Rain Pants

[HoosierHawgs]

Looking to get some pair of water PROOF bottoms for fishing and working in. I went fishing the other day in a heavy downpour and stayed out longer than normal because I had a new waterproof Columbia jacket that I picked up on sale and it kept my upper body 100% dry the entire time. I'm super impressed with it's performance. The only problem was that when I got back to the car, my jeans were 100% soaked, because I had stayed out in the heavy rain. I'm not sure what direction I should go in seeking rain gear for below the waist. I hear a lot of people say go with bibs and not pants, but as a bankbound angler I am worried that a pair of bibs would be to cumbersome to tackle the lake from the bank in. I'm also worried because I am on the bank of a small reservoir that has a lot of brush along the bank that nay type of gear, bibs or pants will end up ripped from a thorn or piece of brush. Any advice of what i should be looking at or for would be appreciated.

[roadwarrior]

One and done!

Cabela's Guide Wear, ALWAYS on sale. I am still wearing the outfit in my avatar that was purchased around 2002. I swear, it's still just as good as new!

http://www.cabelas.com/assets/collections/stitchedin/guidewear/guidewear.html

 

[gulfcaptain]

You can find a good par of Gurnden's Bibs(Petrus 116 Bib Pants)  which are a comercial grade.  Used them in comercial fishing and they would last me 3-4 years before having to get a new par.  Run just under the $120 mark.  Still have a set of bottoms from over 10 years ago (think I got them in 2003) as well as a top I bought in 2005 and still using my lightweight set I bought back in 09.  So that should tell you something about the quality of their products.

http://shop.grundens.com/shop/bibs/petrus-116-bib-pants/#.VvWxuuIrLIU

[OkobojiEagle]

When it starts to rain just take your pants off... side benefit is most other anglers will give you a little more distance on the bank.

 

oe

[Scott F]

The big problem with rain pants is that unless your rain jacket is very long, there will be gaps between the bottom of the jacket and the tops of the pants where the rain will get in. As long as you never bend over, you'll be fine.

[jbw252]

2 hours ago, OkobojiEagle said:

When it starts to rain just take your pants off... side benefit is most other anglers will give you a little more distance on the bank.

 

oe

Just be extra careful with those pesky treble hooks...

[HoosierHawgs]

1 hour ago, Scott F said:

The big problem with rain pants is that unless your rain jacket is very long, there will be gaps between the bottom of the jacket and the tops of the pants where the rain will get in. As long as you never bend over, you'll be fine.

That is the consensus I've been hearing across general rain gear threads is pants over bibs. I don't know if this would be an issue or not for me, I will have to bring in my jacket and try on some pants with it. I tried on pants tonight at Gander mountain and they were a little big feeling almost, which would be nice becuase I might where shorts under them so i could quickly ditch the pants if need be and hop in the car or crawl through some crap or whatever, but I'm not sure I liked how big they felt, but I wasn't sure smaller would be better. I will try on the smalls next week, I don't get paid for a week anyhow.

[Fishes in trees]

Buy a pair of rain pants.   Make an effort to avoid thorns & stuff when you wear them.   Should you happen to tear them up on thorns or whatnot, make a mental note to buy sturdier gear next time.   Option B might be to purchase one of those cheap plastic rain suits at Walmart and refrain from caring if you tear it up or not.    Option C might be to not get a pair of rain pants and keep a dry set of clothes in the car to change into when you're done fishing.   A couple of sets of dry clothes might be better than one.

[Mike L]

I'm a bibs kinda guy. You can wear what you want underneath and always be dry, and have twice as many pockets.

 

 

Mike 

[junyer357]

I made the mistake of going pants instead of bibs once. Even with a long jacket i still would end up wet around my beltline and rear end.  Never again for me. When i purchased my last rain gear i went bibs and love them. 

May want to look at hunting raingear some too if you are worried about brush. Alot of times it is made from thicker material designed to be in brush over fishing gear where many anglers are in boats.