Patagonia Guidewater Waders

[Arofishing]

So after I had bought all my fishing and fly fishing gear, including some initial things to tie some flies, I made a decree to my wife and my best friend who fishes with me: "No more superfluous spending for the rest of the year!" Well, because I've bought a lot of superfluous stuff this summer, much more than any previous.

The very next day Patagonia had a 50% off sale, and guess who needed waders for his new hobby in the colder months? Also guess who could "rationalize" this exorbitant expenditure because it was an "eventual need" and such a "tremendous value?" Oh yeah, and it is my "anniversary present" - there are so many ways one can play this game! Another $300 later I had some waders and some boots (rock grip). (You can do the math to figure out how much that would be without the sale, hint: it's double).

To qualify for the sale I'm assuming these were mostly overstock items (indeed, the size I got is being discontinued=slow sales) and a clean out of the inventory sort of situation (indeed, Patagonia came out with a redesign in 2011). Thus, the fit is not ideal. I'm not a "big" man, but my shoe size would commit me to a large wader in nearly all that I've looked at. I ended up getting a large-medium, essentially a large on top and medium on bottom because that was my only option. I don't really need the extra space on top, but I figure I can put some cans of beer in there or just start lifting some weights again. Better yet, I could put our older dog in there, he hates the water anyway.... Oh well, I know that extra space will come in handy for our yearly trek to Ontario in late May(=numerous layers). Everything is adjustable so I can get a nice, snug fit. The booties are made for shoe size 8-10. I have just over size 10 feet, so trying to stuff some wool sucks in these things will be chore, but I'm not too concerned.

They arrived yesterday, so naturally I wore them around the house all day. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but I did on two separate occasions, once by myself for an hour in a rather vain moment in front of the mirror I'm not too proud of. And then once for my wife later because she was just so, so interested . So I had them on for nearly two hours, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I didn't sweat - though I was sweating - and nothing compares to the joy of sitting down and inflating like a balloon in the lower half of your body. I'm also impressed with the weight and construction of the waders, they seem very durable, and I have a hard time imagining puncturing these things, though I'm told it's inevitable. On that note, another perk is Patagonia's replacement policy, they really stand behind their products, and they ought to given the price.

I'll be trying them out for the first time this week on the North Fork so I'll let you know how they perform when I get back. I'm sure that will be a real scintillating post, consisting of "yep, they didn't leak, who'da thunk it?"

[Trout Commander]

Uh-oh. You got into PataGucci pretty early in the game man... It's all down hill from here!

[Bird Watcher]

nothing compares to the joy of sitting down and inflating like a balloon in the lower half of your body.

I agree, although you might want to check on some pro-biotics. J/K, but I'm sure you'll be happy with them. Patagonia makes some good products. They probably weren't worth what they were originally asking, but hopefully you'll feel they were worth what you paid for them.

[Arofishing]

They make quality products and I think they operate their business responsibly, so I'm happy to support them. Just not usually at a 100% inflated cost related to their competitors. So if I can get their stuff competitive relative to the other guys, I'll usually get it every time. I ended up spending $200 on waders, which is what I was inevitably going to spend anyway, so a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

[Njardar]

When I had a sailboat I learned the value of a boat buck ($1 boat buck = $100.00), which made it easy to say the new widget only cost $3 boat bucks. Now I fly fish, and boat bucks are now fly bucks; however, the ratio is still the same. Congratulations on spending only $2 fly bucks on waders.

- Charlie