How do you layer for the marsh?

[<cascadehunter>]

This has been my first year really giving waterfowl a try. I got a late start and only did 5 hunts but I feel a new addiction beginning already. By the third trip I’d bought a beaver tail Phantom off marketplace and acquired about 18 old beat up decoys.
How do you guys layer up for hunting the marsh? Especially out of a kayak or similar? Between the decoys, water off my waders in the boat, water coming off the paddle, etc it’s impossible to stay dry and I’m reluctant to put on puffy just to have dampness crush its loft. Is a heavy ass fleece the solution?

 

[RockAndSage]

It really depends on hunting style, the marsh topography, and what you're doing in the area. Having a dry bag for clothes you want to put on after you reach a place and have set up your blind can be pretty helpful, especially if you need to exert a lot of effort to get there and set up, but then will just be standing or sitting in the cold and the wind.

Are you actually shooting out of the kayak, or just using it for transport?

 

[<cascadehunter>]

It really depends on hunting style, the marsh topography, and what you're doing in the area. Having a dry bag for clothes you want to put on after you reach a place and have set up your blind can be pretty helpful, especially if you need to exert a lot of effort to get there and set up, but then will just be standing or sitting in the cold and the wind.

Are you actually shooting out of the kayak, or just using it for transport?

So far both. 50/50 on shooting from the kayak vs kneeling in the reeds.
Definitely exerting a ton of effort and sweating in the dark. It seems to me the advantage of the kayak is dragging it (300ish yards in one of my spots) to a place the real boats can’t get to, and then paddling it to a place that can’t be walked to.
A dry bag with a fresh set of layers is a good idea. I have a small one, but it’s still a PITA to peel the waders down and layer up in the confines of the kayak while staying dry. Part of the learning curve it seems will be figuring out how to stage things efficiently and mitigate shuffling gear around.

 

[JBrew]

Buy a good set of merino base layers and a wader pant. Don't worry about changing in/out of those. Put upper layers in dry bag. Wear a good rain jacket that vents.

 

[RockAndSage]

So far both. 50/50 on shooting from the kayak vs kneeling in the reeds.
Definitely exerting a ton of effort and sweating in the dark. It seems to me the advantage of the kayak is dragging it (300ish yards in one of my spots) to a place the real boats can’t get to, and then paddling it to a place that can’t be walked to.
A dry bag with a fresh set of layers is a good idea. I have a small one, but it’s still a PITA to peel the waders down and layer up in the confines of the kayak while staying dry. Part of the learning curve it seems will be figuring out how to stage things efficiently and mitigate shuffling gear around.

For sure, you'll get to some primo spots with that kayak. The better play might be using it to get to spots where you can set up a blind on a small bit of dry(er) land, in an area you can see the birds are attracted to, and set your decoy spread off of that. Also using it something like a base.

Scouting for birds is an underappreciated part of duck hunting. They'll be attracted to different parts of the marsh for reasons, so it's not really random where they land. But setting up a base like that where other hunters have a harder time getting near, or interfering with your calling, can be gold. And you can use the kayak to foray out to different spots to retrieve birds, or put a stalk on them if they're landing elsewhere. But having a little base with a nice blind built up makes a huge difference, even just in organizing your things and making life more comfortable, especially when the weather's bad.

Also - I'm sure I don't need to say this, but make sure you're wearing a life vest in that kayak. I now of two guys who died last year because they didn't.