I learned something at the first two events of the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series season … they were cold!
Well, Guntersville was especially cold, and if it wasn’t for my quilted AFTCO Hydronaut outerwear and my AFTCO Breakwater waterproof gloves and my AFTCO Ankle Boots, I would have really suffered in that event. I was plenty warm wearing that suit with minimal layers underneath because the design and construction are so good.
While all of that is a commercial for AFTCO – which kept me comfortable when the temperature was 20 degrees with a minus 11 windchill factor in the mornings – I really wanted to talk about preparing for cold weather and how to be prepared for an outing in it.
At an event like Lake Guntersville, which was one of the coldest events I’ve fished in a long time, I tend to keep some of those adhesive warming patches on hand as well. I will cut the smaller ones in half and put them on the inside of my wrists and place the larger sizes at the small of my back to keep the muscles warm and send warmer blood to my core and fingers. I’m fortunate that my feet don’t get super cold, but if I need to, I can place one of those smaller patches on my Achilles area and help keep my feet warmer too.
To keep my head warm, I will tend to wear a neck gaiter or AFTCO Sun Mask around my neck and then have a Toboggan mask that covers my ears under an AFTCO Beanie to keep my head, neck and ears warm.
This is a very important thing for you to consider when fishing in cold temperatures. I always carry spare clothing in the boat with me in cold weather. I keep a dry bag in the boat filled with spare everything, pants, jersey, socks, underwear, gloves, headgear and even a spare AFTCO Hydronaut suit in the rod locker of my Falcon Bass Boat. It’s not that I am expecting something to happen, but if something happens accidentally, I need to respond by getting dry and warm very quickly.
A little forethought and planning can help you be more comfortable and possibly even save your life when on a fishing trip.
Before I sign off, I wanted to take a minute to bring up an old friend of mine and ask you all to send thoughts and prayers her way. Debra Hengst is a teammate of mine at Yamaha and Strike King, and she has competed in bass tournaments for years. She was one of the women who consistently competed on the Women’s Bassmaster Trail, and she has been a friend for a long time. Several years ago, Debra battled breast cancer and it went into remission. Well, her cancer is back and I wanted to send her my love and well wishes for her journey.
