The Zippo's are finicky until you figure it out. Once you do, you get the AH HA moment.

First, the new ones come with a handy, dandy measuring cup. Take that measuring cup out, look carefully at the side of it. After looking, throw it in the trash can!

Slowly fill the hand warmer. Slowly. do this until the unit is almost holding liquid. If it is, dump it out and shake it a minute. You just want the material soaked. Next, take a paperclip, tooth pick... you get the idea, and pull at the fibers where you filled it. Put lighting wick on and shake her up some more. Light wick and keep unit verticle. I use a grill lighter and keep the flame on the wick for 20 or 30 seconds. If it is dark out, you will see it glow. For tournaments, I usually fill them and light them in my Hotel at around 4am. I leave them standing on the table with the cap on but out of the bag while I am readying my lunch, the boat, and getting dressed.

Not sure which buddy heater you have but I assume it is a "Sunflower" type design. The newer units that have the bottle that fits on the side and is "radiant" with one or two plates is much better than the old screw on ones. They run from 75 bucks to around 130. We carry one with us all the time. We fire it up between jigging runs and also when we are retying rigs.

Understand that in a tournament setting, my partner and I might have three rods tied with jigs. When we break off in the drift, the rod goes on the floor and we grab another. We might run through 4 rods before we retie them all. Last guy to break off gets the task of retieing! We don't waste time trying to get one unstuck. Time equals lost fish which equals lost weight, which equals money!

I am not sure what type of jacket you have but, many of them do not have good liners in the pockets. I've recommended to several guys to line their pockets with fleece. It is cheap at the store and can be put in by a good seemstress in a couple minutes. We deal with these elements all the time and we carry tons of stuff to be as comfortable as possible. Good gear is not cheap but it is good for a reason.

For winter and spring fishing, Ice Armour is what we utilize. Bibs and jacket. Our under layer is Under Armour extreme cold weather and a sweatshirt. I've tested this to 25 below without issues. The ice Armour suit we use is the extreme cold weather suit no longer sold. We will also wear the same under layer and Bass Pro Qualifier Gore Tex suits. All four of us (two teams) wear this gear. We use it and trust it.

Over the years, we go with what works. Combined we have over 150 years of experience dealing with cold weather fishing conditions in Michigan. If we have not tested it and trusted it, it doesn't go on board our boat.

Two other things. When fishing cold weather when decks can get slippery with fish slime, minnow bucket water, snow, rain, and ice, we ALWAYS wear an inflatable life jacket. Tournaments require it when the big motor is running and when jigging, we are moving so much it is a hassle to take off and put on. Plus, you get used to wearing it. I had a buddy go in the water last December when his boat was hit in the rear end by an idiot that bought a new boat just weeks before (because ALL new boats come with a captains license "sarcasm". He was fully loaded with winter clothing and was NOT wearing a vest. He hit the 38 degree water and it was like getting hit by a train. He was three feet from the boat, 40 years old, healthy, and in great shape. He could NOT get out of the water by himself. Hearing this first hand was all I needed to ensure we wear them in these conditions. Trolling, jigging, or other.

I walleye fished last weekend along with our sister boat (story is on the main page). Our vests came off once and that was to use the jon!

Second: Both of us carry one thing that no other tournament angler carries. For the life of us, we cannot figure out what on earth they do. We both purchased a toilet seat that snaps on to a five gallon bucket. We built special brakets that secure the bucket with a bungee cord to the front side of the passenger console on the walk through wind shield. You can fish all day in bad conditions if you are comfortable!

I've eaten warm soup, tea, and other while tournament fishing (not a coffee drinker). I've warmed up sandwiches on the heater, thawed jerkey, and drinks too. If you are comfortable and hydrated, you can fish all day!