I wet wade in N Ga pretty much from May thru Sep. Some similarities to your setup, with a few differences – I wear my wading boots with neoprene socks, a short sleeve/quick dry shirt, shorts with poly unders, cotton hat and buff that I dip to keep cool.

Has worked great for many years. Additionally, I don’t take my wading staff when wet wading, but do in colder months.

My man! This guy gets it!

Speaking of cheaper, the absolute best pants (and for me around here, it must be pants because ticks) for wet wading are the quick dry pants with zippered cargo pockets made by Wrangler and available at nearly any Walmart for about $25. They stretch well, they dry out extremely quickly, and most importantly, they are CHEAP! Far too frequently I end up having to do a bit of bushwhacking and if I’m going to be tearing up a pair of pants with brambles and burrs and thorns and sticks and whatever else the forest/river decides to throw at me, I prefer to be trashing a $25 pair to a $50 or even $100 pair.

One other thing I wanted to mention is to warn people of a wet wading trap that I briefly fell into. I fish with a waterproof sling pack because much like waders, vests also make me uncomfortably hot. I also smoke cigarettes and like taking pictures so I like to have quick access to my phone, lighter, and smokes. It is VERY easy to get used to the convenience of keeping your phone/smokes/vape/etc. in your pants pockets because they are so convenient to access there. This can end up making you wade like a pansy because you don’t want to go deep and sacrifice the convenience of dry pockets. I have found a small belt-mounted dry bag on my hip to be the best solution to keep those things dry but also easily accessible without having to swing my bag around while I’m dealing with the short wait on my Wrangler pockets to dry back out.

Oh! One last thing and this is a bit awkward but consider poly-blend jock straps. Still get support for parts but far less fabric means you dry off quicker. For me they have been a gamechanger.

Nasty

Right on.

Their DOTF cargo pants and shorts also have large pockets.

Dom, As Ronr says, the wetsuit does more cooling than warming on a summer day. Also, unless I’m only walking less than a half mile when I start the day, I carry my wetsuit pants in a backpack and gear up when I get to the river. Same thing at the end of the day- I put my walking shorts and hiking boots/shoes on and carry the wetsuit and wading shoes in my pack. During the day I rarely am out of the river and walking unless it’s just a few yards around an obstruction.