Wetsuit advice

[willie d]

Hello water hunters, I need some advice on choosing a wetsuit. What style, thickness, etc. I'm under the the impression that the water doesn't get too terribly cold here in west central Fl. I'm planning on hunting Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando saltwater beaches and maybe a river or two. My buddy's dad owns a dive shop but, I haven't talked to him yet. I figured I'd ask you guys first. Thanks.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

I have an Oceanic long sleeve farmer john setup 3 mil. I don't use it in the summer except on rare occasions when the Atlantic turns upside down and the water is flowing from the bottom up. I have seen water temp in low 50's in Daytona in middle of July.

My advice would be get a good farmer john outfit 3 mil. You may want to hunt more then the West coast of Florida where it is warmer. You have the choice of just wearing the bottoms, tops (long sleeve shortie), or the full outfit. Full outfit will give you a 5-6 mil thickness on the body torso.

I got mine off of EBay, and shipped to my house for $40. It was advertised as barely used, upon arrival, I could not tell it had ever been worn. There was not a scuff, or thread out of place anywhere.

Remember with it you can hunt on the coldest day of the year here in Florida, and you don't have to get in the water. I have worn mine and never gone in the water, it was just wet and cold on the beach, it kept me nice and warm.

I also have a shortie short sleeve I picked up at a garage sale for $15 that I wear sometimes when I want the short sleeve.

I plan on heading to the West Coast beaches this weekend.

Good luck and good hunting.

 

[willie d]

Thanks guys. Anybody else ?

 

[gold-digger]

Willie, Picked up a couple of pairs of wetsuits from Boaters World.

They had 3mm full length suits on closeouts for 49.00. They work great. No sure whats left for selection but I was at MAC's Dive shop on Drew St in clearwater and the have a bunch of 3-5mm suits for $50. I also piucked up another pair of dive boots (everflex) and gloves. They can be a bit costly too $60, but your feet wont be cold. With both on, we barely feel the cold and can easily detect for a few hours or more. If it warms up, we simply unzip and drop the top.

Flexibility is another thing to look in to. Some brands can be tough to get on and some stretch better. Go with a larger size, not so much what the tag says for your size.

On think I can say is that its makes hunting now nice, come January/Feb. it may not be enough, when those really cold snaps drop on us.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

gold-digger, I have hunted the Atlantic side (Daytona) in January with the full farmer-john wetsuit on(5mm). I was plenty warm enough. I tried the boots and gave them up, not enough arch support. I went to the water-moc, my feet still don't get cold.

 

[teklord]

I was hunting in the Tampa area yesterday and boy was the water cold. People were still swimming, but knee deep was all I could take. Wet suit is sounding better and better. The cold water makes rings fall off and I would love to get out there.

Tekn

 

[willie d]

Thanks for all the good info guys. It is appreciated.