Tuesday, May 09, 2006

How do you carry your stuff?


A fly fisherman is equipped with lots of stuff like tippet pools, fly boxes, water thermometers, scissors, and whatever. And somehow all this stuff is carried along wading the river. How do you do it? When I started fly fishing in the 80's, it was easy to answer this question. Fly fishing west was the way to go. But today there are lot more options available.

In past few years I've been lessening the load. That means I only carry things that I need - or at least think I will need. If I don't use some gadget then I will leave it home (or in the car). And when I did leave a big load of stuff out of my fly fishing west, I noticed that it had lot more pockets than I needed. I was starting to look funny (well - even more funnier than before).

First solution was a chest pack. I used it more than a year. Chest pack was - and still is - good solution, because it has only limited space available. That way I had to think what I really needed - and I was able to leave even more items home. Chest pack was all right, but I felt that mine was bulky and not that practical.

This season I will finally try a wading jacket. I haven't had a wading jacket before, which is strange. It seems so logical choice as I usually wear a jacket anyway.

But what do I do when the weather gets too hot? Maybe I'll stay home... Doubt it.

2 comments:

The Lonely Fisherman said...

Very interesting article, I normally use a "day pack" manufactured by Senqu. It is a backpack/fly jacket combination and is ideal for fly fishing conditions in South Africa. Visit me at http://fly-fishing-information.blogspot.com

opax said...

I have to admit that most of my fly fishing is done in quite urban setting. I usually don't have to carry any other stuff than those that are required for fishing. Lunch and other things like that are at the car nearby. However when I go to wilderness area, I usually take backpack with me. And I would like to go to wilderness much more...

Nice site you have set up there. Can you post an article about fly fishing in South Africa?