Outerwear for the “Off Season”

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There is no “off” season. Or, if there is an off season, it’s summertime because the rivers are crowded, the fish are more pressured, and with climate change it’s often too hot to go trout fishing anyway. Fall, winter, and spring always have been and always will be the most productive periods for catching almost any types of salmonids. It’s become more important for us to focus on these periods, and it’s also become more pleasant because so much of the high-tech outerwear we have today is not only more effective at keeping us warm and dry, it’s far more comfortable. Here are some of the real gems we’ve discovered that can help you make the most of the best fishing seasons of the year.

Simms  Bulkley Insulated Wading Jacket

No matter where you live, some of the best fishing of the year is in the worst weather: fall brown trout on the Madison, steelhead on the Great Lakes or Olympic Peninsula, high-altitude tailwaters in Colorado. When the ice is not only in your snake guides but also on your eyelashes and beard—and your nostrils are freezing shut with every intake—you better have something warm that can still perform as a fishing jacket.

The original Simms Bulkley jacket was a classic more than a decade ago—I still have the original, and years ago I had offers at a fishing lodge in Tierra del Fuego to literally buy the no-longer-in-production jacket right off my back. But there’s no way I was giving up my most valuable piece of fishing equipment while we were one step away from Antarctica.

Maybe I should have sold it, because the new 2024 version of the Bulkley is even better. It’s constructed with a 2-layer Gore-Tex/polyester laminate with taped seams so it’s 100% waterproof like the best Simms rain jackets. However, this one is loaded with insulation, with 100g of PrimaLoft Silver in the body and 60g in the sleeves, hood, and collar. The inside is lined with a comfortable, breathable polyester.

The three-panel hood has a 3-point adjustable stretch cord to lock out the cold and rain, and a built-in brim to shield your face from rain and snow. The exposed YKK center front waterproof zipper is backed by an internal storm placket, so it stands up to driving rain, and it’s finished with a soft brushed tricot zipper guard so it’s smooth inside.

The Bulkley has two handwarmer pockets—positioned up high for deep wading—and two vertical chest pockets with integrated drain holes for fly boxes. It also has an interior mesh dump pocket and a waterproof zippered pocket on the upper right arm.

The articulated sleeves are designed for casting and rowing, and the cuffs have interior stretch neoprene seals you can cinch closed with Velcro. It has a straight bottom hem with an internal dual draw cord to lock out wind and spray, and there’s also a D-ring for a net on the back, and another D-ring on the hem for a kill switch for those days when you’re running a motor in cold weather.

$499.95 | simmsfishing.com

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Skwala  Backeddy Jacket

How many autumn or spring fishing days have a forecast for rain all day? Do you often go fishing during terrible monsoon rains that are sunup to sundown? Those are the actual days when you need a hardshell rain jacket—or maybe you just stay home since the river will be blown anyways.

On all those many other “real” fishing days, what you actually want is a versatile jacket that can block the wind, keep you warm, protect you from passing thunderstorms, and above all . . . be comfortable. That’s where a softshell jacket shines.

The new Skwala Backeddy Softshell Jacket has 4-way stretch so it’s not restricting and allows you to cast, row, and move unencumbered. It’s more breathable than any shell can ever be, so you can wear it all day, and it’s coated in a durable water repellent (DWR) so it sheds rain showers and snow squalls. If you are in an Alaska firehose-type situation, the jacket will get soaked through, but the taped seams will see you through every other wet event.

It has a fully adjustable hood with smart Cohaesive adjustment tabs, so it’s easy to cinch up around your face in a storm. The single high, angled YKK AquaGuard zippered chest pocket holds two large fly boxes, and there are two zippered hand pockets. It’s available in two colors—earth and oak—and in men’s sizes M, L, XL, and XXL.

$349 | skwalafishing.com

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Simms  G4 Pro Jacket

Compared to many other previous Simms wading jackets, the new G4 PRO has cleaner and simpler lines, and looks far less “technical.” But the tech is all there, it’s just hidden in a jacket that is much sleeker, with fewer exposed zippers, and no bellows pockets or docking stations that make some jackets look out of place at your kid’s soccer game or along a hiking trail. This one can literally go anywhere and do it all. Yet it’s the only wading jacket in the Simms lineup that uses the best-in-class 3-layer Gore-Tex Pro Shell fabric and is designed specifically for fly fishers.

It has a 3-point adjustable storm hood that cinches tightly around your baseball cap, and it has an orange high-visibility center panel on top in case you are awaiting a helicopter pickup or if you fall overboard.

It does have two very large chest pockets where you can stash multiple fly boxes, but the waterproof zippers are hidden under a storm flap. Inside each “hidden” pocket there are stretch mesh dividers so you can keep things organized. You don’t really need a pack when you’re dealing with bad weather and you have this jacket on your side. One of the many inside stretch dividers even tethers a stretch cord with a sunglasses shammy.

For your hands, there are zippered side-entry fleece-lined handwarmer pockets with integrated pass-through zippers. You can reach through your jacket into the pockets of your waders without removing or unzipping your jacket.

$699.95 | simmsfishing.com

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Skwala  Carbon Pant

It used to be that wearing waders was just part of the uniform of fly fishing. No matter the weather—hot or cold—or the species, waders seemed a logical choice just to be prepared for all eventualities. But the modern fly fisher is a different breed. Comfort rules all, and as it turns out there are many days when you don’t need waders at all. When it’s hot, wet wading is the answer, and even if the weather is lousy, there’s no reason to wear waders in a boat. A comfortable pair of rubber boots can help you navigate the boat ramp, and it’s easy to stow a pair of rain pants.

And if you find the right rain pants—like the Skwala Carbon Pant—you can wear them all day to protect yourself from boat spray, rain, and fish slime, and be far more comfortable than in a pair of waders. The Carbon Pant is a 3-layer breathable shell with 4-way stretch. They can protect you from any kind of weather but at the same time they have far more mobility, breathability, and comfort than any pair of waders­—or any other rain pant for that matter. You’ll feel like you’re wearing a pair of joggers, and won’t feel out of place stopping by a restaurant or grocery store after fishing.

The Carbon Pant has an adjustable built-in belt, a YKK AquaGuard zippered thigh pocket for your phone or wallet, full-length two-way YKK AquaGuard zippers on the sides for easy on/off without removing your boots, and a waistband that allows a comfortable stretch at the waist without absorbing water. The waistband is actually made from the same breathable waterproof material as the pants but is heat-set into something like an accordion shape, so it moves with you but doesn’t get soggy and wet like most other elastic-type materials.

$399 | skwalafishing.com

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Skwala Thermo 350 Hoody & Pant

My daughters will never again mock me for the fashion faux pas of wearing pajamas in the middle of the day. Sometimes at home, I just want to be extra comfortable, but I’ll never again have to wear pajamas to feel cozy, because I now live in a world where I have the Thermo 350 Hoody and Pant. It’s more comfortable  and warmer than pajamas, and I can actually leave the house wearing these.

More important, when you layer these under a pair of waders or under a rain shell, the blend of 95% 20.5-micron Merino wool and 5% Spandex is incredibly mobile, breathable, and warm. The pants have a relaxed tapered fit, a stretch waistband, cuffs like a pair of joggers, and two top-loading pockets like you’d find on your favorite pair of jeans. The fleeced lining on both top and bottom gives you a next-to-skin softness you would never expect on wool garments.

The top has a SCUBA-shaped hood with a high collar so when you zip it up it covers much of your face, and it has a raglan sleeve design so the diagonal seams run from the collar to the armpit—when combined with the gusseted underarm it gives you a huge range of unrestricted motion. A zippered stretch-woven front pocket fits a wallet or cell phone.

The sleeves have sewn and finished thumb slots so it’s easy to slide another layer over top, but the Hoody works as a top layer as well to keep you warm on crisp fall and spring days where you need more than a T-shirt but less than a jacket.

$189 - $229 | skwalafishing.com; skwalafishing.com

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Simms  Bulkley Hand Muff

The biggest obstacle in cold-weather fishing is often your hands. You can’t do anything wearing mittens, and let’s be honest, gloves aren’t much better. You can do some rowing, line handling, and reeling with gloves, but when you have to tie knots or untangle a nymph rig or do anything else that requires dexterity, the gloves come off, and then you’ve got to waste fishing time trying to get them back on. The solution may be the Bulkley Hand Muff with an outer shell of 2-layer waterproof/breathable Toray nylon with a durable water repellent coating (DWR) and 100% polyester insulation inside.

When you are high-sticking or swinging with one hand, the other hand is inside the muff. When one hand gets cold, you can switch hands. When you need to tie knots, both hands are free, and when you are walking or floating your hands are buried in a warm kangaroo pouch.

There are elastic closures at the wrists to seal in warmth, but it’s still easy to get your hands in/out, and there is a zippered pocket on the backside designed for adding chemical heat packs. Here’s a pro tip, you can also add a rechargeable waterproof electric handwarmer such as an OCOOPA IP45 ($42) and really turn the Bulkley Hand Muff into a sauna for your fingers.

Vertical webbing straps and G-hooks make it easy to attach the muff directly to the suspenders on waders or bibs. There is an included 1-inch adjustable webbing belt, and you can also slide the muff onto existing wading belts up to 2 inches wide.

$99 | simmsfishing.com