Swattie87 wrote:
Not sure you need to wash your waders every time out, but it’s definitely a good idea to get them out of their bag (or whatever they’re transported in) and get them hanging up to dry ASAP when you get home. Otherwise the "funk" will set in and you will quickly be known as the smelly kid at the fishing hole.
The first thing to understand about breathable waders is “breathable” is a relative term. Do they “breathe” better than neoprene, yeah, but it’s not like you’re wearing a light cotton oxford with the top couple buttons open on a breezy day. Second thing is, not all breathable waders are built the same. Some are heavier with multiple layers of more durable fabric, others are lightweight and thin. As you might expect, the heavier ones are more durable, but also tend to be hotter in warm weather.
Breathable waders actually tolerate brush busting fairly well in my experience, the exception being that they’re vulnerable to small punctures from thorns. Try to avoid thorns and briar patches when you can. Even with thorns though, small puncture holes are easy to patch up, and you can usually get a watertight seal that will outlast the waders. I don’t worry about it most of the time. If I get a small puncture hole, I just repair it with a patch and Aquaseal when I get home. It’s usually the stretching and deterioration of the seams over time that cause the eventual terminal failure of most waders. Brush busting, and climbing over/through stuff, will accelerate this process over simply walking on a nice graded trail or standing still in a larger stream. To combat this, I usually have two pairs of waders…A nice, newer pair that I wear on bigger streams where I don’t expect to encounter a ton brush busting or climbing over stuff, and then an older and/or cheaper “beater” pair for small streams. The beater pair often has some puncture repairs on them, and may have some small seam weeps already. When the seams get too bad, I just throw the beater pair away. For me, the threshold for "too bad" is when I can wring water out of my socks or pant cuffs. I don't mind a little dampness...On hot days, you'll be damp with sweat anyway. In the end, I don’t recall small holes from brush busting ever being what killed a pair of my breathable waders…It’s always been the seams failing.
Winter time and being cold isn’t an issue with breathable waders. Just layer up underneath them, and make sure your boots aren’t too tight. If you’re hiking around a bunch, you’ll still end up too warm half the time. The only time I get cold is when I’m on a bigger stream, and standing still most of the time. In the Summer, even in breathable waders, if you’re hiking around to any degree you’re going to be too hot. Period. The solution options there are either just dealing with it, not fishing during the Summer, or wet wading.
