Cold Weather Yakin Clothes

[Memory Maker]

What do you wear and where do you get it?

I have the drytops and waders and drysuits but what do you wear under them in the cold? Thinking about under armour but not sure the thickness and if you wear anything else under

Underwear and outerwear for Yakin

[ictalurus]

Pants:
Depending on how cold it is, I'll either wear some thick, washable wool pants (one pair came from Cabelas) or some pants that are made out of a quick-drying canvas-like nylon (an old model of Ex Officio pants).

Shirt:
A washable wool shirt for the coldest days. I have several different quick-drying nylon shirts from Ex Officio in varying thicknesses. Some of them are as warm as my wool shirt but not rough like the wool shirt. One of them doesn't seem to hold water at all--it'll come out of the washing machine almost dry, which is pretty cool.

Base layers:
I have polypro (Duofold or Terramar, can't remember), silk (generic), and merino wool (Smartwool, I think) tops and bottoms that I'll mix and match. My favorites are made by Kenyon out of a material called Outlast that does an excellent job of keeping me warm when I'm sitting and fishing but not overly hot when I'm pedaling. I reach for those the most often but take the others with me in case I decide to change what I'm wearing at the ramp. The heaviest top I have is fleece. It has a fleece grid on the inside and is smooth on the outside. I can't remember who made it. It's almost unbearably hot, and I reserve that for the coldest days.

Socks:
I prefer over the calf wool ski socks by Bridgedale because that's the only brand that will stay up on my Hobie-built calves. Bridgedale makes them in three thicknesses, and I'll sometime wear a thin pair under my thickest pair. My toes sometimes still get cold. Joe gave me some heat packs that I'll put to use this year as well. I bought some Columbia Omni-Heat socks to try. My hand heated up really quickly in them in the store, so we'll see how they do on the water.

Except for one pair of wool pants and the Omni-Heat socks, nearly everything came from sierratradingpost.com or campmor.com. It's worth signing up for their emails because they have great sales. The only downside is that many of the things they sell are discontinued, so if you buy something and like it, you might not be able to find more. Also, things there tend to come in goofy colors, particularly at STP.

I also keep a full change of clothes, including the baselayers in a dry bag in my front hatch, and I'll have still more in my car in case I end up in the water. That hasn't happened yet, but it's nice to change out of sweaty clothes back at the ramp before the ride home.

[DOGFISH]

I agree with Bill about the wool. However, I have also started to wear alot of polar fleece. I wear UA or some type of poly under garments, with the fleece on top. Super warm. I wear poly sock liners with wool socks. I wear all of my water proof layers over that. Next year I am going to get a dry suit.