I'm in the market for (another) pair of fishing gloves. Hoping to yack about it for a bit before I go out and buy. So I already have several pairs.
One pair of fully waterproof neoprene. They have a thin fuzzy fleece liner. AWESOME in the cold rain. Awesome for quading etc in the crap weather too. Downsides are they are a tight fit and a pain to take on/off, esp if your hands get a bit wet with them off they are a pain to get back on. I like them for spey fishing in the winter as I am not re-baiting, rarely dicking with my gear, in other words the gloves stay on for most of the day unless I have to wiz or whatever. They suck for using a baitcaster as there is too much friction on the spool and your freespool is jerky and no good.
On pair of Kast steelheader gloves. Also awesome for the cold/wet. But like the neoprenes a pain to take on/off repeatedly and the palm is too tacky to use on a level wind spool. They are also good for spey fishing.
One pair Simms flip over gloves/mitts. These are fine for a cold dry day. I like u can flip the mitt up quickly to fart with gear, then flip the mitt back. I have used these in the dry cold for gear fishing and quite like them for that. You can flip back just the thumb and have the mitt over your fingers. However they suck in the rain. Once wet they seem top loose all insulating value and are just cold wet sponges. Probably better than bare hands, but not by much.
I'm looking for a new set of gloves mainly for gear fishing. I'm thinking of just going with rag wool gloves that have all the fingers/thumbs cut off. I think these would be best as I can leave them on all day, if they get wet they should still be decently warm. I thought about buying rag wool gloves and just cutting off the thumb on my spool hand, but I think this cut would just fray and the gloves would fall apart, plus I would need to take them off for each gear change, rebait, etc. I think I'd be better with just all the fingers/thumbs cut off.
If someone can recommend a solid pair of thick wool gloves like I described that would be awesome. I was thinking of checking out MEC and Cableas. Maybe also WSS. If someone has a "better" idea for gear fishing gloves pragmatic for use with a level wind I'm all ears.