Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket review - around £150

I never even realised that this waterproof Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket existed until I fished with Simon over in Guernsey back in February of this year. I have worn a few different items of Savage Gear clothing now, including various jackets and waders and so on, but for some reason I had never seen or heard of this Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket. Simon was raving about it so I had to take note with how much he fishes and walks his dogs etc. - nearly always wearing this jacket to do so - and I duly got hold of one from Savage Gear…………..

I am very picky about the clothing I wear for my fishing, although from a fashion point of view you would be perfectly forgiven for wondering where I went wrong! Looking like a bit of a tit aside then, I can’t be wearing any items of clothing for my fishing which annoy me. For sure I can try stuff and then stop using it if it either lets me down or annoys me, but I am not going to give something which bugs me when I am fishing and moving around very much time at all. From the off I am happy to report that this roughly £150 and under Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket is a very easy waterproof jacket to move around and fish in, and nothing I can think of about wearing the garment annoys me.

Okay, so I could do with a better way to cinch the sleeves down tight around your wrists, but there isn’t a waterproof jacket from any company that I have tried which won’t let a bit of water in through your sleeves when you’re fishing in the pouring rain (if it’s pissing it down, wear sweat bands and secure the sleeves down over the top of them, it really help)s. Water getting in through the sleeves is no more a problem on this Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket than on say a few high-end Simms jackets I have worn for extended periods, but it’s there and I notice it when it’s really chucking it down.

I would describe this Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket as an ideal waterproof fishing jacket for winter and colder spring/autumn days or nights especially, plus those colder nights during summer. It’s not an ultralightweight, shell type of jacket, indeed there’s a touch of heft to it which in turn makes it a bit warmer to wear in colder weather. As you’d expect this jacket keeps the rain and spray out, and having worn mainly slightly shorter wading-style jackets for so many years now, I actually rather appreciate that this thing is a “normal” length jacket. I can easily secure the neoprene belt I use for my HPA Chest Pack over the top of it and have a bit of jacket material left below. Have a look at the photos and you will see what I mean.

Simon tells me that he gets a year and a half to two years out of one of these Savage Gear WP Performance Jackets, with issues on the various zips being what ends up failing on him. If I get anywhere near that length of time I’ll be more than happy with how I hammer my gear. This is what Simon said to me about this jacket on WhatsApp: “This is my third jacket. They last about a year and a half to two years. It’s always the zip that eventually fails that I have to get a new one. I wash them twice a year in tec wash and waterproofer and they come out like new with the water jumping off them. I have never had one fail because of tearing or letting in water and I really give them some abuse wearing them in some awful weather and getting hit by some big waves as you have seen. I will be buying another one soon I can see the current one the zip is going to fail”.

I am very much your typical XL when it comes to most clothes, but I asked for an XXL version of this Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket because I was worried the arms might be a little on the short side for repeated casting if I went for the XL version. I need not have worried though, because whilst this XXL I have been wearing fits me pretty well, I reckon I’d have been just fine with the smaller XL version. There are plenty of pockets on the jacket which I must admit I don’t really use, but they are there if you want them. Like Simon I have also taken to walking Storm in this jacket when it’s raining, which here in Cornwall is a lot at this time of year especially!

So it’s a big thanks to Simon over in Guernsey for alerting me to this really rather impressive Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket. Yes I did not have to pay for it via my work with Pure Fishing/Savage Gear, but as I said earlier in the review, I am not going to waste my time wearing annoying clothing for my fishing. I tend to review stuff I either like or at least find interesting because I am not going to waste my own fishing time persisting with gear I don’t at least enjoy trying out. This Savage Gear WP Performance Jacket has become my go-to waterproof lure fishing jacket for this time of year especially. I know you can spend a whole lot more on items such as waterproof jackets, but I like wearing this thing and I put a lot of stock in Simon’s lengthy fishing and dog walking experiences with it.

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