Fly Fishing Vest
By
Guido Macri

A fly fishing vest is like trying to find a good woman they seem to start out all right and then things go down hill after that.  I know I'll catch hell for that comparison about fly fishing vest(s) but it's unfortunately true.  Over the years I've had a number of different vests, bags, chest packs etc.  No matter what you put on you always face this problem: Fly Fisherman try and put too much equipment in the vest or chest pack and the weight kills you. I've had combination vest and packs where the weight is suppose to be distributed differently and not kill your neck.  But no matter what it's a mess.  Another thing is that no matter what vest you buy the pockets never seem to fit all of the fly boxes that you own or will buy later.

So here's my plan to survive: I own many different combinations of vest and bags and I have them stocked with the flies and equipment I'll need. I have found this to be the best way to go.  And it's not that much more expensive than going the other way. With the cost flies and other equipment very reasonable I have found this method is the most sane and the easiest way to go fishing.

Here's how I do it:

• Fly fishing for trout in the spring and early summer I have a full vest loaded with everything.  I don't remove this stuff for other types of trout fishing because I always lose it.
• For spring creek fly fishing I have chest pack loaded with everything I need for spring creeks.  This includes all the specific flies, tippets etc.
• For Saltwater fly fishing I have a chest pack. You don't usually need a trout selection of many patterns when saltwater fishing.  
• For Steelhead fishing I have a vest or chest pack depending upon the rivers I am fishing just with a selection of these types of patterns etc.
• For Bass Fly Fishing I have a chest pack.  Once again you usually don't need a ton of patterns. Furthermore, when wading in deeper rivers the pack rides higher than a vest and stays out of the water.  Bass Flies which include poppers, deer hair bugs, streamers and large flies work well in such a box. Just add some tippet material, a large hemostat and you have a system that's ready to bass fishing just about anywhere. 

I carry everything in each pack that I need including hook sharpeners, hemostats, tippets, flash lights etc.  I don't move stuff from vest to pack to vest because I always forget something or lose something.  The neat thing about this set up is that I can just grab the pack or vest for the type of fishing that I going to do and I'm ready to go.  Actually what I do is have a freshwater bag where I carry everything and no matter what the situation I'm ready to fish.

Yes, it costs a bit more money and takes sometime to do but it saves your sanity in the long run and gives you more time to fish.