Recommend a chest pack?

[wetfly1]

Packs and vests are a huge pain... get a Hardy Bag brother! A bit of an investment for a lifetime of use!! I think I have owned about every vest and/or pack made, and the shoulder bag is the only thing I have found that I cannot do without!

 

[stevehalupka]

I've never been the vest type of dude. Started off with an old school Orvis fanny pack with 3 sections around the waste.

I then moved to the chest pack, which I still miss sometimes, as it was small and comfortable, but still had a compartment in the back for carrying water/beer/vodka.

I've since moved solely to the wading jacket. You can't go wrong with these in the winter/early spring/fall.

Now, in the summer, I've been using the old fanny pack but down to one compartment, as all I really need is a leader and a box of dries with a spool of 5x mono.

this summer, I'm transitioning to the LANYARD for summer fishing... I just got out bidded on ebay for one that would carry all necessities, so I'm still looking.

 

[tomgamber]

wetfly1 wrote:
Packs and vests are a huge pain... get a Hardy Bag brother! A bit of an investment for a lifetime of use!! I think I have owned about every vest and/or pack made, and the shoulder bag is the only thing I have found that I cannot do without!

That's what? like a fishing man-purse? ;-)

 

[afishinado]

dupe

 

[afishinado]

tomgamber wrote:


That's what? like a fishing man-purse? ;-)

You decide......

http://www.mosquitocreek.com/Hardy-Fishing-Gear-Bags/products/2521/ ;-)

 

[Fredrick]

Tweed they call it a Murse or a glorified labtop bag ;-) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/14/15-best-bags-for-boys-aka_n_101703.html

 

[tomgamber]

What do you do with it when you have to wade over your waist? Hang it in a branch with your bloomers?

 

[wetfly1]

tomgamber wrote:
What do you do with it when you have to wade over your waist? Hang it in a branch with your bloomers?

Man-purse! Ok... i can handle that! Deep wading is no problem though. It's almost 100% waterproof, and mine came with a waterproof liner just incase. Shorten the strap if you need to... then dive in!

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

The one that I have is like a back pack with only one shoulder strap, it has two different staps a short one for your chest if you are in higher water and a longer one if you want to sling it behind you like a backpack. It's a White River pack.

 

[wetnet]

I still like the confluence by Williams and Joseph. About the safety issue, I'm a women and yes it puts my pack out there a bit more but I've never had it be a safety issue. Just don't look down and you won't miss what's ahead.

Also how many flies do all of you carry? I just take the ones that work. :-D :-D

 

[troutbert]

afishinado wrote:

tomgamber wrote:


That's what? like a fishing man-purse? ;-)

You decide......

http://www.mosquitocreek.com/Hardy-Fishing-Gear-Bags/products/2521/ ;-)

Go with ARCTIC CREEL. It costs less and people won't accuse you of carrying a man purse. Plus it will give you some street cred, or stream cred, in certain parts of PA. You might get checked more by WCOs, though.

 

[muskratnymph1]

You are going to pay a bit more than you want, but I love my Richardson.

 

[mgh-pa]

Thanks, guys. I'm in the process of deciding on a turkey vest for this season, and was looking over the packs at Cabelas since I can use my Cabela's bucks. However, I'm not exactly sure still what I want. I have a pretty loaded vest from my spin tackle days, but it's almost too much. I sort of want to go minimalistic and lightweight, but at the same time, I don't want to be without the essentials.

This pack struck my eye. Granted, I know it's "cheap" compared to many of your suggestions, but it looks to have a low profile which is what I want.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat370015_TGP&id=0065169943640a&navCount=1&podId=0065169&parentId=cat370015&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IA&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true

Then again, is this one of those, "you get what you pay for" deals? :-D

 

[Acristickid]

Ditched all that stuff.

Using a lanyard to hold tippet spools,nippers,hemo's, and floatant.

I put a snack and tp in the zipper pocket in my waders.

My waterproof camera goes in the outside wader pocket. My use a water bottle holder on my wading belt to hold a nalgene.

I make use of a fishing shirt with two big front pockets to hold 2 medium fly boxes.

If cold or wet- I wear a jacket and the fly boxes go in the jacket pockets.

I have cycled through the sling type, couple vests and a downs chest box and this is what I have settled on for now.

Good luck in the never ending battle with gear.

 

[troutbert]

If you are going to walk into the backcountry and get very far from the vehicle, you should always carry raingear. I've caught in thunderstorms several times, and luckily had raingear along. But if I hadn't had it along, hypothermia would have been an issue. Even in July and August. So whatever gear you are considering, be sure to have a way to carry raingear, then always bring it, regardless of the forecast.

 

[stevehalupka]

hence... wading jacket. I have two: a heavy lined, more expensive for winter, and a lighter material, inexpensive (60 bucks) for spring/fall. unless it's june-september and you're in a t-shirt, its the way to go. no casting/walking obstruction, and more than adequate storage and access.. not too mention looking good, which is more than half the battle

if it's summer, I don't even see the need for fly boxes. 4 to 6 flies on your hat, a spool of tippet, and an extra leader is all you really need.

 

[wgmiller]

acristickid wrote:
Ditched all that stuff.

Using a lanyard to hold tippet spools,nippers,hemo's, and floatant.

I put a snack and tp in the zipper pocket in my waders.

My waterproof camera goes in the outside wader pocket. My use a water bottle holder on my wading belt to hold a nalgene.

I make use of a fishing shirt with two big front pockets to hold 2 medium fly boxes.

If cold or wet- I wear a jacket and the fly boxes go in the jacket pockets.

I have cycled through the sling type, couple vests and a downs chest box and this is what I have settled on for now.

Good luck in the never ending battle with gear.

I hope you kept all your old options. You never know when you might want to revert back to one of them.

Your last sentence pretty well sums it up (at least for me)!

 

[mgh-pa]

Any recommendations on a possible wading jacket? I'm contemplating sticking with my current vest for now, and possibly adding a wading jacket for early spring fishing. Possibly take both and decide which to take once I get to the stream

 

[Acristickid]

I have not been in the market for a jacket in several years- so I am not current on all the models.

Some questions that might help others help you would be: How much do you want to spend? What times of the year will you be using the jacket? etc...

My one tip that might be helpful is I would recommend to buy a shorty jacket. Meaning a jacket that comes down to your waist or bellybutton so when you wade a little deep the jacket does not hang in the water- thus getting soaked. But if you dont wade too deep you can probably just buy any raincoat.

 

[mgh-pa]

I only have waist level waders, so I won't be wading above that. I don't really want to spend more than $100 to start out. I was eying up a few clearance specials on Cabelas. Weighting isn't as important since I'm only going to be fishing from early April to early September.