fenders help. But you want the area between the bottom of your rain pants and the top of your bootie to work like a shingled roof. If the pants are too short to cover the booties on the full extension of your leg then you'll get water in the bootie and the shoe. I use a set of gore tex gators that are about 6" wide ( I got them in, of all places, a Goodwill Thrift Store for a buck). I cover the top of the bootie and then wrap the pants around the outside of the gator. My feet are dry in hard downpours and riding through deep puddles.