Wow. Thanks for the responses!
Some of you asked why i need to take my fins off in the water and how deep the water is: we dive off a small boat on the Great Lakes where depth can range from 60 to over 200 feet. Water can be extremely choppy which makes stability a challenge even without having to manage my fins. The ladder on the boat is too small to allow us to exit the water with our fins on.
I have been asking a buddy to help strip my fins off so its nice to hear others have resorted to that too.
Whether i am fully inflated or not, the act of bringing my second leg up causes me to lose balance and either turtle or fall face down without a good means to right myself (maybe this is normal for most of you too?).
I have NOT tried to put silicon in my fin boot to loosen it but that sounds promising! Does this have any downside? Does the fin still feel secure?
For me, there is no downside to spraying the inside of the boot pocket with silicon. Using spring straps, I do not notice any loosening of the fin or foot sliding around inside the pocket, and I cannot imagine it being much different with well fitting rubber straps or bungees. When another diver suggested the silicon spray to me a couple of years ago, I was a bit skeptical, but what a difference a little silicon made. That was 100% the best solution to a sticking fin problem. I spray the foot pocket well before the dive (usually the day before) to let the silicon dry in the fin pocket, and to prevent silicon dripping from my fins on to the boat deck if boat diving.