Winter wading fun in the snow – fishing for steelhead isn’t always about how many fish you catch. Sometimes it’s just about escaping the crowds and spending some quality time with the river. For the DRYFT waders crew, this crisp, cold, and damp winter day was just that.
Chances are if you’ve spent a good deal of time in waders you’ve struggled a bit dialing in the fit to get all day comfort from your waders. There are a few reasons why selecting the best fitting wader for your body size, and then dialing in the straps just right, is a best practice. We’ll dive into a few of those reasons here.
Dialing in the fit of your waders for durability and comfort starts before purchase. First step is to order the size that fits your body type best. We offer a sizing chart that helps do just that. To find the best fit you’ll need your shoe size, inseam length and biggest girth through the waist and chest. Use the size chart to find the waders where you fit into the correct range.
Once your new waders arrive it’s a matter of setting your shoulder straps to the appropriate height. This seems overly simple, but you’d be surprised at how often anglers don’t adjust the straps at all, or simply wear them too loose so the waders sag down and only come partway up the wearers chest. By adjusting the straps so that the waders ride as high as possible on the chest it takes strain off your back, and lets you fish hard all day long in comfort.
Not only will wearing a good fitting wader be more comfortable, it will also greatly increase the life of the waders themselves. Wearing your waders without the straps set high enough, or wearing waders that are too short or long in the inseam, or too baggy overall can cause undue wear from rubbing on the breathable material and can also cause stretching of the seams.
Excess fabric can cause folding or bunching in the legs, which when repeatedly bent and rubbed back and forth can actually cause the material to wear through over time. It’s an easy thing to avoid, but just needs to start at the beginning with adjusting your straps correctly to a high set position. Set your shoulder straps high so that the top of the waders ride as high as possible on your chest.
It goes without saying that safety on the river is all important, but is often overlooked. Wearing a good fitting wader with the belt, shoulder straps and upper drawstring strapped tight will greatly increase your buoyancy in case of a fall into the water, and will also help keep water out in case of submersion.
We hope these tips are useful. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about sizing, fit or river safety.
A great review of the Primo Wading jacket from Chad here.
Want to read more product reviews of the DRYFT Primo Wading Jacket? Click on over to http://dryftfishing.com/reviews/
The DRYFT S13 Adrenaline and CHSR breathable waders are packed with features. For the full details on the waders check ’em out in the shop.
Like to pack light when you’re out for a day of pounding the banks of your favorite waterway? We like to ditch the packs too, which is why the DRYFT S13 fishing waders come with lots of built in zippered storage pockets.
Sling a bag over your shoulder, wear a chest bag or vest if you like – but if you choose to go light the front zippered pocket, side entry dual purpose ‘hand warming’ pocket, and inside flip out pocket gives you more than enough room to fit a small tackle box, several small fly boxes, a medium sized fly box as well as tippet, pliers, camera, etc…
The inner flip-out pocket has zippers on both sides and is perfectly suited to carrying your keys and phone, and gives easy zippered access from the flip out position or from within the waders. I like this as I don’t have to flip the whole pocket out to dig my phone out. I just unzip the inside zipper, reach down the the inside of the front and I’m into the safe zippered storage.
The fleece lined front pocket, and dual side entry side pockets are easy on the hands and on gear and are more than big enough to haul the essentials around in. Check out the full list of details in the shop >> S13 Waders
Why do five layer reinforced sections matter on waders? For several really good reasons.
The five layer reinforced knees, legs, and seat are there to prolong the life of the DRYFT S13 waders, so you get the most seasons out of them. Like to bush whack a little? Kneel down when landing fish? Yep, so do we. Which is exactly why we designed DRYFT waders with the extra strength and cushion of reinforced sections in the high stress areas.
The material we use is high tech, breathable, and is still lightweight enough to make our waders comfortable in both warm and cool weather.
A recent customer review sums it up pretty well. He wrote:
I received my waders about 2 months ago. The first time I wore them was in the tailwaters of Lake Taneycomo below Table Rock Lake. My fishing buddy that day had his neophreme’s on and was complaining about being cold. I was toasty and warm all day. Amazing for how light they are. Well the weather has warmed up here in the Ozarks and they are able to keep me cool even on low 90 days. I also like the flexibility I have to kneel down in the water to net and release the fish. Awesome!!
To read more about the DRYFT S13 waders, visit our product pages.
The DRYFT waders crew has been out hitting the rivers a few times since they opened a couple weeks ago on the first of June. Targeting summer steelhead, we’ve seen mostly resident rainbows and a few anadromous bull trout. This past week we got out and caught a pretty big incidental bull. Here are some photos.
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For every wader we sell we plant one tree along salmon and trout bearing streams.
