a boat.

Care

Rubber and neoprene both degrade in sunlight and heat. Rinse mud off, dry the inside fully, and store the pair hung or loosely folded out of the sun. Our guides on cleaning and storing waders cover the routine, and if a pair leaks, start with finding a leak.

Other places to look

Cabela's is another large outdoor retailer whose wader names turn up in the same searches; our Cabela's brand page is the place to look. For the wider category, start at waders, chest waders and hunting waders.