Magellan Outdoors Pro Angler Joggers Review

If you had told me a year ago that my favorite pair of pants would be joggers, I would have laughed in your face. I would have found it even more ridiculous if you told me that I would be wearing them while fishing. Joggers bring to mind lazy Saturday mornings, grabbing coffee in Suburbia. Not outdoor pursuits.

However, my line of work requires that I keep an open mind and eliminate bias when it comes to assessing outdoor equipment. That includes negative bias, which I clearly have against joggers. This spring, I’ve had the opportunity to test out the Magellan Outdoors Men’s Pro Jacob Wheeler Angler Joggers, and I have to admit, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by them.

In short: These are the most comfortable fishing pants that have ever graced my legs. I assumed I would look weird in joggers — and I might — but they’re so comfy, I don’t care. At a reasonable price of $45, they’re also a great deal, given the current state of the cost of outdoor apparel. While some aspects of them don’t work well, I find myself reaching for them time and time again. They’ve become my favorite fishing pants.

Features of the Magellan Pro Angler Joggers

These pants are part of Magellan Outdoor’s line of Jacob Wheeler’s fishing apparel. For those of you not in the know, that’s a dude on the Bass Pro Tour who’s good at fishing.

He’s sponsored by Academy Sports+Outdoors, the retail chain that owns Magellan. Across the board, the Jacob Wheeler line of apparel is designed to be technical fishing attire at a lower price point than competitors. Most of the “top dog” fishing brands charge about $100 for pants, and these come in at less than half that.

The pants have an elastic, drawstring waistband and elastic cuffs around the ankles. Somehow, Magellan was able to stick seven different pockets on these pants, which are all made of a “fishnet” type material. The back pockets are zippered, and there’s a zippered pocket on each leg. In the right-hand main pocket, there’s a secondary, small zippered pocket.

Comfort Galore

With my bias against joggers, I wasn’t expecting to like these much. But after trying them on out of the box, I left them on for the rest of the day. The next day, I put on a different pair of pants. It was immediately noticeable how much less comfortable they were. So I swapped them out for these. The next day, the same thing happened.

In fact, after day three, my wife commented, “Wow, you must really like those pants. I haven’t seen you in anything else since you got them.”

It was true. I saw the light in joggers. From the drawstring waistband to the loose, flexible fit and soft material, I was in love. It really feels like I’m wearing lightweight, breathable pajama pants when I wear these.

The only thing, fit-wise, that seems off to me is the length. At times, my ankle is exposed in them, but I think that’s how joggers are supposed to fit. I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t wear joggers, and this is my first foray with them.

Fishing in the Magellan Outdoors Men’s Pro Angler Joggers

There are a lot of comfortable pants in the world, but that doesn’t mean they’re good for fishing. I took to the water this spring to see how they performed as a technical piece of clothing.

Sunny, Hot Conditions

I live in the South, where we get plenty of heat and humidity. The Magellan Outdoors Angler Joggers are made from nylon (which traditionally doesn’t breathe well) and spandex. Despite that composition, I haven’t found these pants to be hot.

It may be due to the looser fit, but even in the hottest conditions, my legs don’t get hot and sweaty. I’ve worn these on days when my boat deck turned into a grill. Everything felt cool and breezy in these bad boys. They’re ultra comfortable in the hottest conditions.

On top of that, they’re rated at UPF 50 sun protection, which helps fight off the harmful UV rays anglers are constantly exposed to.

Cold Conditions

Obviously, these pants were made for warm weather use, and on their own, they would be terrible to wear in the cold. But, since they’re so comfortable, I still found myself wanting to wear them in the nastiest conditions.

In those cases, I slipped a base layer on underneath them and was all set. That set up kept me warm down to about 50 degrees. Colder than that, and I had to throw bibs on over the top. But man, I still felt comfy under those bibs.

Under Waders

I absolutely love wearing these under waders. The elastic cuff at the bottom does a decent job of keeping them from riding up your leg when you put waders on. With the exposed ankle issue I noted, it’s important to wear a long sock, but most people wear those under waders anyway.

Somehow, even in bulky waders, these pants still make it feel like I’m wearing pajamas. They’re magic.

Wet Conditions

This is where my love for the Magellan Outdoors Angler Joggers starts to wane a bit. They are rated as water-resistant. They aren’t. Rain does not bead up on them and fall away. It seeps into the material and gets you wet. To be fair, though, you shouldn’t expect a lightweight, quick-drying pant to keep you dry in the rain.

Speaking of quick-drying, I’ve found that these pants don’t dry out as quickly as some of the other technical fishing pants in my arsenal. They still can be labeled as “quick-drying” without me taking issue with it, but it’s not lightning fast. If you’re going to be in rainy conditions, I’d recommend bringing along some bibs to throw over them.

Problems With the Magellan Outdoors Men’s Pro Angler Joggers

When I sit down in these pants, everything falls out of the main pockets. Once, I lost my phone in a boat ramp parking lot due to that problem. Fortunately, a good Samaritan picked it up and placed it by the state park sign.

I really wish the main pockets had a zippered closure. The small internal zippered pocket that’s in the right-hand main pocket is too small for functional use.

The zippered pocket halfway down the right leg somewhat solves the problem. But it opens up to the rear of your leg, which I’ve found makes it awkward to use. So really, you have one functional pocket in the zippered pocket on the left leg. Overall, the pockets need some fine-tuning.

Final Thoughts

How much do I like the Magellan Outdoors Men’s Pro Angler Joggers? Well, if I notice they’re dirty the night before a fishing trip, I make sure to wash them so I can wear them the next day. I’ve washed them 4 days in a row before. They’re that comfortable.

The drawstring waistband allows me to keep them tight around my waist without wearing a belt, and the slight stretch provided by the spandex allows ample mobility. If you’re used to wearing standard “fishing pants,” you’ll be shocked at how much more comfortable these budget-friendly pants are.

I have an arsenal of fishing pants, but I keep reaching for these. Somehow, they turned me into a jogger guy. In the words of Nacho Libre, “When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants.” Be a man, and buy these pants.