Whether you fish, hunt, hike, camp or watch birds in cold weather, it is always more fun if you are warm and dry. Cold weather outings are more enjoyable if you dress for the occasion. It can be misery if you do not. If you have a bad experience, chances are you won’t try it again.

In this day and age, there is little reason to be cold or wet, unless you choose to be either or both, or unless you are not prepared. Modern synthetics have taken over in the outdoor dress field. Outdoors people subject to cold, wet windy days are the beneficiaries.

There are basics that help to prepare for the weather. Today’s cold weather clothing starts with excellent underwear and goes outward to the foul weather gear that keeps away water and wind and still allows freedom of movement without the bulk that used to be the norm.

It is basic to dress in layers so you can shed or don clothing as the day’s weather changes. Modern synthetics have less bulk and more protection from the cold. A visit to any good sporting goods store that handles clothing for the outdoor person can be a real eye opener when you see what is now on the shelves.

It is has been said 25 percent of all body heat is lost through the top of the head. A wool or synthetic Navy watch cap is a good protector that will keep lots of body heat in. It is much more important for those who are a little sparse on top in the hair department, if you have lost most of nature’s insulator on their heads - hair.

If your feet are cold, it is difficult to keep the rest of you warm. Even in this day of synthetic fabric, the best foot protection I have found is a thin pair of cotton socks, covered by a heavier pair of natural wool socks. If the temperature is not too severe, cover the socks with a good pair of waterproof or water repellent boots. In times of extreme cold, insulated boots with felt liners work well as long as your feet are dry.

When you buy insulated boots with felt inner liners, get an extra pair of inner liners, especially if your feet perspire a lot. Felt may get damp. An extra pair of liners allows you to dry one pair while wearing the other.

A good way to dry damp boots and waders is to use a vacuum cleaner hose to blow air into them. You can also use an old-fashioned hair dryer - the kind with a long hose that leads away from the dryer heat mechanism. Make sure to use the entire length of the hose that comes with the dryer.

Do NOT use hand held dryers that have no hose. They generate so much heat it will ruin the dryer and the boots. They can also set boots and anything else near them on fire.

Glove choices are broad. With so many synthetics to pick from, it is hard to believe one’s hands can ever be cold. For years I used those plain cheap brown cotton gloves. I found they kept hands warm even when wet. They were not too bulky and could be worn inside mittens for those in between times when nothing was happening. When I ended a day of fishing, I tossed them away and did not suffer the trauma of sticker shock when I priced new gloves. Synthetics replaced the cotton variety.

To make gloves work even better for manipulating fishing reels, tying knots in leaders and mono and baiting hooks, cut the thumb and forefinger out of the gloves you are fishing with.

As protection for hands in cold water, use a good hand lotion. Find one with natural lanolin as part of the ingredients if possible.

One tip dredged from our almost forgotten childhood is a trick my mother taught us when we were kids. To keep from losing mittens or gloves and having to pick them up from wet, slimy decks or snow, tie a string on one, pass the string through one sleeve, across the back and out the other sleeve. Tie the other end of the string to the other, leaving about a foot of extra string at the end of each arm. This allows you to shed mittens or gloves quickly without having to look for a place to put them or to have them get lost or messed up. When it’s time to put them on, the mittens or gloves are dry and handy.

Foul weather gear keeps water out and stops wind from penetrating. Good foul weather gear makes good sense. Bring it with you. Wear it when it rains, or when you are being doused with liberal doses of spray.

Avoid alcoholic beverages. A thermos of soup, hot chocolate or coffee is a better choice to warm the inner self.

Heated cabins, heated rails and even heated decks are available on some boats, and when available, they are bonuses on cold, windy days.

As for striper fishing the rest the winter, and if those offshore cod and pollock trips beckon, you are sure to get hit with cold weather and worse. If you are going to be outside in cold, wet, windy weather, it will help make the day better if you work at being prepared.