Best way keep hands warm?

[Guest]

the first thing that i have found over the years of winter fishing is to dress warm.  your extremities stay much warmer if you keep your core warm.  other than that a good pair of mitts for running, and there are various fingerless fishing gloves to choose from.

bo

[Pat Magee]

I have a pair of Hestra Gore-tex mittens that are perfect for really cold weather fishing.  They are for legit mountain climbing but they certainly do the trick when cold water fishing.  They even have handcuffs so I can quickly slide them on and off without losing them if I need to do something bare handed. I also have tried the Hot Hands taped to the inside of my wrist and that seem to help a bit if you are wearing lighter more form fitting gloves.

I have been thinking about a fishing rod with a built in heater in the grip.  With every turn of the reel, it would power the small hand warmer in the rod.  I mean this really isn't a bad idea, right?

[slothman]

1 hour ago, merc1997 said:

the first thing that i have found over the years of winter fishing is to dress warm.  your extremities stay much warmer if you keep your core warm.  other than that a good pair of mitts for running, and there are various fingerless fishing gloves to choose from.

bo

Over the years, I have discovered this to be the case. If you can keep your core warm enough, you won't even need gloves most of the time. I wear lots of layers and that helps you stay warmer and also gives the ability to adjust if needed. 

 

Another thing, if you keep a hand warmer against your wrist, it will keep your hand warm by warming the blood vessels going into the hand. Additionally, latex gloves (believe it or not) will keep a lot of warmth in. The problem with those is that your hands will sweat and then get cold. 

[fishinwrench]

I'm anti-handwarmer or anything that produces heat.  IMO the best and safest way to spend time out in the cold is by conditioning yourself to tolerate it.   I learned a long time ago that you can be perfectly comfortable in below freezing temps in nothing but a sweatshirt and jersey gloves if you are doing things like splitting wood.   And after you've done that a bit you actually increase your tolerance for cold temps quite a bit.   

Get out there on cold days and exert yourself just enough to stay warm, jog, ride a bike, cut wood, whatever, then when a 20° day comes along and you wanna go fishing you'll be just fine in a couple of light layers and probably won't even need gloves.   It's all about conditioning yourself.   That's why in the Fall you shiver uncontrollably at 40°, but in the early spring you can run around in 40° weather in your underwear.

[duckydoty]

Another good way of conditioning is to never turn the heat on and windows down while riding around in your vehicle and keeping the house thermostat set right around 38 degrees. Just enough to keep pipes from freezing.  Me, I’m a little more into comfort.  I’ll use a hand warmer.

[BilletHead]

              Why do you think I make Mrs. BilletHead sleep on the front screened in deck during the winter? Easy answer she has to go to work to warm up during the week .  It is a win -win deal ! All this time you all thought the BilletHead was crazy, nope,

  BilletHead

[Guest]

I have 3 pairs of the cheap fingerless wool gloves from army surplus. If one pair gets wet, I throw them in the bottom of the boat & get a dry pair. I use a hand warmer pouch that you wear around the waist with a couple hand warmers inside & a small hand towel. I use the little towel to dry my hands after dipping them in the livewell or minnow bucket. 

I use adhesive hand warmers & stick them on my hoodie over each kidney. This keeps my achy back feeling good & warms the core.

 

[Johnsfolly]

7 minutes ago, TrophyFishR said:

I use adhesive hand warmers & stick them on my hoodie over each kidney.

I use the adhesive chemical toe warmers and place them on my hips above my femoral arteries. That keeps my legs warm. Since I do most of my winter fishing while wading, I do stay heated while fishing. I typically don't wear gloves, but a couple of hand warmers in my coat pockets are used just to get them warmed up again.

[slowbait]

the best to keep hands warm and dry is to put on rubber surgical gloves under finger-less gloves

[kjackson]

Most of the time, I rely on half-finger gloves. The best I've found so far are knitted from buffalo down (that's what the company calls it). However, even then, any exposed skin gets cold, even when wet.  Slowbait's idea of surgical gloves isn't a bad one--it reminds me of what my dad and I did when hunting. We wore rubber gloves under jersey gloves and stayed warm.

Having said that, I will be trying something that was sent to me to try. They are black surgical-type gloves from Fishfighter.com.  They are a bit thicker than the typical surgical gloves I've tried before and slightly textured. I'm thinking wearing those under the buffalo half-fingers and that might be the answer.  Of course, i'll be wearing heavier mitts when running the boat.