GREAT LAKES PRO INSULATED SUIT By Whitewater

GREAT LAKES PRO INSULATED SUIT

Reviewed by Capt. Mike Schoonveld

Do you get a chill down your spine when the weather people start putting words like frost, snow, wintery mix and wind chill in their forecasts? I used to, but I’d much rather start thinking of words like, fall brawl, early ice, late season fishing and even first ice. Those positive thoughts are now more in my mind than worries about chills down my spine since I got my Great Lakes Pro Insulated Suit.

Great Lake anglers don’t hibernate during the cold months. Certainly, the designers at Whitewater know this and being a Michigan based company where not only is windchill is understood, so are winter forecasts with words like lake effect, blustery and accumulation. They live there and understand the problems inherent in many winter parkas, bibs and other outdoor gear.

There are dozens of hi-tech parka and bibs makers, these days, but few of them seem to offer winter suits that check all the boxes. Some are long on insulation, but so bulky it’s hard to do much more than just stand there. Some are not so bulky, but not so warm. Few of them are waterproof. Many seem to concentrate more on flashy colors and patterns.

When I’m out for walleyes in late November, on the ice or in my boat fishing cohos in early March, looking spiffy is less important than being warm and able to move – whether it’s setting a line or drilling a hole.

Don’t think the Great Lakes Pro suit looks clunky. It doesn’t; but instead of being bright red, blue or other colors, it’s black. Perfect for me. On sunny days, the black color helps keep me warm. More important, after a few trips, it doesn’t look like it’s overdue for a trip through the washing machine.

Unlike many parkas and bibs I’ve used which use the same amount of insulation top to bottom, Whitewater’s Great Lakes Pro is built around various levels of insulation in different parts of each garment. There’s more insulation in the back of the parka than in the front. The sleeves have even less because it’s more important to have more insulation in the torso than in the hood, arms or in the legs in the bibs. That increases flexibility in the right places while maintaining warmth in others.

The best winter bibs have reinforced knees to keep them from wearing out and an additional bit of waterproofing when kneeling next to a tip up or kneeling on a boat’s floor to unhook a flopping fish. More than just an extra layer of cloth, the GL Pro bibs have reinforced the knee area with a rubberized waterproof fabric. That makes the knee area with totally waterproof while the rest of the suit relies on the a Durable Water Repellant and an internal waterproof/breathable layer sandwiched between the exterior fabric and interior lining. That little patch of waterproofing doesn’t really hurt the garment’s breathability rating (13K) or it’s waterproof rating of 30K.

I’m a “pocket” person in that I like outerwear with plenty of pockets. Nothing worse than having to dig deep into mid-layers to warm my fingers for a minute or grab my cell phone, key fob, camera, pocket knife or most any other item I might need during the course of the day. The jacket has five pockets, all are zip closed for security rubberized zippers for extra water resistance. The bibs have six pockets, interior and exterior.

Another thing I noticed immediately was the suspenders on the bibs are stretchy which I’ve found to be a great feature since whether I’m wearing several layers under the bibs while ice fishing in the open or just a hoody inside on warmer days, I’ve not had to adjust them. They stretch to fit. I love the silicone grip surface on the underside of the suspenders that keeps them from sliding off my shoulders when I’m in the middle of doing something.

I’m now going into my second season with the Great Lakes Pro suit. It was my top layer, rain or shine when I got it in late winter and through most of the spring. I told my customers, “On southern Lake Michigan, winter lasts to Memorial Day, so bundle up.” They don’t always remember that warning, but I do – and though I relish autumn’s Indian summer, I know by the time the next issue of GLA is out, I’ll be using my Great Lakes Pro parka and bibs nearly every day.

Whitewater’s Great Lakes Pro tops and bottoms are widely available at retail and online sources. Check them out or purchase them (along with other Whitewater products) at www.whitewaterfish.com.

SMITH’S BAIT AND FISH KILL BAG

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

There was something missing on my boat last spring, a fish cooler. Often called a box or the fish box. If you don’t have a fish cooler on your boat, chances are you rely on stuffing the fish you catch and keep into a livewell or into a built-in fish storage compartment. My boat’s livewell must have been designed for perch fishing. It won’t hold a four-person limit of spring cohos and is certainly too small to hold a decent four-person bag of Lake Erie walleye.

So I “bagged” the fish. Actually, the fish went into Smith’s Products Insulated 36” Bait and Fish Kill Bag. Why not use my old IGLOO cooler? It takes up a lot of space.

Formerly, when my cooler was my only choice, I “made” space for it. It was a piece of necessary gear, so I economized on other gear to make everything fit with room left over for the fish box and the fishermen. Not now.

At the beginning of the day, the Kill Bag takes up almost no room. It doesn’t fold perfectly flat, it is insulated – front, back and bottom with closed cell foam, but a cooler is the same size whether it’s full or empty. Before the first fish is caught I add one or two small (7-pound) bags of ice – depending on air temperature. At that point the bag is about 1/3^rd the size of my old fish cooler. On a good day, by the time it’s got 18 or 24 walleyes in the bag (or 15 or 20 cohos), it takes up about half the space of my fish cooler – and there’s space left over to hold a king, a big brown trout or several plus-size walleyes if the fishing was extra-good.

I had four concerns when switching from a hard-sided plastic cooler to a soft-sided kill bag. Would it be tough enough? Would it be hard to clean? Would it keep the fish cool and fresh? Would it be large enough?

The Smith’s bag is constructed (inside and out) with a heavy-duty, marine grade tarp-like fabric. I wasn’t overly concerned the sharp fins on the walleyes I put in the bag would perforate the interior lining, but that thought was in the back of my mind. So, after several walleye trips, I took a flashlight, put on my reader glasses and examined the interior closely so see if there were any visible holes. None were found, nor did I ever detect any leakage around the bottom seams from melting ice had dripping through the inner skin and leaking out the bottom. Additionally, the seams are reinforced with strong nylon strapping material made from the same material as the detachable carrying strap. Plenty tough.

Both the interior and exterior is slick-finish allowing fresh blood to just rinse off and even dried-on blood to wash clean with a minimum amount of scrubbing with a soft brush. Once it’s rinsed clean, I just invert it with the zipper open and to let it quickly dry. Cleans up easily.

Cooling ability? One sure indicator of how well it’s insulated is how much ice is left at the end of the trip. If all you have left in your fish cooler is melt water, it’s not doing the job. On my early spring trips when the air temperature and the water temperature (thus the fish temperatures) are in the 40s, that small bag of ice was still more ice than meltwater after a long half-day of fishing. Once the weather and water warmed, the second bag of ice still did the job.

The 36” Bait and Fish Kill Bag is Smith’s middle size offering. It’s perfect for how I used it. Later in the season when king salmon and lake trout figure heavily into the catch where I fish, it wouldn’t be large enough. However, Smith makes a 48” kill bag that is advertised to be larger than my Igloo and there’s a smaller, 30-incher (called Mr. Crappie) that will hold several limits of perch or crappies.

Though the 30 and 36-inch versions are called “bait and fish kill bags,” I don’t think they’d be a good replacement for a bait bucket. Perhaps in a special situation, they’d be ideal – not on my boat. They do come with drain plugs at the bottom, however, to allow melt water from the ice or minnow water if used for bait to flow out the bottom. Available at www.smithsproducts.com at retailers and several online outlets including Amazon.

HUK PERFORMANCE SHIRTS – APEX VERT ICON and WAYPOINT

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Other than when I’m ice fishing in extreme conditions, when I’m fishing I always have a long sleeve shirt or hoody made of what has become known as performance cloth as my base layer – or only layer. In the summer, these shirts keep me cooler than if I were wearing a short sleeve shirt and give me 50 UPF sun protection against UV radiation. In the earliest part of thefishing season and late fall fishing, these same shirts are a part of my layering system that allows me to add or subtract coats, vests or jackets as the conditions change from morning chill to midday levels. It all has to do with the moisture and water vapor wicking properties of performance cloth.

Basically, the fibers of performance cloth is woven from is made of some sort of plastic. The HUK Waypoint shirts I own are actually made from recycled water bottles. Others, like the Apex Vert ICON are made from other forms of plastic, but the fact the base material is poly-something or other means it can’t get wet. Each thread can get wet on the outside, but unlike cotton, woolor other blends of natural threads, the base materials won’t soak up wetness. Instead, because of the tight weave, when moisture is produced from perspiration or from the natural production of water vapor escaping from a person’s skin, none of that wetness is captured by the material. Instead, through capillary action, it’s pulled into the cloth next to the skin and wicked outward. In the summer, it evaporates, cooling the cloth and cooling the wearer better than just sweaty skin or wet tee-shirt material will do. In cold weather, as a base layer, it still wicks moisture away from the skin and passes the moisture on to the next layer – hopefully all the way through each layer, where it leaves the wearer warm and cozy inside.

I’ve had the Waypoint shirt for over a year and it’s still one of my favorites. This shirt looks and feels more cottony-soft and I like this, especially in the morning chill. Once the temperature climbs, the fabric still performs with moisture wicking and cooling effects. Many of these performance fabric shirts are slick-feeling, more like silk or satin than familiar feel of cotton.

Most of HUK’s performance shirts come emblazoned with the HUK logo on the front, back or sleeves. Some people don’t like wearing shirts with logos or emblems.If that’s you, take a look at HUK’s Waypoint line.

One of HUK’s newest versions of the performance cloth shirts is the Apex Vert ICON is an upgrade to their popular ICON shirt line. It is one of those “slick” feeling materials which I think enhances the “cooling” feel on hot summer days and the AVI has special panels on the sides and backs that accelerates the moisture-wicking and the cooling feel. I prefer the hoody versions of these shirts since it gives me more neck protection from the sun and eliminates the need for me to wear neck gaitors most days.

I used to shy away from “hunter” pattern camoshirts, but I now embrace the gray and blue shaded nautical camos. I’m not trying to hide from the fish, but I’m a sloppy angler. It’s not uncommon for meto end up with fish slime, fish blood and other stains by the end of a day onthe lake – stains that show up like a blood trail in new fallen snow on pastel, solid-colored fabric. I still get the stains, but I don’t look like a serial killer by the end of a fishing trip.

Both of these HUK performance shirt lines are available in both solid colors and camo versions. HUK performance wear is widely available at many retailers and online sources including Amazon.com. See all the choices or purchase directly at www.hukgear.com.

GILL FITZROY JACKET

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

I love the fall and early winter weather in the Great Lakes. That includes the brisk, frosty mornings that often gives way to tee-shirt warmth in the afternoon. Obviously, seasoned anglers know the key to this is layering but it doesn’t have to be a complicated system as is needed in “real” winter on the ice, in deer stands or other cold weather outings. The Fitzroy Jacket from Gill can be your go-to top layer on those Indian summer mornings (and just as useful on middle-spring days.)

My go-to outer layer for the past couple of seasons has been my Gill Winter Jacket and Bibs, which are both heavily insulated and fully waterproof, but the winter-wear is overkill on those days when the frosty morning fades quickly to comfortable temps as soon as the sun brightens the morning sky.

The Fitzroy jacket is very lightweight and packable for when it needs to be stowed, but easily fluffs to a warm, well insulated, good looking coat and hood. For me (so far) the hood is more for style since I’ve never needed it.

Fishing can be a wet sport even on a sunny day, either from errant spray when the boat is under power or when dealing with wet tackle or flopping fish. The Fitzroy will handle spray and wet fish, but it’s a poor choice for a rainy day. It has the same Durable Water Repellant finish on the outer layer that’s the first line of water resistance on all of the best totally waterproof rainwear, but that makes it water resistant, not waterproof. A bit of spray will just bead up and run off or evaporate, a soaking rain will, eventually soak in.

I love the three zip-close pockets – two on the sides for hands, for stowing car keys or other items and one on the upper chest where I often insert my cell phone or camera. The sturdy zips open and close easily and keeps things secure and available.

One observation I’ve noted on this and other Gill products is their sizing. Gill products are designed and engineered in the United Kingdom and sold worldwide where many people are smaller than many of us in the Great Lakes. I choose garments one size larger than I’d normally buy from American producers.

If environmental responsibility is important to you, both the Fitzroy’s shell and insulation is made from recycled materials.

Want to try Gill yourself? The Fitzroy Jacket (and other Gill products) are widely available or order them online straight from the Gill website with a discount:

At checkout, use the discount code- CAPTMIKE10 – for 10% off your order at gillfishing.com