There’s no shortage of well made, cool looking, outdoor inspired clothing these days. However, while looking cool on the water is important (don’t pretend you don’t think so), when it comes to clothes for fishing, we think form should follow function. After all, how could clothes designed to fish well look anything but uber cool anyhow?
We recently caught up with the folks from Allen Fly Fishing who introduced us to their latest line of fly fishing inspired outdoor clothing and outerwear, branded under the name of Exterus Apparel. The clothing caught our eye at this year’s Fly Fishing Show in Atlanta, but it wasn’t until we heard the inspiration behind some their more technical pieces did we realize how well thought out their apparel is for anglers.
We picked up several of their tropical-worthy pieces (’tis the season), have been wearing them for some time now, so today we thought we’d tell you about a few of our favorites.
Marathon Key Long Sleeve Shirt
The Marathon Key shirt is your standard vented collard fishing shirt. It has plenty of storage with two double layered chest pockets on each side, featuring both button and zippered closures to house fly boxes, tippet, or whatever else you feel like toting on your person. When not loaded up with gear, the pockets lie flat to the chest for a cleaner look than your typical multi pocket fishing shirt – something we really like.
The shirt is made from a super-lightweight, polyester, rip-stop material that not only creates a unique (and classy looking we might add) pattern to the fabric, but will hopefully keep that small fly puncture from that errant cast from turning into a large tear.
Probably our favorite thing about the Marathon Key Shirt, the overall fit appears to be less ‘boxy’ than similar shirts offered by other manufacturers, while still offering really good mobility when casting, fighting fish, etc. Great mobility, with less material to get in the way, has quickly made this shirt your editor’s go-to shirt for the flats.
Retail: $69.99
Walkabout Shorts
Aptly named, the Walkabout Shorts were designed as an all-around short whether fishing, lounging around, or eating out. They look great, have a modern 11-inch inseam that falls right around the middle of the knee, but best of all, the fabric used features an insane amount of stretch making them incredibly comfortable. In fact, we can honestly say that these are the most comfortable pair of shorts we’ve ever worn, hands down.
Retail: $49.99
Frontier Long Sleeve Shirt
At first glance, we think the Frontier Shirt is a great looking western-style shirt that we’d gladly wear out, to the bar, around the camp-fire etc. However, with a fully vented back, and made out of 100% nylon, it makes for a great technical fishing shirt for warm days from the flats to the river as well.
Little details like pearl snaps, a button down collar (something we really dig on those windy days), and great mobility make us wishing this shirt was available in a whole bunch of different colors. We’d take them all.
Retail: $79.99
Sunniva Long Sleeve Shirt
The Sunniva Shirt is Exterus’ standard long-sleeve, crew neck, flats shirt. It has a high UPF rating at UPF 50+ for protection from the sun. However, one thing we think sets it apart from similar style shirts is its huge degree of 4-way stretch, making it extremely comfortable. Seams are also strategically placed not to fall over the top of the shoulder, which we’ve always found enhances mobility while fishing.
Retail: $29.99
Conclusion
We’re big fans of the Exterus clothes we’ve tried thus far, and think you will be too. We plan on picking up some of their outerwear as we head North this summer and will surely keep you in the loop as we do.
In the meantime, for more details or to view more Exterus products, check out their website by clicking right here.
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Kyle,
From the recent blog photos looks like you are landing some serious quality flats time. Kudos to you. Pete Viau