An article dedicated to revolutionary fishing clothing designed for fishing on warm summer days - SolarFlex® and BugStopper® from the world-famous and popular American brand SIMMS Fishing. If you still don't have a piece with this label hanging in your wardrobe, it's a clear proof that none of us are infallible... So let yourself be enlightened by my next FLY FISHING SPECIAL, which will guide you on the right path to choosing the best summer fishing clothes!
Fishing clothing production technology, closely related to the development of specific textile materials, has made enormous progress in recent years, thanks to which today we can dress to the water in a really high-quality way, as reliably as possible for our health and, last but not least, very comfortably! Of course, this no longer applies only to the cold months of the fishing season, but nowadays, of course, also to the hottest period of the tiring summer steams in July and August, in which we would previously have had a hard time considering a trip to the water in broad daylight!
Today, we can boldly implement this previously crazy idea, and we owe it mainly to the revolutionary fishing clothing marked SolarFlex® and BugStopper® from the American brand Simms Fishing, which is the subject of this article!
Nowdays, you simply don't go to the water in a cotton T-shirt and ragged shorts (except for permitted exceptions 😅) and if you want to stay on the fish as long as possible in extreme temperatures (don't forget that the longer the bait is in the water, the greater the probability of success), you must be appropriately dressed for the situation! And this despite the fact that there is of course no doubt about our increasing indulgence! 😉
The year-round active fisherman does not miss the coldest and, of course, even the warmest days of the year to satisfy his fishing passion and hunting instinct, and if he wants to be successful on the water, he must, among other things, be dressed appropriately - and above all in such a way as to eliminate the risk of sunburn and to be in extremely high temperatures, which are more and more common these days, as comfortable as possible = he was not in a sweaty, heavy, smelly and all sorts of small insect vermin inviting outfit!
All of the above can be very elegantly met with clothing bearing the SolarFlex and BugStopper labels or a combination of them.
SolarFlex® clothing: I personally fell in love with SolarFlex® clothing the very first time I used it, mainly due to the enormous lightness and airiness of the material itself, from which t-shirts, light hoodies in combination with a hood and neck gaiters, gloves, neck gaiters (sungaiters) or caps are made! Another great feature of this material is its quick-drying ability, e.g. when sweating or getting wet, and at the same time the maximum pleasant feeling when wearing it on the naked body - the material is very smooth on both sides. It can be said that the material has a cooling ability even on the hottest summer days, which of course you can upgrade several times by soaking it, which I really recommend when fishing in extremely hot and sunny weather! Another great feature, which your significant other will especially appreciate after returning home, is the processing of the material with Anti-Odor technology, which results in the clothes not smelling... That is, it does not smell as it might or as another type of material would smell - see. cotton t-shirt! 🤭
The main advantage of this type of fishing/outdoor clothing is its treatment with a UPF50+ protective UV factor against the unwanted effects of ultra-violet radiation of the sun's rays on human skin! Of course, we are not able to fully appreciate this feature directly and "tangibly" like the above-mentioned advantages, but it is thanks to this factor that this type of clothing can work great as a whole with everything!
BugStopper® clothing has one more and definitely not negligible main advantage over SolarFlex, and that is treatment with Insect Shield® Repellent Technology against biting, stinging and generally blood-sucking insects! Simply put, this is a long-lasting repellent anti-parasitic protection of the material, which mainly repels ticks, mosquitoes, flies, ants and other insect nuisances, which can often make our summer hunts very unpleasant! A huge plus is that the insecticidal repellent with which BugStopper clothing is treated is completely safe for our body, it is not absorbed through the skin or mucous membranes, it is completely odorless, and its active ingredient is effective for up to 3 years, with the fact that the clothing would it should last up to 70 washes! So the recommendation is as follows - wear BugStopper clothing as much as possible and wash it only when you really need to! 😏
From the point of view of comparing the other properties listed for SolarFlex® clothing, the BugStopper itself has "only" UPF40+ protection - but if you buy a product whose name carries both terms, e.g. "Bugstopper Hoody Simms Steel Heather" the UV protection is full-fledged, and therefore UPF50+ . As part of another comparison: the material is a little heavier and denser - it is rather a "thick knit" - compared to the very smooth and light SolaFlex - see. material comparison in the photo gallery below the article. Of course, it depends on the specific type of clothing!
Common features and benefits of SolarFlex® and BugStopper® clothing: In general, it can be said that the common denominators of the exceptionality of this type of fishing clothing are:
◼ Lightness and airiness - you won't even feel the clothes on your body after a while.
◼ Cooling effect - both in the dry and especially in the wet state.
◼ Drainage of sweat from the surface of the body outside it and associated elimination of odor - Anti-Odor.
◼ Resistance to stains and mechanical soiling - just wipe the dirt dry or after soaking.
◼ Protective UPF40/50+ factor - possibly UPF50+ for combined versions of the Bugstopper SolarFlex" type.
◼ Pleasant feeling when worn on the naked body - the smoothness of the material - which is also helped by the fine (mainly internal but also external) flat seams.
◼ Loose and maximally comfortable cut (t-shirts, hoodies, shirts, trousers).
◼ Large range of sizes - mostly ranging from S to 3XL = absolutely everyone can wear these clothes!
◼ Very practical thumb loops on the sleeves trick and hoodies, thanks to which the sleeves do not come out and protect the hands up to the wrist.
◼ On hoodies you will find practical hoods that can be easily changed over a cap and thus protect the neck and cheeks.
◼ Tastefully and practically chosen color combinations - color variants, camo (River, Riparian, Woodland, Cloud, Sandbar) or subtle "faded" shades (Sterling, Cork, Steel, Heather).
◼ Not only in the form of main clothing such as a trick, hoodies, shirt and trousers, but also in the form of practical accessories such as gloves, neck warmers, caps and hats, so that the fisherman is comprehensively protected from head to toe!
◼ In addition to traditional and majority clothing for men, Simms also offers a Women's Fly Fishing Program, which of course also includes the SolarFlex and BugStopper models.
Tested on my own skin! From my own experience, I can really highly recommend Simms SolarFlex® and BugStopper® functional clothing! For some, the higher price may be several times higher than all the above-described features and indisputable advantages that this fishing outfit clearly has! If that wasn't enough for someone, we can also add that SolarFlex and BugStopper - even though it is primarily designed for wearing in the hot summer months - can be fully used, for example, as a bottom layer, e.g. under a sweatshirt or jacket, or under a t-shirt in colder weather , "sweatshirts" and shirts, you can take a merino t-shirt and use this type of clothing in other ways than as a "summer shield against the sun and insects"! 🌞🦟
As I already indicated in the introduction, the restrictions do not end with fishing either, but if you are fond of, for example, forest walking or cycling, this type of clothing will definitely find another application for you. And if you like to sit in the garden in the evening, for example, but you are always chased away by annoying mosquitoes, then you can find a BugStopper hoody!
In conclusion, I must say that due to the influence of today's so many modern, unconditionally "necessary" and probably never-ending (that is, before we destroy ourselves for our own benefit and well-being) development, of course, a lot of nonsense and empty marketing tricks arose in the fishing/fly fishing industry, which had only one goal, but Simms clothing definitely does not belong in this category and it's worth it! Try it and see for yourself that the SolarFlex and BugStopper are definitely indispensable MUST HAVE summer fishing clothing! 🔝✊
Tight Lines, Aleš 🎣🍀
