Fishing Clothing & Accessories

Hooded sun shirts, buffs and gloves for the Pacific boats:

do more on a long day offshore than any sunscreen, because they do not sweat off. A fishing sun shirt is light polyester with long sleeves, often a hood and thumb loops, and the UPF rating on its label says how much sun it blocks. Huk, Columbia PFG, AFTCO and Pelagic are the names people search for, though an unbranded one does the same job. A buff over nose and ears and fingerless sun gloves cover what the shirt misses: the backs of the hands burn first on a day holding a rod. Finish with a cap with a neck flap or a wide-brimmed hat, and white rubber deck boots that grip a wet deck without marking it.

Polarized sunglasses for open water and mangroves:

are chosen by the lens, not the frame. Polarized lenses cut the glare off the water so you can see a fish or a reef under the surface. Grey lenses with a blue mirror suit bright open sea; copper, amber or green give more contrast in mangrove channels, rivers and shaded banks. Glass is sharper and resists scratches but weighs more and can chip, while polycarbonate is lighter and survives a fall. Costa Del Mar, Maui Jim and Oakley are the most copied brands, so they are the ones to check hardest. The price gap sits almost entirely in the lens. A generic polarized pair costs from about ₡8,000 to ₡15,000 new, while a genuine pair from one of those brands runs around ₡90,000 to ₡170,000, paying for better lens material, coatings that shed salt spray and a polarizing layer that stays bonded in the heat. That also decides resale: a branded pair with clean lenses, its case and cloth keeps real value, and one with scratches across the centre of the lens loses most of it.

Rain shells, fleece and wading boots for the trout rivers:

belong to a colder kind of fishing. On the Savegre, the Copey and the rivers around Dota the water is cold, the mornings are chilly and rain comes at any hour, so a packable rain shell and a fleece do more than a sun shirt. Wading boots with a grippy sole matter on mossy rock, with or without waders. Light rods for those streams are under fishing rods and reels. Dry bags and coolers sit with the clothing because they ride on the same boat; hooks and leaders are under fishing tackle.

Second-hand polarized glasses and sun shirts:

each wear out in their own way. With sunglasses, look at a phone screen through one lens and tilt your head: a polarized lens darkens the screen at some angle, a fake leaves it unchanged. Look at the lens edges for a rainbow ring, bubbles or a hazy patch, which is the polarizing film lifting, often after a day on a hot dashboard. White crust on the hinges and loose screws mean salt got in. Hold a sun shirt up to the light: worn thin or stretched, it lets through more sun than its label promises, and sunscreen stains, bleach spots or a bait smell that survived the wash belong in the price. A rain shell whose inner coating flakes or feels sticky has stopped being waterproof, and rubber boots crack first across the crease above the toes.

Listing deck boots, glasses or a rain shell:

goes quicker when the ad answers the obvious questions first. Give the size on the label and a measurement, chest from armpit to armpit for shirts and insole length for boots, because imported sizes vary from brand to brand. For glasses, name the brand, model and lens colour, say whether the lenses are glass or polycarbonate, and photograph them against the light so scratches show, with the case if you kept it. Say whether it fished salt water or highland rivers, and rinse sea gear in fresh water before the photos. Someone driving up to the Savegre for a weekend will want to know the rain shell still beads water, so run it under the tap and photograph the drops.