As I tell my wife every other day from late November till the end of February...I hate Winter. Which leads me to my topic...
I want to stay warm (mainly hands & feet) when I am out fishing in January...has anyone mastered the art of keeping your extremities warm without them becoming cold & clammy? If you have any suggestions...I'd like to hear 'em.
JR

Keep your head warm. The body will sacifice circulation to the extremities if the head is cold. When deer hunting, I sometimes sleep with a tobaggan on my head. Helps keep my feet warmer.

Other than that, I would invest in some quality wool socks and gloves. Not the cheap stuff. Wool will retain 70% of it insulating qualities when wet.

After the summer we've had, I look forward to being cold for awhile

One word propane

I saw where Bill Dance was advertising a new "electric" suit (coat & pants) for winter. This thing is actually wired and runs off of batteries.
Thanks for the responses.
JR

that electric suit plugs in to your 12v battery. What a great idea! Wonder what kind of shock you get when you fall out of the boat?

If you fell in then your fishin' buddy could pull you back in by the cables to the 12v.

I think what I would like with that suit is an added cable to hook up to your ears and give you a brain wave shock so you would forgot that your out there and the fish aren't biting and your freezing to death

Think about all the fish you could shock up by pushing your hot wired buddie into the water.

all in the name of electroshock research, of course...

Just make sure that everything you have on the 'outer layer' is water and windproof including the head. That's what I do and the only problem I have is my hands. I have never found any gloves that I can fish in. I've bought 2 more pair for this year so we will see.

Kevin

I love winter fishing, especially on our premier "hot water discharge" lakes in east Texas. Even sitting above 70 to 90 degree water, it can still get pretty chilly when the wind is whipping around in 25-35 degree temps! First and foremost is protecting the chest area, then the head. These are the easiest as well as the most vital. Then from a fisherman's perspective is the feet and hands. For the feet, the guy fishing in the back of the boat and not driving the rig can put on a good pair of insulated boots with good thermal socks and be pretty much set. For those of us who have boats with "Hot Foot" accelerator pedals most of the boots will not "fit" under the hook on the pedal and that creates a problem. Another point that scares me is getting out of those boots if you should fall overboard! I would much rather tread water in tennis shoes than boots! So my solution over the years has been to wear insulated socks (sometimes two pair!). If it's raining, I have also been known to put small garbage bags over them and secure them with rubber bands (laugh all you want but it works!!).
For my hands, I have several pairs of gloves in the boat all the time during the winter. A fingerless pair of flannel gloves for actually fishing, a lightweight pair of gloves for those marginal days and a pair of sub-zero ski/snowmobile gloves for driving the boat. Plus, I have those hand warmers in my pockets for the quick warmup of my fingers while fishing.

That's pretty much my set up for winter fishing.

Crappie Barge!

I used to rock climb quite a bit until about 2 years ago. Once a year or so we would go to canada or norhter minnnesota to go ice climbing. I KNOW that glacier gloves will do the trick. There easy to find on the internet and abot 29 bucks a pair if I recall right. Just remember to put gloves over them when you move from place to place and that will help. They really wick away the water.

i found a ski suit for keeping warm and dry,,works great, just a thought