Glacier Gloves

[Betty Hiner]

Don't know what glacier these gloves were designed for, but the mean temperature there must be above 50 degrees. I very happily put down the 39.95 for these gloves at Bass Pro, in anticipation of winter fishing. I lasted, or rather the gloves lasted, about an hour. The temp was around 25, the wind chill made it feel like 10. The water was about 50. My hands felt like -10 after they got wet through the little thumb and forefinger holes. Even with the surgical gloves on under the glacier gloves, it was just way too cold to work right. Plus, when they're on, to take a #20 fly out of a moving trout mouth, you've got about 1/4 inch of neoprene between your fingers. If you can get your finger and thumb out of the little holes, you have to battle about a half inch of extra materials to get the fly out. Then battle icing up around the holes as you retract the fingers.

Maybe the makers of glacier gloves, or any number of other fly fishing products would consider making clothing in a womans size, with the warmth and durability of the mens clothing. (the two do not equate...for some reason a womans jacket goes down to 20 degrees comfort level for about 10 minutes, while the mans jacket gets to -10 for a few hours)

And, as I painfully found out, one size does not fit all!!

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Trouts don't live in ugly places

[featherchucker]

Hey Betty, Thanks for the GGloves report. I was about 2 seconds away from ordering a pair of them and had even wrapped a tape around my hand knuckles to get the size correct. Guess I wait. Supposedly Santa is getting me some type of neoprene fishing glove........he may be getting them back. lol! I'm not looking forward to having that kind of frustration on the water, but being a flyweight thin guy there's no extra meat nor blubber to insulate me from the chill. And the prospect of keeping my hands warm by blowing on them and and accientally ingesting beaver inhabited pond water giardia cysts isn't too exciting either. YUCK! Lucky for me the Trout are very far from here and WW FF is close to not happening til March. Great reports in the other section BTW!
Steve

PS -how did those antlers and tail work out?

[John Rhoades]

As far as I'm concerned Glacier Gloves are virtually worthless. When I bought a pair a few years years ago, they included a "free" pair of poly liners. Free? Right! Just $39.95 for one of the worst pair of gloves on the market, plus a free pair of liners worth about 2 bucks.

I now buy cheap polar fleece gloves at the local Mennonite Mall (hey, they even call the store that themselves!) for about $2.95 and they work bettter than anything on the market as far as I'm concerned (even better for winter fishing than those $40 Simms fleece mittens, which I also wasted money on).

Plus, the El Cheapos at the local Mennonite Mall also come in women's sizes, and are inexpensive enough that you wouldn't mind having to throw a pair away in case you ever caught them in your pant's zipper!



[This message has been edited by John Rhoades (edited 09 December 2005).]

[Betty Hiner]

Ummm ... John? That's a bit harsh. ( Next trip I'm just going to use Depends!!! ) Guess I'll go in search of a Mennonite Mall!

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Trouts don't live in ugly places

[hikepat]

Got to agree with you on those gloves. Got a set a few years back and tried to use them on the river. My hands were cold even before they got wet and it was not even down to 20 degrees. They now sit in my drawer after getting used just two times.

[GrayGhost]

If your looking for good cold weather fishing gloves, look into getting some rag wool gloves with thinsilate linings. The mitten glove style will keep your hands warm even when wet plus when need your fingars are free to remove hooks and tye knots.
Ghost

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time is like a river running though the world, if you dont take a moment to sit and watch it go by we loose so much. GrayGhost

[WarrenP]

I have a pair of Windstopper gloves that are working very good for me. I think they call them "3/2" since your thumb and first finger are the only 2 digits that the glove is cut off at the first knuckle and the other 3 digits are covered. I put one of those hand warmer pouches, the ones you shake up to get them to produce heat, inside the gloves on the top of my hands and I think they are waterproof. I tried, several years ago, the idea of the latex gloves under other gloves and my hands froze! I think the latex/surgical gloves do not allow moisture to wick away from your hands and that moisture will cause your hands to freeze the same way that body moisture trapped inside you waders will make you colder during winter time fishing. This is just my thoughts on the subject. Trapped moisture at below freezing temperatures will freeze. Just thoughts.

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Warren

[Jed]

"Next trip I'm just going to use Depends!!!"

Betty - How do you wrap the Depends around your hands so you can handle fly line

I have tried different techniques and never came up with a great solution. There are small hand warmers that produce heat chemically and help and I have found the $6 wool fingerless gloves to be as good as anything. I usually wear one of those on my stripping hand and a full golve on the rod hand and then cover the stripping hand as it gets frozen. Then I stick my hands under my armpits when the above stops working.

Last solution is take a trip to Fla. and fish there.

jed

[slenon]

I've got a pair of Wind River pile gloves, fingerless, that keep my hands reasonably warm. Once they get wet, no gloves will really keep your hands very warm.

The Wind Rivers have a wind block layer which helps. They have a PU grip surface on the palm.

Wearing latex or vinyl gloves will result in wet and cold hands. A high wicking rate liner glove under pile or wool is the best option.



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aka Cap'n Yid.
Stev Lenon Trout Ski, 91B20 '68-'69
When the dawn came up like thunder

[ohiotuber]

Here in Ohio we don't know what "dry cold" & "dry snow" is, so we learned long ago that goose down & some other materials (that are fantastic in dry climates, but have no insulating qualities when wet) are worthless here unless in waterproof shells. Wool & fleece (polarfleece, polyfleece, etc) are 2 materials that insulate when wet, even without the bulk of a shell. To me, that is the key. I think John Rhoades is right...many years ago, I paid 30 or 40 bucks for "waterproof" nylon shelled gloves with fleece inserts. Folks, forget the shells....just buy the "el cheapo" inserts!In cold, wet weather, I can be found wearing fleece or wool....I honestly don't think better materials exist combining warmth with minimal bulk in cold/wet conditions.
Mike

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