Fishing fashion

wildtrout2

wildtrout2

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
5,180
City
Montgomery County, Pa
I'm curious how many folks wear one of those fancy, usually expensive, long sleeve collared fishing shirts? I've seen them sell for as much as $98 at Orvis and L.L. Bean. I just can't see wearing something that nice on a stream where I don't see another fisherman all day. I wouldn't wear one even if I expected to see other fishermen. A t-shirt ($10), with a pocket for my smokes has always gotten the job done for me. Is how you look while fishing important to you? Obviously, there's no right answer. 🙂
 
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Every piece of clothing I buy is based in functionality. I do have some expensive gear, but it's bought for a functional purpose. Like UV protection in salt, weather resistance in rain, warmth in freezing temps. Probably the most expensive is waterproof, breathable, outwear for winter.
 
I have three and hardly ever wear them for their original purpose because my boat fishing days have been zero for few years. I use them for wading rivers as well...really as an option anytime that I’m going to be out in the open for extended periods. Aside from being gifts, their purchase all had to do with their SPF 50, light weight, some ventilation, and fast drying nature, plus they were very cheap on sale with a Columbia membership/military discount per my wife. It was a cheap way to get SPF 50 at the time. I use them for yard work at times too. Never planned to use them for stream fishing as I'm usually in the shade.
 
Yo, Jeff! If I am frequenting a small wild trout stream in the warmer months, I am often going to be wet wading. I wear long nylon hiking pants and a long-sleeve shirt. I treat these with permethrin to help guard against skeeters and ticks.

Now, as far as what that shirt is that I am wearing, it is a super cheap, Walmart cheap camo nylon/polyester shirt. It costs maybe $10, and that is all. I think drab colors and camo are very useful to wear on small wild trout streams, especially under low flows. Not spooking the fish is 9/10 of the battle in catching them.
 
For a lot of years, I mostly wore ****ies long sleeve work shirts in dark green or tan/mustard colors and always bought them one size bigger than I would usually wear. For me though, these shirts needed to go through the wash a dozen times or so to soften them up. Then, when Gander Mountain was going under, I bought about 10 of their ventilated, quick-dry shirts for about $80 total. They were mostly white, so I spent another $10 or so on forest green Rit to turn them into fishing shirts.

The ****ies shirts were my favorites once they were conditioned and wore in. My Dad always wore ****ies to work and to fish and they became my favorites by association with him.
 
RLeep2 said:
That nasty word filter in place here is kinda ridiculous at times, IMO. In any event, for the record, my favorite fishing shirts were Richard-ies..
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Understood. I went to type in my former supervisor’s name when I was describing who the leaders of an electrofishing survey crew were and the same thing happened to me….a bunch of **** Thank goodness the survey I mentioned was on another one of four or five tribs to Bald Eagle Ck that we surveyed that summer (2 Laurel Runs, Whetstone Rn, Wallace Run headwaters, plus a fifth Run) because if I had attempted to put the name of my supervisor and the name of the fifth stream in the same sentence, the sentence would have had two sets of ****, with the second set probably reading as ****’s Run 🤣

For those who are curious, we also surveyed Bald Eagle Ck at multiple sites from Port Matilda to Sayers Dam backwaters that summer. That was enjoyable/extra interesting because I used to fish BE among other streams when I was at PSU.
 
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I've been fly fishing for close to 60 years and to me the improvements in outdoor clothing have been wonderful. I am pale and burn to a crisp very easily. The new long-sleeve UV protection shirts that dry quickly and are cool and comfortable are a blessing. Fleece is wonderful - it keeps me comfortable over wide range of temperatures. Modern rain gear actually keeps me dry and comfortable. Modern hats are comfortable, packable and do well in the sun and rain. I remember the days of fishing in jeans, cotton long johns, and rain slickers and don't miss them. Early season fishing was a time of being cold and wet all the time. I am way more comfortable fishing wearing the latest outdoor gear. And often the more expensive brands like Patagonia fit better and perform better. But, I get that many people are hooked on the "latest and greatest". Need to be practical as well and buy better stuff that is actually better and fills a need.
 
I have 3 of the Simms shirts. I originally bought them when I went on a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the summer. I wanted a comfortable breathable long sleeve shirt to deal with the black flies. They are pricey for sure, but they are great when you want to cover up in the hot sun or you want to cover up from the bugs. I also wear them hiking and they are great for that too. Very comfortable. I am pleased with my purchases even though I feel a little trendy wearing them because I am not one of those types of fishermen.
 
The only expensive thing I buy for fishing is boots. I spend about $300 on a good pair as I am in them over 60 days a year. My most expensive rod doesn’t even cost that much. My waders have holes in them and I ditch them in late April and wet wade in the same pair of hiking pants I have had for the last 5 years. I use a $20 cortland net from walls mart.
 
Mike said:
Understood. I went to type in my former supervisor’s name when I was describing who the leaders of an electrofishing survey crew were and the same thing happened to me….a bunch of **** Thank goodness the survey I mentioned was on another one of four or five tribs to Bald Eagle Ck that we surveyed that summer (2 Laurel Runs, Whetstone Rn, Wallace Run headwaters, plus a fifth Run) because if I had attempted to put the name of my supervisor and the name of the fifth stream in the same sentence, the sentence would have had two sets of ****, with the second set probably reading as ****’s Run 🤣

For those who are curious, we also surveyed Bald Eagle Ck at multiple sites from Port Matilda to Sayers Dam backwaters that summer. That was enjoyable/extra interesting because I used to fish BE among other streams when I was at PSU.
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I used to spend a lot of time near that stream that would come up with ***** for the name. I never fished it, though. Is it worth a look?

I am sure it is on some list of either wild or Class A, but I've never checked. I mean, basically every stream in Centre County is, it seems.
 
I have two of them and like them. I tend to wear them when brook trout fishing. For my summer wet wading I have switched to the Simms shirts that have a hood....they protect the back of my neck and my ears from sunburn.
 
A fishing shirt was key to my being able to shed my vest decades ago. The oversized pockets in the shirt are where I keep some of the stuff that was in my vest, but I didn't want to carry in the smaller pouches I now use in lieu of the vest.

I like having a collar to make it more conformable when carring a shoulder bag. I also like long sleeves because I can leave them down if it is a little chilly or I am in bright sunlight and I can use the Swiss tabs when I want to roll up my sleeves.

The first and only "fancy pants" shirt I ever owned was the first generation chambray cotton shirts peddled by Orvis back in the 1980's. I wore that shirt until it literally disintegrated.

Currently I wear a shirt from Cabela's that I got on closeout. It is fast drying nylon, roomy, SPF 50, cheap and comfortable. My criteria with a fishing shirt is it HAS to be tan or sage colored and MOST importantly have at least one pocket deep enough to hold my cigar holder. I also look for a shirt with one or two pockets with zipper closures. It is in those zipper pockets where I keep my car keys & phone, high, dry and out of the way.

Besides the smokes & keys, I'll keep a few extra leaders, a trash bag, one or two extra spools of tippet and my license in the other pockets. I wear my shirt all the time when trout fishing, under my Richardson Box or in conjunction with the small shoulder bags I use on small streams. I also send it to Insect Shield to be treated to keep the critters away.

I couldn't or wouldn't be without a fishing shirt for the practical reasons I mentioned, HOWEVER...

What has always cracked me up is all of the sports I see walking around all of the various fly fishing events with their neatly pressed coral, light blue or pear colored fancy schmancy fishing shirts with a Sage cap on their head or maybe even a Tilly...

It is their "Sunday go to fly fishing meeting clothes."

"Hey look at my costume, I'm a fly fisherman just like you...!!" 🤣

Sorry if I offended any of congregation, but the next time you are at some fly fishing soiree; if you see a miserable looking "F" wearing a Sheetz T-shirt or a Kowalonek's Kielbasy Shop ball cap...

It's probably me. 😉
 
That’s all I wear but I don’t pay that much. You can get them on sale for 35 bucks year round. I just checked and LL Bean has one on sale as I write this.I don’t find them “fancy” at all and would not wear them to a “fancy” shirt wearing event. I call them super functional for fishing and a way better choice than an old tee shirt. Quick drying, breathable, ventilated, two pockets, and skin covering comfort beats an old ratty one pocket tee shirt every day of the week. I like a collar since I generally only have a lanyard and a couple fly boxes in my pockets. The collar keeps the lanyard from bothering the crap out of my neck. I have them in long and short sleeve depending on time of year and other factors. You should try one before just thinking they are fancy for fancy shirt wearing people.
 
jifigz said:
I used to spend a lot of time near that stream that would come up with ***** for the name. I never fished it, though. Is it worth a look?

I am sure it is on some list of either wild or Class A, but I've never checked. I mean, basically every stream in Centre County is, it seems.
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It was the worst of the five.
 
Mike said:
It was the worst of the five.
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I am not surprised. Being in Centre County, I figured it had trout in it, but it never looked as good as other streams, so I never fished it.

Although, I just checked, and it is still on the Class A list, so it must not have been too bad.
 
Few years ago, I went to Yellowstone on vacation. West Yellowstone to be exact. In August. All the fly shops had their "guide" shirts with shop monograms on clearance for $20 each. Needless to say, I bought half a dozen.
 
I’ve got a few of those shirts that some might call fancy, but I’ve certainly never paid anywhere close to $98 for one. The same thing for other so called “fancy” clothing items, and my wife can tell you how much I care about how I’m dressed because she’s always complaining about my baggy blue jeans. Like others have said, I wear clothing for functionality and comfort.

One of the advantages of spending so many summers in Montana, just south of Livingston and also close to Bozeman, was that the area was filled with a combination of very wealthy people, a high percentage of fly fisherman, fly shops and manufacturers (like Simms, for example) who were regularly getting rid of their clothing and fly fishing, etc gear at very attractive prices, including some that is given away. Combine that with having a wife that liked to go practically every Saturday to every garage sale in a 100 mile radius. and you end up with a boat load of this kind of fancy stuff for pennies on the dollar.
 
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wildtrout2 said:
I'm curious how many folks wear one of those fancy, usually expensive, long sleeve collared fishing shirts? I've seen them sell for as much as $98 at Orvis and L.L. Bean. I just can't see wearing something that nice on a stream where I don't see another fisherman all day. I wouldn't wear one even if I expected to see other fishermen. A t-shirt ($10), with a pocket for my smokes has always gotten the job done for me. Is how you look while fishing important to you? Obviously, there's no right answer. 🙂
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I have UV protection shirts but paid a lot less than $98 for them. You can get them on sale for a lot less. I definitely do not dress to impress anyone, everything is based on functionality
 
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