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best gadgets to stock a vest with

6K views 41 replies 15 participants last post by  Hawkeye 
#1 ·
Hi,

Can anyone recommend all the various essential gadgets a well stocked vest should have?
 
#2 ·
Keep it simple and your vest light - very important for comfort on those long days astream.

nippers - cheap kind (.99) you'll lose 'em and the cheap ones don't hurt as much when that happens.
Fly boxes
a variety of tippet sizes
floatant
simple first aid kit
polarized glasses (very important)
strike indicators (somewhat controversial to the purist but I use them and wont give them up in the forseeable future)
spare spool if the water you are fishing might require a change of line.
a spare leader
I almost never use one but you might want a net. I think a gentle wet hand is best for quick and healthy releases.
 
#3 ·
This as you know is one of my pet peves... Just make sure you know where you put your car keys... also ,practice remembering where you put all your stuff...this can be done at home...like the military... blindfold your self and have someone time you as you place ,then remove the items...then put them back in the appropriate pocket..like taking a weapon apart... with practice you will become proficient.... Night practice is also important..practice without a light...learn by feel....when you are ready ..put yourself to the ultimate test... place your car keys in one of the many pockets...wait a week... then drive into a dangerious portion of an inner city near you..late at night... Leave the jacket on the front seat.... walk up to a group of individuals... stay about 50 to 100 yard away from them and then shout some obcenities appropriate to the ethnic group you encounter.... as they begin to chase you , make for your car .Once in you will need to find those keys... you will only have one chance to do this test... so there is no ,"I will do better next time"... this is why the test is the best for mastering the use of vests..... Good luck.;)
 
#4 ·
I do not wear a vest for a couple reasons:
  • all the stuff in the trash pocket from last year
  • keys - see Mr. Morin's reply
  • the smell - see trash pocket
  • one less thing to carry

these are just my own excuses.

What I switched to last year & really like it is this:
a lanyard around my neck - like those key chain things - on it are my nippers and floatant. I threaded my tippet spools onto the lanyard and viola! a cheap, efficient, light "vest".

My fly boxes are (2) 3"x4" tin boxes, I carry splitshot & spare leader onmto the water - everything else stays in the car (spare flys, etc.)

good luck
 
#5 ·
If my vest does't have all it needs then I feel that I don't have enough. I carry 5 fly boxes(Iknow that is too many). But I can cover any thing I come across. Nippers,forceps,tippet spools,floatant,extra leader,dry-fly crystals,leader straightner. I don't carry a flash light because I don't ever get lost. As for glasses I already wear them.

Jim:D
 
#6 ·
To the suggestions above I'd add

1. Bug repellent
2. Sun screen
3. Small swiss army knife for the day you lose the nippers.
4 Toilet paper in a zip lock bag. Remember to get away from the water and bury it if you use it.

A spare set of keys to the car is helpfull to have tied or sewn into the vest.
 
#8 ·
On the car keys I carry one and then hide one usually under one of the fenders or other under carriage areas of the vehicle.

Never want to get stranded out in the National Forest back roads due to lost keys and have to call my wife for help.

Thanks for reminding me about the toilet paper also.

Have not used a net in over 15 years at least.

Found a great light weight mini lite at the airport last month which looks like it will work great for $ 20 .

A compass may be needed if you cut through national forests much where you fish, as it is easy to get turned around out there if you are not careful.
 
#9 ·
A vest is your "workspace," and like an office cubicle, becomes friendlier and more efficient with a little customizing. If you're able to thread a needle and sew a button, you can do things like this:
Dye it a drab color (cotton only)
Add extra Velcro patches to make pockets escape-proof (vital for your car key pocket)
Add D-rings inside the big pockets (anchor points for tether lines from your irreplaceable fly boxes)
Replace cheap metal zipper with nylon zipper or Velcro flap
Improve the fly-losing sheepskin patch the vest came with: A sheepskin or carpet patch folded in two, open end up inside a small pocket: just drop your flies inside.
Coated nylon liner inside bottom pockets; not entirely waterproof, but better than nothing.
A few years ago, I paid a local tailer to repair warn-through parts of my old Dan Bailey trout vest. That got me a few more years with it, for an even 30 years. When I had to replace it at last, I shopped around, found a Chinese-made copy of an Orvis vest for 20% of the price. I carefully worked over the new one, cutting away many loose threads, flame-singing raw nylon seams, and making some of the above improvements. It felt like an old friend from the first use.
I have a trout vest and a salmon-steelhead vest, so that I don't have to switch items constantly. I'd add a saltwater vest if I did that.
 
#10 ·
Nooksak Mac

That sounds like the home made steelhead vest I bought on a steelhead stream in Michigan in 1980, which I still use, although a couple of zippers need some work. An old timer was selling them for $ 25 or $ 30 one of the best darn investment I ever made

Will have to get it fixed after next week's spring steelhead hunt.
 
#12 ·
Time is your teacher...

After you absorb all the great advice that this thread provides, you'll have a good basis for what to stuff into all those pockets.

Each time you go out, you will discover something else you should add to your "field kit", each time you re-organize it you will discover something you should leave at home. Over the years the protocol will become self-evident, for me that process is a big part of the fun of fishin'

That being said, let's take a new angle to this thread and go for the TOP TEN ITEMS you would have in your vest, assuming the other 100 will be things you decide over time...

(front pockets only)
1) flybox
2) leader/tippet
3) snipper
4) hook hone
5) ferrule wax
6) floatant
7) bug juice
8) pocket knife
9) compass
10) waterproof matches

Then small first aid collection, energy bar and water, radio or phone, packable raincoat in back compartment, etc.

These vary with the type of fishing done, some need no floatant, others sunblock instead of bugspray, etc.
 
#13 ·
TP in a vest

One of my buddies in Wyoming says that he dosn't take TP to the river with him. He uses his gravel guards, then puts them back on and wades in the fast water. Of course this is the same guy that had his net hanging off the clip on the back of his vest. After a quick visit to the woods, he carried an unusual odor behind him. I think that was the only official "Brown Trout" he caught all day. :eek:

John
 
#14 ·
following Juro's lead i tried to get a top ten but only came up with 9.

1. flyboxes
2. spare leader
3. Tippet stock
4. Wenger Swiss army knife, it does everything a pair of nippers does and then some.
5. Hemostats or needle nose pliers depending on species.
6. hook sharpener
7. bug juice
8. TP
9. water proof matches

The first five are the bare minimum I need. Nooksack Mac you have some good ideas listed. I particularly the sheepskip ofr carpet in the pocket. If you fish barbless flies just disappear off the exposed patches.
 
#15 ·
John - Now that's an angler I'd rather follow than lead :hehe:

I humbly replace #5 ferrule wax with TP; and leave the wax in the vehicle where it is less prone to melt. A tight film can is a pretty good container to prevent inadvertently making a Barbour out of half of your vest on a hot day.

In the fly box I poke a doll needle to simplify the tying of nail knots in the rare event that the leader pulls off the line.
 
#16 ·
Sean

Your right always have a pack of cigarettes or couple of cigars, and I only bring a flask of sherry or courvosier for those real cold winter steelheading trips. Another thing I do is make sure I have multiple backups of critical items as follows:

Leader material - crictical sizes at least two of each
Reel,spools, lines - at least one back up of each needed for that day
Gloves - two fingerless pairs in case one gets real wet and it is very cold out.
Matches
Clippers and knife
Flashlights - 2 small ones

Must build redundancy in to avoid not being able to fish effectively while way out there away from everything. It has happened a couple of times when the fishing was good and had to stop and leave for sport shop or car for replacements.

Of course dozens of each most probable critical fly for that species of fish is a given. After reading all of this I think we are a paranoid bunch and should just have fun.

Now I know why my vest is to heavy most of the time and I am so tired at the end of the day trekking around those hills along the river.

If the waders leak I am just going to play through it as long as I can. Need a back up pair of waders my older ones are shot.
 
#17 ·
Vest and a backpack

Sean:

I carry 3 or 4 plastic zip lock bags in my vest/jacket/pack all the time. For some reason I always seem to have at least one electronic device on me (Digital camera, cell phone, ect). The bags do a good job of water proofing expensive items. Then one slip into the river won't ruin an otherwise perfect trip.

The doll and/or carpet needle that Juro recommended for knots is a great tip. A loop bent in the end with fly line run through it and you can attach it to your hemos or a zipper and keep it handy.

Some guys like to travel light. I like to take every single thing I might need to the river. Even if I have to leave it on the bank. I hate to hike back to the truck because I forgot something I needed.

John
 
#18 ·
No one mentioned:

split shot

or some other kind of weight when nymphing. If you carry strike indicators aren't you going to carry something to get your line down too. Also what about leader sink?

So far, I have purchased:

nippers($2 kind--couldn't find them for .99)

black hemostats(thought about getting the Dr. Slick curved hemos with a catch 'em release device on the back, but they were twice as much and awfully shiny.)

3x4x5x tippet material

6 tapered leaders

CF needle knot device(I tried tying a new leader to my line with a needle knot using a sewing needle and used up about a foot of my line and a foot of the leader--never again!)

polarized sunglasses

Half finger gloves with mittens that fold over(my hands froze the other day practicing)

Things on my list:

floatant (both dry and the liquid stuff you put on initially)

strike indicators

split shot

fly boxes

blood knot tool(I can't ever seem to get that last tag through the loop)

flys
 
#19 ·
Newbiefish -

To some it's debatable whether split shots and indicators are really a fly fishing method or not. The principles of the approach are based on drift gear / float fishing, even if the rod and reel happen to be fly gear. It's a deadly approach, no doubt. A good compromise that works great is to use a dry / nymph combination whereby both are flies and both are operative parts of the presentation. No split shot are used, and the fish will hit either.

I was shown how to do this by Bob Desplaines. He uses a uni-knot with a flouro dropper tied to the bend of the dry fly. I bend back all barbs but the bump was enough to act as a keeper.

My favorite nymph is a beadhead biot stone for this work. I like a variety of dries on top - the humpy, a hopper, etc. It's surprising how aggresively they will whack that top fly but most take the nymph.

No split shots and indicators in my vest! :smokin:
 
#20 ·
Newbiefish,

Looks like you are doing regular stream trout fishing right ?

I'm like Juro some what in that I do not like Indicator floats thats not fly fishing me, growing up an eastern nymph fisherman. If some of the old timers I fished with saw that today, they would not talk to you on the stream considering, well a bait fisherman. At least that is how it was in the old days.

I do carry some light french split shop and lead wraps to sink the flies extra when needed. I fish mainly nymphs and wets on fast sinking tip lines. Or a floating line only.

If the rivers you are wading are very fast and rocky, make your self a wading staff out of an old ski pole. Just cut off the baskets at the bottom. Then spray paint it a dull natural color, camo, green, black, tan. I just resprayed my two poles this weekend and they are a cool camo color now.:smokin: :smokin:

I always put some energy bars and usually raisins in the rear of my vest. Since never keep fish and the ones I fish for a to big for my vest pocket I have lots of room for food, TP, extra gloves, reel, flashlight in the back.

Hal
 
#21 ·
Indicators

Juro:

Indicator fishing is an adapted technique from typical 3 fly european styles. Each fly has a specific purpose in the "cast" (what we call the set of flies and leader). The cast has an indicator fly, a weight fly, and a point fly. Typically the point fly is not weighted so that it drifts off the bottom, and is in the fishes feeding zone. Some would prefer not to use a dry fly as an indicator, but use the fly line instead. Often the fly line is marked for visibility in some method. Fair enough to say that in nymphing, these are the staples of effective fishing. In areas where only 1 fly is allowed, indicators and split shot are the only alternative to an effective cast. I have struggled with the "purity" of indicators over the years. I have finally come to the conclusion that it really depends on how you prefer to fish the "area" you're fishing.

FYI indicators are not allowed in competition. However, flourescent orange flies with hooks in them are. Split shot is not allowed either. However, weighted flies that are weighed and seperated to the gram are. What I struggle with now is what the difference really is.

The Federation of Fly Fishers defines fly fishing as:
Fly fishing: A technique for fishing where the weight of the line is used to cast a very light weight fly that would not be heavy enough to be cast with a conventional spinning or casting rod.
To analyze our technique much beyond that is self induced torture.

John W. Wilson
 
#22 ·
Re: Indicators

... or perhaps self-induced limits. For me personally, the approach befits the fishery, and from the right amount of challenge the pleasure is maximized. In addition, the more time spent working the challenge makes you better. In fact some have reached a level where what was once hard becomes plausible, even downright effective. Every shortcut you take takes away from that journey.

For instance, bonefishing with spin gear and a shrimp just sounds so damn cheap to me, and it did so even before I knew how to flyfish. For me, meaning no disrespect, using weights on the leader for steelhead converts the whole concept of swimming a fly in the currents into a drifting game, not for me. Watching a bobber instead of connecting with a trout directly to me is a shortcut.

I am not judging anyone but myself. I've tried a weighted nymph hanging from a dryfly for trouting a stream and it was amazingly effective. I am far from being a frequent trout fisherman so who am I to say, but I believe that given two anglers of equal skill, if one took the indicator / lead path (call him Tom) and the other took the path without those extra tricks (Dick), here is what would happen:

- initially, the Tom would kick butt and Dick would be frustrated, Sense of accomplishment? Advantage Tom.

- eventually, the Dick would start to realize comparable success while Tom still had constant action using tried and true methods.
Sense of accomplishment? About even, although Dick needed less fish to feel as good as Tom.

- ultimately, Dick would reach a level of craftiness and adaptability that befits his passion for the sport, Tom had peaked out with his technique. Dick still has a lifetime ahead in which to apply his inferences. Fish matter less, angling bliss more but the fish come anyway.
Sense of accomplishment?

I am exaggerating the point, I know. All in good fun. I guess it's really up to the individual as someone recently mentioned.

FFF definition:
Can't argue with the definitions, in fact it's a good definition with one caveat - it should include "for the target fishery". By this I mean castable with tackle suitable for the fishery. Of course I can cast any marlin fly with an ultralight trout rod. But I can't cast it with any rod suitable for marlin. I had this debate once before, maybe twice :D

Angling to me is about a lifetime of learning, and enjoying the fruits along the way.
 
#23 ·
I don't fish indicaters in rivers or streams. I go with the two fly method. But I seem to notice that all you talk about is fishing streams. Do any of you fish still waters. They work real well when you fish chronies. I know it sounds like bobber fishing and I thought so too. But most who fish lakes in Washington use them. Jim
 
#24 ·
Lake fishing

Old Man:

I have done quite a bit of lake fishing. When I fish lakes typically I use the tip of the fly line as an indicator, or I see / feel the take. Lake fish will often take Coronimids on the fall so I can see your point. Not to mention the mind numbing time it takes them to reach the thermocline/oxygen level.

Juro, I hope that nothing said here is ever taken out of context. You are obviously one of the better fly fishers in the world. You and I will definately have to spend some time on the water someday. ;)

John
 
#25 ·
Hi,

From a beginners standpoint, I laughed when told about nymph fishing with weights and indicators--I didn't believe it was really fly fishing, and was disappointed to hear that apparently most flyfishing is nymphing because the reasoning is that if you want to catch fish a majority of the time the fish won't be rising.

My feeling is that I don't have to catch fish. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy my practice sessions with just a piece of yarn on the end of my leader. Maybe that will wear off and the sight of a tight loop arcing out over the water during a brilliant sunset won't be as appealing anymore. I guess I see myself starting out dry fly fishing, and if I don't catch fish, I don't really care. It also seems a bit ridiculous to me that people who flyfish need to "hide" the fact they are nymph fishing by using dry flys with floatant instead of a strike indicator and bead weighted flys instead of split shot. I don't have anything against nymphing, but the art of casting with dry flies is what appeals to me. I'm also reading about nymphing techniques, so I'm sure I'll try it eventually.
 
#26 ·
Newbiefish,
I don't know anything about Freshwater fishing, even less about Trout fishing, but I have to comment on your love to just cast the rod.

I can't count the number of hours I used to spend practice casting in the front yard of my house growing up. A piece of yarn and a willing cat was all the "fish" I needed.

I have yet to lose the love of casting the long wand. There are fishless days and there are fishful days, but the catching isn't what drives me. As you describe, watching the sunrise or set in a beautiful area casting away is still what its all about for me. On the fishless days, striving to roll out the perfect 90 foot cast or placing the fly on the seaweed as it floats by increases my abilities for the times the fish are there. Don't get me wrong, I love catching, but the whole experience is what really makes me love this sport. For me, there's no better relaxation then fly fishing.
 
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