With the unpredictable nature of British weather, it’s not surprising that you may find yourself struggling to keep warm and motivated when out fishing. A lot of the times when you go out to the bank, the best days of fishing you have are also the most brutal conditions imaginable. So, being prepared and having the right gear will keep you on the river and fishing effectively throughout the day.

We have found that when fishing during the cold months, it is important to plan and layer up according to the tasks you have ahead of you. If you get too hot too quickly and build up a sweat, it could ruin your whole session so keep that in mind when you are planning your session.

Winter clothing is all about layers and more importantly, all about trapping air. What a lot of people do wrong is they completely layer up at the start of the session and once they finish setting up, they are cold as they cool down.

Obviously, it’s quite easy to buy expensive thermal suites and equipment to help you keep warm, but we thought we would do some research and see if we can find some tips to keep warm and motivated without having to spend a fortune.

5 Simple Tips to Help You Stay Warm When Fishing

1. To Drink Constantly

Probably quite an obvious one but when you are out on the bank, it’s good to have a steady stream of hot drinks going through you to help keep you warm and active. It will help keep your hands warm to do things and allows you to remain on top of things.

But remember, if you are drinking a lot of tea and coffee, make sure you are also drinking a lot of water with it as these are diuretics which means that it will leave you feeling dehydrated and hungover if you have enough of them.

Quick Tip: Try decaffeinated teas and coffees as an alternative as you’ll still get the benefits of the warmth from those drinks and a bit of an energy kick but you won’t get that dehydration that you get with drinking pure tea and coffee.

2. Try Heated Clothing

It’s quite easy to think of just adding extra layers of t-shirts and jumpers to keep warm during the cold days out on the bank. However, some people don’t like the feeling of wearing lots of layers which can often restrict movement and make you feel heavy under all the extra clothes. Even worse, you don’t want to build up a sweat if you have a long session ahead of you.

That’s why our heated attire has been popular especially during the Winter days. Our heated body warmers for fishing are designed to heat up your back as well as on the front while keeping your arms free. They are lightweight so barely feel like you have them on yet keep you very warm.

Other than that, if you are layering up, it’s better to add layers as you go along instead of having to take them off. This may need you to plan ahead and tailor your clothing to what you are doing. For example, it may be cold when you get out of your car, but you will need to remember that next you’ll be pushing around a barrow so if you are wearing all your layers already, you will build up a sweat.

Similarly, if you know that you are not going to be moving for a good set of time, it’s a good time to put on your cold weather specific kit like baselayers and cold weather socks.

So, start your session with the minimum number of layers you can and layer up as it gets colder.

3. Keep your feet warm

We all know what cold feet feel like and there’s nothing more miserable than cold feet which is why its paramount to always keep those warm. A simple cold weather socks search on Amazon will put forward hundreds of different options. Usually, you shouldn’t need more than two pairs of cold weather socks. If you still suffer from cold feet then you may need to look into some better insulated boots as modern day boots now come with different levels of insulation.

Quick Tip: Buy shoes a size or two bigger so that when you wear your waterproof socks on as your baselayer and your merino socks on top of that, it doesn’t feel they are too tight.

4. Keep your head warm

Following on from keeping your feet warm, you may have heard before that if your feet are cold, put on a hat. A lot of heat is lost through your head end and if you are losing body heat too quickly, our body automatically reduces blow flow to the extremities to keep the core warm. So, a cap or a beanie can go along way to keeping your warm.

5. Don’t Forget Your Hot Water Bottle

This one might surprise some of you on here but it’s one we’ve had a lot of feedback saying that it’s a must have piece of kit. You might be able to steal one from your partner or you can easily grab one from Amazon like this one here. Once you try one of these, you will take one with you everywhere.

You can keep this with you inside your fleece or even inside your sleeping bag which will keep you warm for three or four hours. When that hot water bottle starts to cool down, it only takes a few minutes to heat that back up and be warm again.

We hope that these tips have been helpful and given you some new ideas to think about when you go to your next session. Fishing in the cold months is all about regulating your body heat with the layers you have got on and trapping air while staying dry. Prepare yourself correctly and plan what you are going to wear according to the tasks that you will be doing. This should keep you warm and motivated when you hit the bank.