I have contemplated Wiggy's for a long time now because they would be good for quick water crossings. For fishing, they may fall prey to abrasives too quickly. I would like to get a pair in my hands to see if the shoe portion is soft enough to fit INSIDE a pair of pool shoes. I wear my expensive waders with pool shoes in mountain lakes. In fast streams l always wear my felt soled boots. I am not worried about me falling and getting wet. I just don't want to rip my waders. The one time I did use pool shoes, I could see the abrasion caused by the sand coming down stream, so I won't do that any more. May think about using some protective gaitors. One good thing about myog heat sealable fabric is that if you ruin them you can always reuse the material for lightweight pillows, gloves, drysacks, etc. That being said, I think I would go for the lightest weight fabric and some replaceable gaitors/sand guards. Gold panning kicks up a lot of sand. Just go for the best case scenario, and if they don't last then I have some kool fabric to make other stuff. I also keep thinking there should be some lightweight felt option to sew to the bottom of my pool socks, but it might be easier to sew a top onto a felt replacement sole.