warm hands

I need some tips and info on how to keep your hands warm while fishing. I often struggle with achieving this, and even for a teenager, tying little nymphs on light flouro tippets with completly numb fingers can be a pain. I fish the erie tributaries for steel, and do not have a problem with keeping other parts of the body warm (feet occasionally, but Im looking into some new stuff) but what are a good pair of gloves for the type of fishing I will be doing? This means pretty cold temps and wind chills and obviously cold water, so I would like something semi waterproof for when Im stripping. Does anyone know of something along the lines of under armor gloves? I wear underarmor under my vest and a thermal shirt, and will stay warm all day because of it, if you are not familiar with under armor it is a tight fitting tight mesh long sleeve shirt the football players and baseball players wear under their jerseys. Any help on gloves?

[DG]

Wear a hat. Most of your body's heat escapes through your head, and cold hands are a result of your body trying to keep heat in your vitals by closing off circulation to your extremeties.

Fingerless wool gloves, especially the ones with thinsulate lining (which I cannot find any more) are, in my experience, the best cold weather fishing gloves. Neoprene gets clammy, fleece gets cold when it is wet, and is a ***** to you wipe your nose on in the rain. If your hands are still getting cold, put some of those chemical handwarmer packs inside the gloves and pull in the fingers you aren't using.

There's some winter fishing tips in an article several years back about this.

Dennis

[Kyle]

Under Armour makes gloves for football wide receivers, supposedly "All-Weather" but I havent tried them fishing. The fingerless rag wool gloves are awesome. Really cheap to buy and very warm. Maybe try the Under Armours with the wool gloves overtop.

[LadyFisher]

I've been experimenting with the new surgical gloves I got from my doctor. They are heavier than the old Latex ones and they do keep you dry AND you can tie a fly on with them on. I haven't used them under the rag wool fingerless gloves yet, but that is next.
So far they really seem to be great - except Castwell torn one from the teeth of a big salmon. But I had extras - the only bad part is the color. I have them in bright blue (like the Blue Men) and purple. Worth a try. Maybe the drug stores have them?



[This message has been edited by LadyFisher (edited 22 November 2005).]

[oldfrat]

Here's another vote for fingerless ragg wool gloves, with disposable latex gloves under if the ragg wool gloves aren't enough. I also second the warm hat motion, adding only that your ears should be kept warm too. I use an ear band for that.

I may not look very "cool" in my winter fishing clothes, but I am relatively warm and comfortable.

[caddis larvea]

I fish almost all winter. To keep my hands warm I wear wool gloves, and put hand warmers inside each glove. The hand warmers last for about 2-3 hours. Dave

[Bamboozle]

A hat, scarf and warm feet help a lot as was mentioned before.

I have the Simms fleece gloves but hardly ever wear them except on my spare hand, the one that doesn't hold the rod because gloves of any kind drive me nuts. But when it's REALLY cold I fire up the old GIANT size Jon-E hand-warmers and keep one or two in a pocket, usually next to my flask .

Once you get those babies going they stay HOT for hours and hours.

[featherchucker]

This is just what the Dr. ordered. Yesterday, after work, I stopped by a local pond to wet a line for that last hour of daylight. Problem was the rain blew through which we really needed but it was being pushed by a chilly blast of arctic air right out of the north and gusting to 20 plus knots. The air temps were pretty mild but the windchill and wet hands made for some chilly fingers. I have some of those fold over mitten fingerless glove things which are great for warmth but stink for fishing. Like Bamboozle said the gloves were distracting from my fishing. So yesterday, I'm switching the rod between hands and blowing into my curled fist and that won't work either cause it smells like I'm giving a fish CPR-I had just C&R'd a nice 19 inch LMB and several decent bluegills up to 8 inches and had a bit of fish smell on me-Awwww!

So I guess I'll try the latex gloves or kitchen gloves if I can't get the blue surgical type. Rumor has it Santa may just stuff my stocking with some neoprenes next month. Until then - I gotta have something cause I'm still fishing and catching! WooHoo!

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I fish, therefore I swam.

[WarrenP]

Look into the Windstopper Gloves. I think they were reviewed here on FAOL. They are called 3-2 gloves which means your thumb and next 2 fingers are exposed and your ring finger and pinkie are covered. I believe they are waterproof also. I use them plus put one of those hand warmer packs inside them on top of my hand under the glove. If you use a "ketchum-release" tool it helps to keep your hands dry and helps to keep the fish from getting stressed or injured.

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Warren

[Betty Hiner]

I, too, like the glomits. But think the surgical gloves under then would be terrific! There have been times when I've put my hands in the water to warm them ... air temp, below zero, water temp, 54!

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Trouts don't live in ugly places