Being Prepared
Winter steelhead fishing is not for the meek for sure. Being dressed properly is the key to fun and success . Being able to enjoy yourself with out the burning cold feeling has been on many a steelhead fisherman’s mind for decades now.
Here are a few tips to get you started, these are some great things I have learned along the way.Don’t get dressed to fish until you are ready to hit the water. If you get dressed to soon you will get way to warm and begin to perspire thats the last thing you want to happen.When getting ready to set out on a cold blustery day be sure to dress in layers. I like to start with a nice thin tee shirt with a long sleeve tee or thermal top depending on the day. Then put on a hooded sweat shirt as the final layer as the hood acts as a wind stop . On super cold days I will wear all of this and top it off with a nice fleece jacket. The final and most important part is a quality rain jacket with plenty of storage for fly boxes , leader and tippet material. And of a breathable quality as this lets the air move around on the inside to release the trapped moisture.
If you find that your hands get cold here is a suggestion on keeping them warm. I never fish with gloves and this has worked tremendously for me . What I do is 2 hand warmers in each pocket after which I insert one on each wrist . How I do this is place them between the sleeves of my sweat shirt and long sleeve shirt , this holds them in place and keeps them away from the skin so you won’t get burned. The purpose is to warm the blood as it enters your hands. I’ve been doing this for some time now and never have cold fingers. And if they do get a little nippy I just put them in my nice warm hand warmer laden pockets. That concludes what you will need for the top half we’ll do the bottom in the next post.
