Chapter 1: Clothes and Food

This is the first chapter of a step-by-step guide about how to be more successful with your pikefishing. Each weekend for 10 weeks to come, I will post a new chapter where I'm going through the important knowledge that is needed to be successful with your fishing. I know for sure that many of you already are skilled anglers, and everyone has their own point of view of what's important to think about, but this guide will cover my opinion.

Dress for success!

Todays first chapter is more into the preparation part of the fishing, which is where it all begins when decided go fishing. Inappropriate clothing could ruin both your focus and the joy of fishing. Imagine going out a cold spring day, with 20 minutes boat drive to the fishing location, and poor clothing makes you shivering and not feeling comfortable. Fishing starts out slow and you think more about yourself feeling cold than focus on the fishing. In my opinion, this condition is so unnecessary and waste of good fishing opportunity. It's not only once that I have experienced cold anglers, and for sure not the last time either.

A good main rule is to always wear slightly more than necessary. It's always easier and better to take of clothes on the sea if needed than freezing, obviously. So never, ever, under estimate the importance of good clothing.

And what is good clothing then? It's not really a rocket science, but using many layers of clothes which breathes well is a good start at this time of the year. It's not the clothes themselves that creates warmth, it's the air trapped in between the layers. On the sea, the most cooling element is the wind. Did you know that being outside in +/- 0 degrees, in 6m/s wind makes your body feel the temperature like if it was -5 degrees? Add on the fact that you sometimes drive the boat up to 50km/h, and you understand that poor clothes will make you freeze in zero time.

Good basic layers close to the body is important. With the fact that wind influence a lot, I recommend using clothes with really good durability against wind. Most of those clothes (GORE-TEX) also stops rain and breathes well, so don't spend all your money on fishing gear. Spend wisely on good clothing and you will not regret it. These "cover clothes" is not only for your upper body, It's strongly recommended even for pants.

Gloves, or no gloves?

In between those layers of clothes, when it's really cold, it's good to dress up with thicker materials so you'll stay warm during the whole day. Personally I use a fleece pullover most of times, and maybe some other thicker jersey if really cold. But this in not the whole set up, it's also of great importance to use a proper beanie to protect your head from wasting warmth. Some scientists actually says that you lose up to 50% of your body heat through your head when being outside in -5 degrees, so a beanie is a good choise when fishing in cold temperatures.

Well with most of the clothing parts covered, I go on by recommending you all to use good quality boots. Important with those are that they should prevent water and maybe even more important, have space enough for using several socks. The same rule concern the boots when it comes to warmth, always use layers of socks and space enough is needed to create trapped air in the boots to stay warm.

Oh well, some people is screaming for gloves. At this part, fishermen has clearly devided opinions of what to use. Personally, I prefer using neoprene gloves that are cut by half the fingers, to get maximum feeling with reeling and holding the rod. It's also a material that will get warm quickly if small amounts of water are trapped in the glove, in comparison with cotton or fleece gloves that never dries and feels cold when wet. As a reminder, always wear a life west or something similar when driving boat. 

Proper dressing is important when fishing in cold temperatures

Continuously, food is of great importance to stay warm, focused and pleased. The content itself is a lot up to the fisherman himself. Me myself prefer to bring a thermos of coffee to stay warm, and lunch varies from time to time. If short on time, I prefer eating "made-to-go" food that doesn't require cooking, to not waste any fishing time. On the other hand, It could be a very nice part of the fishing to set up a BBQ with your friends and enjoy our lovely archipelago. Remember to ask for where you are allowed to set up a BBQ though, many islands around us are private.

Finally, bring some candy, very important for fishing luck!!

I hope you liked this first chapter, which once again is more into the preparation part of fishing, but not to be under estimated in importance. If you are pleased, you fish better. That's the point with this chapter.



Next weekend: Chapter two - Weather & Wind

// Daniel Wickman
   2013-03-30