SITKA Fish Is Here: Inside the Hunting Brand’s First Fishing Lineup
SITKA Gear just put a wader on the water. Four months after the Bozeman-based hunting brand quietly launched SITKA Fish — its first fishing apparel line in 25 years of building gear — the lineup is fully on shelves, a 20-percent Father’s Day promo is moving inventory through the weekend, and the question that hovered over the launch in February has an answer: yes, a hunting brand can build fishing gear, but only one that already knew 70 percent of its customers were fishing on the days they weren’t hunting. The CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader carries the $1,000 price tag that anchors the line. Here is what the spec sheet says, why SITKA built it, and where the lineup lands against the premium wader field it just walked into.
Is SITKA Fish worth the premium?
SITKA Fish is worth the premium for the angler who already buys SITKA on the hunting side — the 70 percent of the brand’s existing customers who fish — and who values four-layer GORE-TEX Pro construction, a maker that builds for season-long abuse, and a brand that funds five conservation partners with every sale. For anglers comparing against Simms, Patagonia, and Orvis at the $700-to-$1,000 wader tier, SITKA Fish brings a hunting-grade durability spec and a film-led marketing presence the category has not seen before. The premium is the maker’s reputation, not just the GORE-TEX.
What is SITKA Fish — the full lineup, with prices
SITKA Fish launched February 3, 2026 as the Bozeman, Montana brand’s expansion from technical hunting apparel into purpose-built fishing gear. The launch lineup, verified against SITKA’s Fish Wading System page on the morning of June 16, 2026:
- CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader — $1,000. Zippered front, four-layer GORE-TEX Pro, anatomically engineered 5mm neoprene stockingfeet, padded customizable suspension, one-hand-access pocketing.
- CrossCurrent GTX Wader (convertible) — $800. The non-zip version of the flagship in the same four-layer GORE-TEX Pro construction.
- CrossCurrent Wading Boot — Rubber sole — $299. Rubber-soled wading boot built around adaptable traction across rock, gravel, and silt.
- CrossCurrent Wading Boot — Felt sole — $249. Felt-soled variant for cold-water grip on slick stone, where felt remains the working-trout-water standard.
- Technical sun layers, bibs, and rain gear. Sun shirts and lighter pieces start at $99; bibs and rain layers slot above.
That is a full top-to-bottom wading system, plus the apparel layers that surround it. A buyer outfitting from scratch with the zippered wader, rubber wading boots, and a sun shirt is at roughly $1,400 before adding bibs or a rain shell — comfortably inside the premium wader-system tier where Simms G3 and Patagonia Swiftcurrent already live.
Why a hunting brand pivoting to fishing is the news
SITKA has been a hunting-apparel brand since 2005, with a cult following built on the Mountain, Marsh, and Subalpine lines. The fishing pivot is not a stretch by the company’s own data — per SITKA’s launch materials, 70 percent of existing customers already identify as anglers. The U.S. fishing-participant base sits near 58 million people. The brand looked at its own customer file, looked at the gap in purpose-built premium fishing apparel, and built the system the customer was already asking for.
That is the structural story. The cultural story is louder. SITKA produced four short films to launch SITKA Fish, rolling out from February through June 2026: A Town Called Sitka (steelhead in Alaska), Feathers to Fins (turkey and permit in the Yucatán), Casting for Ghosts (musky in the Midwest), and Kings to Giants (tarpon and largemouth bass in Florida). Film-led launches are standard in adventure brands; what is not standard is a hunting brand spending the budget to tell a fishing story without retreating to the hunting voice. The films work because the brand stopped trying to translate hunting credibility and just built the gear and the stories anglers wanted.
The CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader, by the spec sheet
The flagship of the lineup is the CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader at $1,000, available in Bark Brown and additional colorways. The construction stack matters here more than usual.
- Four-layer GORE-TEX Pro on the wader body. This is the most durable, most expensive GORE-TEX construction made — the same fabric class climbers and ski-tourers buy when they want one shell to last a decade.
- 5mm neoprene stockingfeet, anatomically engineered. The 5mm density is on the warmer end of the wader-stockingfoot spectrum (most premium waders sit at 3.5–4mm), trading a small weight cost for thermal margin in cold spring runoff.
- Padded, customizable suspension system. The suspenders are the part of a wader most carriers stop noticing only when they get it right. SITKA built a system designed to be worn all day — which, for a $1,000 wader, is the only acceptable answer.
- One-handed-access pocketing. Tackle pockets that release with the hand not holding the rod is the kind of detail that signals the design team actually fished the prototype.
- Front YKK Aquaseal zipper. The reason this wader is the “Zip” variant. Zip-fronts cost more, weigh slightly more, and earn back every bit of that in long-day comfort and shore-side relief without a partial-strip.
The reviews on SITKA’s own product page sit at 4.2 stars across 12 ratings as of June 16 — useful early signal but a small sample. The convertible CrossCurrent GTX Wader at $800 carries 5 stars across 3 ratings, which is a smaller sample with a higher average. The wading boots are sitting at 4.5 (rubber, 13 ratings) and 4.7 (felt, 3 ratings) — in line with where premium boots usually land in their first season.
How SITKA Fish lands against the premium wader field
The premium-wader tier is well populated. The honest comparison runs across three established makers:
The Simms G3 Guide, long the gold-standard guide wader, runs roughly $700 to $800 depending on configuration, with three-layer GORE-TEX construction and a maker history that includes most working trout-fishing guides in North America. SITKA’s four-layer GORE-TEX Pro is a step up in fabric grade; Simms wins on track record and on the dealer network around guide service. The Patagonia Swiftcurrent Expedition Zip-Front sits near $999 with similar performance fabric and Patagonia’s recycled-content sustainability story. The Orvis PRO Wader at around $698 brings Cordura PRO Stretch panel construction and Orvis’s warranty network. In context, SITKA Fish enters the field as the most-protected fabric stack at the top of the tier, with the most expensive launch price by a small margin and a four-month-old track record.
What SITKA Fish brings that the field does not: a launch story built on conservation partnerships and the SITKA hunting customer file. What it does not bring yet: a decade-deep dealer network for repairs and warranty service, or the working-guide adoption that takes seasons to build.
The conservation play is part of the value proposition
Premium gear that backs conservation is not new in the outdoor world, but SITKA Fish came out of the gate with five named partnerships rather than a token donation line. The launch partners: Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Rivers, Keep Fish Wet, Captains for Clean Water, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Armed Forces Initiative with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. That is a serious slate — the kind of slate a brand assembles when it intends to be in the water-rights and habitat conversations for the long run, not just the launch cycle. Our coverage of conservation partner programs in hunting covered the hunting side of this question; SITKA Fish is the equivalent on the fishing side.
Who should buy SITKA Fish, and who should not
SITKA Fish is the right buy for the angler who already runs SITKA on the hunting side and wants the same maker on the water, the angler who fishes hard enough to wear out a $700 wader in two seasons and is ready to spend a third up front for a fabric that lasts longer, and the angler who values where the brand donates as part of the purchase. The film-led marketing will not matter on the river, but the GORE-TEX Pro construction will.
It is the wrong buy for the angler whose ceiling is $500 and who is well served by the working-tier fishing gear we cover for the budget-conscious buyer in our 2026 fishing roundups, and for the angler who already trusts a Simms or Patagonia wader through a current warranty period — replacing a working wader at the premium tier is a decision that should be driven by a need, not a brand pivot. For anglers heading into the late-summer fishing window, our recent breakdown of post-spawn walleye and smallmouth patterns covers the water you are going to wade.
How to get SITKA Fish — including the Father’s Day window
SITKA sells direct from sitkagear.com/pursuit/fish, with the wading system landing page carrying the full lineup. Authorized retailers like Yellow Dog Flyfishing and Telluride Angler also carry the line for buyers who prefer working through a dedicated fly-shop dealer.
One time-sensitive note for buyers reading this on Tuesday, June 16, 2026: SITKA is running a Father’s Day “buy 2 or more, save 20 percent” bundle promo through the weekend. Father’s Day lands on Sunday, June 21. For the angler father whose existing wader is two seasons past retirement, the math on the bundle — wader plus boot plus a sun shirt — clears $1,000 in line items and the 20 percent moves the all-in price meaningfully against the standalone premium tier. Last-minute orders should account for ground-shipping windows.
SITKA Fish FAQ
What is SITKA Fish?
SITKA Fish is Montana-based SITKA Gear’s first fishing apparel line, launched February 3, 2026. The lineup includes the CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader ($1,000), CrossCurrent GTX convertible wader ($800), rubber- and felt-soled CrossCurrent wading boots ($299 and $249), plus technical sun apparel, bibs, and rain gear. The launch is SITKA’s expansion from technical hunting apparel into purpose-built fishing systems for anglers who already make up a majority of the brand’s customer base.
How much does the SITKA CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader cost?
The SITKA CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader is priced at $1,000 USD, sold direct from SITKA Gear and through authorized fly-shop retailers. The convertible CrossCurrent GTX (non-zip) version is $800. SITKA is running a Father’s Day 20-percent-off-when-you-buy-two-or-more promotion through June 21, 2026, which is the only meaningful discount the launch has carried since February.
What is SITKA Fish made of?
The CrossCurrent waders use four-layer GORE-TEX Pro fabric, the most durable GORE-TEX construction available and the same fabric class used in high-end alpine shells. The stockingfeet are anatomically engineered 5mm neoprene, on the warmer end of the premium-wader range. The CrossCurrent Wading Boots use rubber or felt soles depending on the configuration, designed for the water conditions a fly angler fishes.
How does SITKA Fish compare to Simms or Patagonia waders?
SITKA Fish enters the premium wader tier alongside the Simms G3 Guide (around $700–$800), Patagonia Swiftcurrent Expedition Zip-Front (around $999), and Orvis PRO ($698). SITKA’s four-layer GORE-TEX Pro is a step up in fabric grade, but Simms and Patagonia have multi-decade dealer networks for repair and warranty work that SITKA Fish has not yet built. The choice depends on whether fabric stack or service network matters more for the buyer.
Does SITKA Fish gear support conservation?
Yes. SITKA Fish launched with five conservation partnerships: Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Rivers, Keep Fish Wet, Captains for Clean Water, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Armed Forces Initiative in collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. A portion of SITKA Fish sales supports those partners, and the brand has positioned the conservation work as part of the value proposition rather than a token donation line.
Is SITKA Fish available now?
Yes. SITKA Fish has been shipping since February 3, 2026, and the full lineup — waders, wading boots, sun apparel, bibs, and rain gear — is in stock as of June 16, 2026, direct from sitkagear.com and through authorized fly-shop retailers. The current Father’s Day promotion runs through the weekend of June 21, 2026, after which the line returns to standard pricing.
The lineup that earned its press cycle
SITKA Fish is not the first hunting brand to look across the river at the fishing customer. It is the first one to spend the budget to build a system the customer would wear without the brand needing to translate itself. Four months in, the lineup is on shelves, the films have run, the Father’s Day promo is moving units, and the verdict on the water is what it always is in the premium wader tier: the gear that lasts the longest pays back the soonest, the fabric that breathes the best earns the day, and the maker that funds the conservation work earns the second purchase. The next test is the dealer network and the warranty cycle — both of which take seasons to prove out. For the carrier in the field this weekend, SITKA Fish is on the shelf and on sale. The next chapter of the story will be written one season at a time.
For the firearm-side carry gear this everyday-outdoors conversation leaves out, Guns & Gadgets Daily’s 2026 firearm accessories roundup covers the carry side for the outdoorsman who fishes one day and hunts the next.
Last updated June 16, 2026. All specifications and pricing were verified against SITKA Gear’s official product pages on the same date. SITKA’s Father’s Day “buy 2, save 20%” promotion is live and runs through the weekend.
