Thursday 31 December 2009

No fishing and bad weather


Unfortunately no fishing this month, might manage out early January for some cod. I have however been putting my fishing kit to some use in the recent few weeks, not my rods but some of my clothes.

I’ve never been a fan of flotation suits either in the one or two piece variety. When I started going to Norway about seven years ago I had a look at viable alternatives to these. I needed something which would cope with the weather, could be worn with a life jacket and which would give me freedom of movement and the ability to lair up or down. I had a look at the range of clothes from Patagonia, this is extensive and covers everything from wading in streams for trout to climbing Everest. I realised then that I could pick up pieces of kit which could be used across all areas of my fishing and also day to day…especially in the winter and that’s been particular useful this last week or two.

Outer layer (red) – Patagonia Jetstream Jacket, breathable, waterproof lightweight compressible shell.

Mid layer (blue) Patagonia down sweater, very warm and again compressible

Base layer (black) Patagonia R1 hoody, this is the best piece of clothing kit I have bought. Zips up like a balaclava and makes you look like a ninja, thumbholes to keep your wrist and hands warm and dries really quickly. I wore this lot in the summer on its own or for early morning work I would put a Patagonia long sleeve Capilene underneath it. If I had bought this seven years ago I could have done away with every other base/mid layer I have bought and now rarely wear.

Anyway from this self confessed Patagonia label junkie have a fantastic 2010, hope it brings us a lot of PB’s