Rubber boots were a daily wear item back when I owned a farm and have been a vital piece of equipment for a lot of my hunting, fishing, and exploring. I’ve always looked for three standout qualities from them: durability, comfort, and 100-percent waterproofness. But living in the South, as I do, it would also be nice to have an extra feature built into your boots — snakebite protection.

As winter slowly crawls along, most fly fishers are thinking ahead to warmer days on the water. During this anticipation period, thoughts of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddis hatches of epic proportions are often on the mind. And let’s face it, a hatch dense enough to suffocate anyone standing within the cloud of insects is an experience many anglers dream of. While I too dream of the upcoming hatch season, I also begin to think about other natural events which occur on my home waters here in central Pennsylvania.