I fly fish here in KY year round, and it does get cold at times, very cold. I have problems with having cold wet hands that dry up, dry out, and crack from exposure to the elements. I have tried numerous things trying to keep my hands warm, and somewhat dry, and still have bare fingers on the fly line without much luck. I’m currently using fingerless fleece gloves with rubber palms, and that seems to get me by.
I’ve got a really long list of things that don’t work. For one, (and this was with temps in the low 20’s when I tried it,) don’t even think about putting surgical rubber gloves under fleece gloves trying to keep your hands dry and warm, absolutely brutal.
So my question is (and this would be while wading in tail waters): Has anyone out there found a “better mouse trap” where you have somewhat warm hands and still have your bare fingers on the fly line in cold weather wading? I have not tried any of the really expensive gloves for fly fishing. Is that maybe where I’m missing the boat?
Appreciate advice from anyone that has figured this out.
I prefer fingerless wool gloves, preferably with thinsulate insulation in them. When it is really cold, I put a handwarmer inside each glove, when pull in my fingers when it gets too much.
I do not like fleece. They lose their warmth when they get wet and frozen, and they are a pain to wipe your nose on.
Nothing is perfect, you will have to find something you can live with and suffer with the rest of us.
This might sound a bit weird but it works for me. I carry several pairs of cheap loose fitting cotton work gloves, when one pair gets wet I just switch to a dry pair. They cost about $1 a pair at a hardware store and dry nicely on the truck dash when not in use.
This might not work for you guys who catch lots of fish and get your hands wet more than me. For steelheading this has been working for me. I only used 2 pairs today and I had to break ice from the guides more than I had to change gloves.
Happy winter fishing!
Mike
I’ve yet to try it fishing, but I work as a forestry consultant in west central Alberta. What I wear daily all winter down to -25C is polypropelene liner gloves ( the blue helly hansen ones $10) under wool fingerless flip top mitts with the thinsulate insulation ( $10 for these too).
I work outside all day with two sets of these that I change when too wet, however the polypro stays warm even soaked and the flip mitts are great to warm the hands when needed.
Like has been said, it’s hard to find a perfect solution, but this is probably the best one I have came up with except a bunch of twigs and a zippo. My hands stay warm most of the time but there are days that they freeze, and a quick fire is all I need to get going with work again.
I use a pair of flip-up wool mittens that I buy at Wal-Mart for about 6-8 bucks per pair. They work better than anything I’ve ever used. Fleece is worthless. I fished one day at 8 degrees with Tam, and she was begging for my mitts. When I gave them to her, I quit fishing. Her $40 fleece mitts were worthless.
Neoprene “Steelhead” gloves. As long as I don’t have to change flies often (means taking off the gloves) I am warm and cozy. I bought my pair of Neo gloves over 20 years ago, put talcum inside and store them in the summer, rubbed down with Vasoline. Store in plastic zip lock bag. In the winter, take out of bag, put them one and wash your gloved hand with dish soap and warm water…you are ready for another season. I also have wool gloves for apre fishing.
I would NOT recommend the surgical gloves under fingerless gloves ( some of you may remember why!! :shock: ), and I’m not keen on the neoprene gloves because you can’t feel anything through them. The idea of a few pairs of cotton gloves, or even the wool liner gloves, that you can change out when they get wet, sounds good. Have to give that a try when we go south in December. :shock:
I use one of those hand chest pack warmers like the NFL wears and go gloveless. When i dont have the chest pack just hot hand in side of pockets and fashion my coat to where I can access the pockets easily. I hate wearing gloves but a quick stick and rub on the hot hands for 20 or 30 seconds keeps me going. Through years of duck hunting in cold weather and fishing in the same scenerio, i have found that corn huskers lotion is the best for beat up hands. Once duck season starts my hands start cracking and bleeding and I have to go get some corn huskers and that usually does the trick for me.
I just bought a pair of gloves at EMS ems.com for this purpose. I’ve used fingerless and wool but I always find my hands getting cold if it is below freezing. Above freezing I don’t have that much of a problem.
What I bought is Dakine Viper gloves. They are waterproof andpretty thin. It seemed like a nice compromise between being thin enough to handle the line and thick enough to give some warmth. Cost $35.00 It has several features including and I quote
“Nose wipe thumb panels”. Now what could be better.
chewy,
It’s a long story, and quite embarassing … dealing with winter time fishing, no tree coverage, jeans zippers, and natures calling! :oops: It is firmly imbedded in my mind!! :roll: :shock:
Betty
a wrist warmer, that you wear like a bracelet that applies heat to your wrist where the blood flow is near the surface and hands - this will work wonders
I have pretty much tried everything and here are my rankings from worst to first.
Fleece - I have a pair of expensive fleece windstopper mittens with the fold over flap. They work great until they are wet or damp, which is sort of the whole point of fishing in the winter. If my hands stay dry I’m going home!
Fingerless Ragg wool - They are cheap and work well. When they get wet all you need to do is shake them aggressively and they are dry.
Glacier Gloves - They are neoprene with fold over finger tabs. They fit well, don’t get wet, and I have the best dexterity with them of the products I mentioned.
One thing I would like to suggest is to make sure the gloves you put on are warm and dry. I don’t care what they are made of, if you put them away wet and stick your hands into frozen gloves your hands may never warm up. I like to toss my gloves up on the dashboard of my truck and run the defroster on them on my way to the stream. Nice and toasty when I put them on, and my hands stay that way.
Am I the only one who has trouble with fly line getting caught up on the flaps of the fold-up mittens? Cause The one time I tried em I cut off the mitten part within an hour. Same with fold-back fingers.
Spent the day on the water, 25F to start, ice in the guides for four hours, and the fingerless wool did fine. Even after sliming the left one unhooking fish.
The great Al Campbell done a product report on Wind River gloves quite awhile ago and I purchased a pair of them that I think were called 3-2 Wind River gloves. Thumb tip and first 2 fingers tips are exposed and the ring finger and pinkie are covered. That way you can feel the line, tie on flies, etc. with exposed fingers. When it is really cold, I put one of the hand warmers,that you shake up, inside each glove on top of my hands. My thoughts are that if I can keep the blood running throught the veins on top of my hands warm maybe that will help keep my fingers warm. So far, it is working pretty good. You might check them out.
Don’t you find you have a problem with condensation wearing the dishwashing gloves. I have tryed rubber gloves and waterproof neoprene gloves and always found my hands sweat in them and then they are cold.
Nov 1st, broke out the snowmobile to get to work too much snow on the road. My truck would barely make it through in 4 low. Sleds faster to get where your going too.
Getting too cold to fish as much as I want and too early to ice fish…In limbo here right now for a few weeks unless it stops snowing and we get some nice days to fish.
