Better Than My Ol’ Ballcap: Turtle Fur Way Out Fishing Hat Review

Before using the Turtle Fur Way Out, I’ve always picked my fishing hat based on how dirty I want to look. Am I going for that crusty guide vibe? If so, I’m throwing on the old hat I picked up at a fly shop a decade ago.

Maybe I want to look like a clean, consummate professional. Then I’m going with my latest trucker hat that doesn’t have sweat stains or a bill that’s been bent out of whack from being crushed in the back of my truck.

That’s it. That is my only thought when putting on a hat in the predawn hours.

So, when the opportunity to review a new, specialized fishing hat from Turtle Fur presented itself, I wasn’t sure what I would write about it. It’s a hat. Despite my initial trepidation, I did some research and realized it could be a good addition to the hat rack. I decided to try it out.

In short: The Turtle Fur Way Out 5 Panel hat offers features you didn’t know you needed in a hat. The adjustable cord lock strap allows you to easily adjust how tightly the hat sits on your head. When you’re driving a bass boat at 50+ miles an hour, you can tighten it to ensure that it will stay put. When you’re fishing, you can loosen it for a relaxed fit. In the event that it does come off, it has a floatable brim, so you don’t have to circle back and search endlessly for a hat that sank to the bottom. The breathable “technical” fabric will ensure that your head stays cool no matter how hot and humid it gets.

Initial Thoughts

While researching this hat, I was drawn to two qualities. First, the hat supposedly floats. I can’t count the number of hats I’ve lost while driving my bass boat or on whitewater rafting trips. You’re bombing along, and out it goes. Unless you’re quick on the turnaround, it will be at the bottom of the lake or river in short order. The Turtle Fur Way Out would be the first ball cap-style hat I used with a floating brim.

The other thing that drew me in was the adjustable cord lock closure. Whenever I pull up the trolling motor and hop on the outboard, I have to flip my hat backward so that it doesn’t immediately fly off. Even when backward, the odd gust can still send it into the drink. The adjustment strap looked like it could be tightened and loosened quickly, allowing me to lock it down when driving on a plane.

Motor Boat Test

The perfect opportunity presented itself to test out this hat’s biggest selling points. In Tennessee, we had a day with wind gusts projected at 20 mph on Percy Priest Reservoir. If there were ever a day I would expect to have my hat land in the lake, this would be it.

I launched the boat and tightened the cord lock strap. The strap was easily adjusted and effortless. With one hand holding down the button on the cord lock and the other pulling the end of the elastic strap, it was tight on my head.

After idling outside of the no-wake zone, I gunned it. While driving on plane, the hat stayed put, and I noticed it wasn’t just the strap keeping it on my dome.

The lightweight nature of the brim made it impervious to catching wind. The brim would flip up and flex before lifting the entire hat. That, combined with the tightened strap, made it to where I never once felt like the hat would come off in my 20-minute run to my favorite pre-spawn point.

Once I started fishing, I left it tight without thinking about it. Within an hour, I noticed I was getting a bit of a headache. I reached back, pressed the adjust button with one hand, and the hat immediately adjusted to a comfortable fit.

Raft Test

While I enjoy being on my bass boat as much as the next guy, my favorite type of fishing is from small rafts and drift boats in rivers and creeks. I guided professionally for a decade and have spent an unreal amount of time rowing boats across the country. In spring and summer, rowing gets toasty, and I wear the sweat stains on my hat as a badge of honor.

With Turtle Fur claiming this hat to be breathable, I knew rowing my Flycraft 3 Man Guide through an 80-degree Tennessee spring day would test its breathability.

My head never got hot, and I never felt the need to dip my hat in the river to cool off. I attribute that to the breathable interior mesh and the ventilation ports built into the side of the hat.

Floatability of the Turtle Fur Way Out 5 Panel

Thanks to the adjustable strap on the Turtle Fur Way Out 5 Panel, I never had a situation where I could accidentally check the hat’s floating qualities. I had to take it off and chuck it in the water. The consensus? Yep. It floats. I don’t know how long it would float, but I let it sit for 3 minutes, and it was still at the surface.

Where Turtle Fur Missed

This one is pretty easy. I’m about to say something that may feel like a personal attack. Unfortunately, it’s the truth. This hat makes it look like you drink IPAs at a brewery in Denver or are training for a marathon and want everyone to know about it. The style is very unique.

If you can pull it off, good for you. A lot of my buddies wear hats that look just like this, and they look good wearing them. That’s not me. I’ve always been more of a Stetson guy if I’m trying to make a fashion statement.

Turtle Fur doesn’t offer this hat in different styles, so you either like it or you don’t. I’d be all over it if they offered it in a brim style similar to the Richardson 112. I wouldn’t wear any other hat.

It’s only available in two colors: “sandstone” and “purple dawn,” which are a little much for someone trying to fly under the radar.

I think its floating qualities may limit it to a certain style. The brim feels weird and flimsy. The same quality that makes it unsinkable is exactly what makes it a flat brim. The material has no memory and keeps the hat flat no matter what you do. With that, it seems like Turtle Fur was limited in design styles.

Final Thoughts

The Turtle Fur Way Out 5 Panel Hat is made of technical, unique materials. This makes the structure of the hat different than other baseball-style hats you wear.

When it’s not on your head, it’s floppy and completely collapses on itself. That is actually a great quality. The malleable brim and fabrics make it so the hat doesn’t have any memory. If you accidentally crush it by sitting on it or by piling gear on it, it won’t get bent out of shape and messed up.

From a technical standpoint, I love this hat. It has a permanent place in the gear lockers of my bass boat because it stays on my head, is breathable on hot summer days, and will float if I want to go for a swim or if it somehow ends up in the water.

Due to its unique style, the hat will stay on the boat, and I won’t be wearing it out in town. The style is a personal preference that isn’t really for me, but others may love it.

That isn’t to say I won’t wear it. I will on the water. When I’m fishing, I care about performance, not looks, and this hat delivers performance that can’t be found in your standard ball cap. It’s got a spot in my lineup.