Trout Fishing Waders: Now the Rest of the Story!

If Paul Harvey were still alive today that is what he would say about our trout fishing experiences with waders. You need to be very careful to evaluate the waders based on what type of terrain and what type of water in which you plan to fish. Here, you can read about our experiences and use this information to help you select the right waders. First of all, I recommend stocking foot waders used in conjunction with felt soled shoes for better traction in the streams. The reason for that decision can be found at http://tinyurl.com/dbh33f.

Now, let's take a look at our experiences. Prior to taking a trip to Alaska several years ago, we purchased two pairs of neoprene camo waders. In Alaska, the days in July are long with sunlight til 3:00AM, so you can get in as much fishing as you want, but the waters remain very cold. We had a magnificent trip, but due to some cold rain and the cold waters, we had difficulty keeping warm. We could not have tolerated the cold weather without those neoprene waders.

However, in North Carolina, those waders are not useful except, perhaps, in January. As you fish and exert normal exercise, the perspiration builds up to the extent that there is so much dampness in the waders, you think that they are leaking! I am not going to get ugly and mention the odor that permeates the air when you remove them. Because of that perspiration, the overall bulkiness, and the heaviness of the neoprene waders, I definitely do not recommend neoprene waders in the South.

For our next pair of waders, we went totally to the other extreme; we went to the breathable waders. The breathable membrane is a marvelous technology that hardly seems possible, but it really does work. They breathe by letting the small vapor droplets wick out, while not letting the larger water drops penetrate.

They were so light weight, so super cool, and so easy to contain, that we immediately fell in love with them. The neoprene waders could not be conveniently transported in a backpack, but the breathable waders fit neatly in a backpack or they can even be worn as you hike --- something that I absolutely could not do with the neoprene waders.

I used them with delight, several times and even carried them in a backpack. Now I was completely mobile! Unfortunatelyr, my grandson borrowed them to fish in a huge North Carolina ravine (I can not say more about that location or I will be shot) and when he brought them back, they were severly damaged. I attempted to repair them using up the entire repair kit on them, only to find to my chagrin that they were shredded beyond repair. Perhaps I may have inadvertently put some of those tears in the waders myself. The breathable waders simply do not hold up to the NC underbrush.

This year, we bought the refurbished Orvis Tailwaters XT waders at the Orvis Warehouse Sale in Charlotte, NC for $38 which is about 10 cents on the dollar. I was not totally convinced they would provide a desirable level of comfort while still being strong enough for North Carolina, but since we were getting less than one season out of a pair of waders, I decided to risk only $76 to try out two pairs of them. My son, Steve, and I took them out Saturday to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where we decided to attack one of the smallest streams.

At times, we were on our knees crawling through the underbrush and at other times, we were crawling through the water. We also slid down some embankments on our keister, as we were determined to reach those wild brown trout in their most sacred hiding places.

Now on the Orvis Tailwaters XT, the bottom part is not breathable, but the top part of the waders are breathable, so we did experience some persperation collection, however, it was not nearly as bad (or smelly) as the neoprene waders. Also, they were somewhat bulky but that was a welcome mix between the breathable waders and the neoprene waders.

To summarize our experiences, after twenty years of fishing in all geographical regions of the USA, it is safe to say that you need to select the right type of waders for the type of fishing and the right type of water that you intend to fish:

-Neoprene: tough, warm and durable, for the North.

-Breathable waders: light and comfortable, for large OPEN streams, in the South.

-Orvis Tailwaters XT waders for small mountainous streams such as found in The Great Smokey Mountains National Park
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To learn more about trout fishing and our fishing experiences take a peek at our web site. http://www.troutu.com/