As an ardent winter angler spending long periods of time on ice, one thing I won’t tolerate is cold feet. Ensuring this won’t happen begins with wearing comfortable, moisture wicking socks and quality, well insulated boots (a topic in itself for another time)–but here are some additional tips that will help as well:
1. Make sure your boots fit properly. Too big, and you’ll become susceptible to sore legs and blisters. Too small or tight, and you risk thwarting good circulation.
2. Never leave your boots in an unheated area before wearing them. If they’re cold when you put them on, insulating materials will draw warmth from your feet—and that’s a bad start to the day. (Whenever possible, I like to pop my boots on a boot dryer for 5 or 10 minutes just before putting them on so the insulating materials pull warmth from the drier rather than my feet—and that’s a good start!).
3. Should you be driving in a heated vehicle before fishing, leave your boots off. Wearing them in a heated environment will likely cause your feet to perspire, and the accumulated moisture will eventually chill your feet. Better to wear comfortable shoes during the ride while keeping your boots near a floor heater until you reach the launch.
4. If you’ll be dealing with water or slush on the ice, wear waterproofed boots to ensure your feet will remain dry.
5. Always dry your boots and liners thoroughly after each use. For me, a boot dryer is an absolute necessity!
Tom Gruenwald is truly passionate about the outdoors and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the sport of ice fishing. Throughout the years, his expertise has been sought for in-depth ice fishing presentations, seminars and advanced contributions to various outdoor periodicals throughout the world. He’s appeared as a guest on numerous radio and TV shows, authored four ice fishing books and now hosts his own TV show, “Tom Gruenwald Outdoors,”. TGO is the first program of its kind dedicated solely to ice fishing. View all posts by Tom Gruenwald , Visit Tom at http://www.tgofishing.com/