Cold Feet?

I?ve always been plagued by cold feet. I always wear a pair of long johns under polar fleece pants underneath my waders. I usually wear a pair of smartwool type socks. My last outing was lake fishing, and it was rather cold, so I expected the cold feet. After a couple hours of fishing I have to get out and walk for about 10 minutes to get the blood circulating and thaw my feet out. At the end of the day when I peeled my waders off my feet are almost damp enough where I thought my waders were leaking. I use breathable Simms waders, but they still have the neoprene feet on them that I feel keep the moisture from my feet inside. They eventually chill from being damp. I checked the boots and they do not leak.

Do you experience the same thing and do you have any suggestions to keep your feet warm?

Thanks for any comments.

Sean

sean

i am no doctor but is sounds like you might have a circulation problem. try sprinking cayene powder on you food for a few days before your next cold fishing trip. if it works use a little each day and experiment until you find the right dosage.

good luck

mike

SEanB - I have poor circulation in my toes and have to keep at a minimum socks on at all times (even in the summer) and most of the time I leave my shoes on too. I have a heck of a time not getting numb toes when I fish, standing in 45-55 degree water for hours at a time. Then I found these and used them on my last trip - what a great invention. they've been around for years but I only recently stumbled up on them. Hope you try them out and they work, they sure do for me.
[url=http://store.yahoo.com/snowshack/grhetoewa3pa.html:059bb]http://store.yahoo.com/snowshack/grhetoewa3pa.html[/url:059bb]

Sean,

I learned this many, many years ago, and although it may seem too simple to work, it really does.

To help warm your extremities... wear a hat. That's right. When your body doesn't have to pump so much warm blood up top to warm your noggin, more is available for circulation to your fingers and toes. Try it....

Will

Thanks grumps and FFT

FFT - I've tried a similar product called Toasti Toes. When I first peel off the adhesive backing and put underneath my toes and put in my shoes they get quite warm. It seems as soon as I put my feet in my wader they extinguish and the cold sets in. After ah hour or two I take my waders of and the warmer has extinguished and is cold. They're supposed to last for 5 hours. I'll try your toe warmers and see if they work any better. Thanks for the tip.

Sean

Sounds like your feet are sweating too much. Go get a cheap stick of anti-perspirant and apply it to your feet before layering up. You might also try a pair of wicking liner socks under the smart wool.

I know of a few products that might help: Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Dickel, and pretty much anything that can thin your blood a bit. Being drunk is just a bonus to the thin blood and warm feet.

"The Old Sarge" (that is me)says...

If your feet are cold, put on your hat!

Fact is you lose, 1/3 of your body's heat through the top of your head. The body will draw heat away from your arms and legs, to protect the brain.

It is also important in cold and hot weather, to protect the back of your neck, with scarf (cold weather) or wet wrap (hot weather), this is where your body's themostat (which controls your body's temperature) is located!

Last but not least; in cold weather have looser fitting footwear! Do not cutoff the blood flow to the feet. The feet have the worst blood circulation in the body. Standing still for long periods in cold weather is the worst thing you can do. The leg muscules (by walking or stomping your feet up & down, will help circulate warm blood supply to the feet and toes.

These things I learned when stationed with the 6th Infantry Division in Alaska. We would spend most of the winter months on exercises in the outback, with no tents or stoves. High temp was minus 40 degrees.

~Parnelli

I have perpetualy cold feet , there are support stockings that look like regular socks you can get them in any drug store . They act like the pressure suits that the airforce uses . Regular socks constrict at the ankle which adds to the cold feet problem . Support socks are specially made not to do that . Check Your ankles at the end of the day if there is a noticeable indent from your socks after you take them off you should consult a doctor about poor circulation . My Dr found a constriction and after a small operation my feet no longer are so cold . Be careful of heated socks , diebetics should not wear them . The others are correct , wearing a hat does work well . I always take several pairs of socks along and change them several times a day . Its a pain in the butt but it helps .
Cheers .

I learned alot from the other posts, but have something to add.

You mentioned wearing "longjohns" under your fleece pants. If those are traditional longjohns with any cotton in them, you are preventing some of the moisture from breathing through the waders. Cotton will soak up some of the vapor your body releases, and then your body has to warm up that water as well. Cotton also looses ALL of its insulating value when wet. Switching off to a synthetic underlayer or actually just wearing the fleece will most likely make you warmer.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. I've got several things I can try. I don't think I want to go through the operation mentioned, even though I may have a circulation problem. For me a lot of the cold feet is an issue of sitting too long on a pontoon boat or standing too long in a river and not keeping the heart rate up to keep the blood circulating well. But, I think there are some things here I can work on to keep the core body temp up a bit. Thanks again

Sean

I Hunt Ducks all fall and winter as well as fish Steelhead in winter and spring I have never found a combo that works in stocking foot waders. I have found Boot foot waders weather they be breathable or not is the only way to have warm feet when is real cold. I use a pair of Neopream 5mm boot foot and stay warm and mostly dry (you do perspire in neopream) even in sub 0 weather.

Rich

The toe warmers work well in non-fishing applications. The reason they felt warm when you put them on but stopped working after you put your waders on is due to the lack of oxygen. All of the chemical type warmers need oxygen to activate the chemical and release heat. Cabelas sells battery operated wading socks that work quite well. You get about 4 hours from a fresh set of batteries. The drawbacks are the damn wires and the weight of the battery pack (2 D-cell batteries). The other option as someone has already stated is to make sure you were loose fitting clothing. Buy a cheaper pair of wading shoes that are one size too big for the colder weather. Circulation is the key to keeping toasty extremities. My 2 cents worth, anyone have change for a nickel?
Eric.

I have a fishing buddy with the same problem. He solved his cold feet by purchasing some electric socks. They run off 2 D cell batteries and provide heat for about 6 hours. He found his at Cabelas in the hunting section, although most stores that cater to the ski industry sell some kind of heated sock or footbed.

BTW, gortex does not 'breath' when you are under water. No problem passing moiture vapor while hiking along the bank but as soon as you enter the water they act just like non-breathable waders. Perhaps this accounts for the wet socks.

A layered system of socks will keep the damp off your feet. I use a polypropelene or silk sock liner for wicking, then an absorbant outer sock of acrylic, wool or polar fleece. Avoid socks with ANY any cotton content.

Make sure you own a pair of wading shoes with the WIDEST possible toe area.

The widest part of a shoe is right where the widest part of the foot is, at the ball. Most shoe manufacturers then taper the toe portion for aesthetics. Unfortunately by doing this you constrict blood flow to the toes and your feet will get colder faster that they would otherwise. When you buy a larger shoe size, (when a wider size is unavailable), you effectively widen the shoe at the toe area because the larger shoe size has moved the wider part of the shoe forward toward the toes.

My normal shoe size is a half size. I always buy my wading shoes 1-1/2 sizes larger than my shoe size despite what the manufacturers say. I also try and buy only wading shoes that have a wide toe area, Chota STL?s fit the bill, Russell?s are the best. And finally wool socks are better than cotton.


[This message has been edited by Bamboozle (edited 15 March 2005).]

[This message has been edited by Bamboozle (edited 15 March 2005).]

sorry Ken, Gore-tex waders made by Simms do in fact breathe underwater. In fact in many cases they breathe better underwater than they do out. I can't comment about other mfg's waders, but I can speak for Simms.

Gore-tex Immersion Technology works because of a temperature differential on the two different sides of the membrane. The hot area mechanically moves gaseous water (vapor) to the cold area. The greater the temperature differential, the faster/more powerful the movement. This means if it is 60 degrees outside and 40 in the water and your legs are damp, YOUR LEGS WILL DRY QUICKER IF YOU GET IN THE WATER. The one semi-catch to this is that as the amount of heat radiated by your legs decreases, the less the vapor gets pushed out. The microscopic holes in a Gore-Tex membrane are many tens of times smaller than a liquid water molecule, but many tens of times larger than water vapor molecules.

Gore actually works with Simms on their wader fabrics. This is why Simms has the newest breathable wader technology first.

Simms reps actually do a demo where they have you dunk your hand in water and than place a glove over your hand while it is still wet which is made of only a gore-tex membrane. They put a rubber band around your wrist and have you immerse 7/8 of your hand in cold water for one or two minutes. The glove wearer then takes his hand out of the water, takes the glove off, and makes a dumbfounded face when he feels that his hand is absolutely bone dry. That is the single most effective way to sell someone a $350 dollar pair of "rubber pants"

SeanB,

I also have a problem getting cold feet, the way I solved it was by going with bootfoot waders (mine are Cabela's neoprene waders) and then I wear two pairs of socks. One is a very thin, polypropilene liner, the other one is SmartWool. I started doing this last year and things worked much better. I still got cold feet, but it would be after 5-6 hours on the water.

Hope this helps,

Alberto

SeanB

I agree with Jayhawk Jeff. If your feet were damp, then it tells me you're feet are sweating. I have the same problem. I'm bald headed and no amount of hats, even my old wool watch cap can prevent my feet from getting cold. I sometimes wear a pair of moisture wicking under socks and heavy wool socks. That combo will pull the moisture away from your feet and should help keep them warm.

Dave

The key to warm exremities is keeping the core body temperature up. Proper layering of synthetic fabrics such as polypropylene and polyester fleece and thinsulate are extremely effective. Insulating the trunk well in addition to hat and long underwear will force the body to redistribute blood flow to the extremities to rid the body of excess heat. The addition of Grabber body warmers applied to undershirt will increase core body temp. and augment peripheral blood flow. If this is done well one can easily go without gloves at temperatures of zero degrees. The hands will be very warm due to the body's attempt to dissipate excess heat.

Grabber toe and body warmers can be used multiple time, just place in a ziplock bag to stop the exothermic chemical reaction.

One must stay dry to stay warm. Thin synthetic sock liners are essential to keeping the skin dry. Fleece socks are better than wool. Cotton is worthless. You must have air space in boots or waders, tight fitting shoewear compresses insulation decreasing its effectiveness.

Food and hot beverages help to keep core temp up too. In cold conditions the calrorie requirements can go as high as 7000 to maintain core temp.

Hope these suggestions help,

tlooze, M.D.

Sean,

Alberto gave you the answer, bootfoots. Much warmer than normal stockingfoot waders, because of greatly improved circulation.

Those chemical warmers need oxygen, so they don't work well squeezed into tight boots.

Bruce

wow Big Cliff! I wear only breathables. Fished with g3's and a pair of merino wool socks. the temp was -11. Snot stuck to my nose but the feet were never cold. For all you who have circulatory issues..wiggle those toes.

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Jim in CO

Corn Starch. I use it like talcum powder to keep my feet dry. It will help with the dampness.

jed