And though I could get used to someplace new, all the other downsides of the packs I’ve tried have never made the switch worthwhile. And it has always been in the left, front, lower pocket - same place for forty years. I’ve carried my split shot in a round Skoal can (now a clear plastic puck) since I was a kid. While my preference is based around my own needs, it’s also a function of my own habits. So I come back to the vest, always, to the tried and true - the faithful fishing vest. And my loyalty, it seems, has been strong only because everything else has failed me. Like most anglers, I’m constantly searching for a better way, for efficiency and simplicity. Although I’ve stayed loyal to the vest, I’ve branched out and tried to replace it - many times. I acknowledge that I have strong preferences about these things. This is more of a love story with the fishing vest. To be up front about it, this isn’t a balanced look at the advantages of all carrying systems. Many Troutbitten readers have searched for advice on the topic, but this is the first Troutbitten article to dig into the benefits of either the vest or the pack. Photo by Austin Dando This or That?ĭo you like a pack or a vest? It’s one of the questions I answer most frequently. Because I spend two to three hundred days a year on the water and I fish hard, my vests well outlast my waders, boots and fly lines. In my position, five years from a vest is a lot. And I’ll do it again, to keep a favorite vest going for one more season. I’ve replaced snaps, Velcro and zippers on my vests. So I hang on to my vests until the end, and I don’t mind a bit of mending. I enjoy old things, with collected history and memories. I get about five years of wear from a vest now, and by the end, it’s pretty beat up. But because I’ve been fishing for about forty years, seven isn’t all that many. And, because I never left, I guess I’ve grown up with it. **Note ** Links to my favorite fishing vest are near the end of this article. Some have removable backpacks or add-on pockets that are designed like a MOLLE system. Some of them integrate a hybrid design, building pockets onto a mesh base to keep the vest ultra-light and cool. Vests are more waterproof, tougher and tear resistant. Fly fishing companies now have a reason for the angle of every flap, the pull-direction of each zipper and the depth of every pocket. But these days, a good vest takes that traditional layout - the perfect arrangement of functional pockets - and refines it. The tan, box-store-special, on sale for $20, isn’t much of a fishing vest. And some of the best ideas, made common by fishing packs, are now found in the modern fishing vest. Vest design has benefited from the popularity of packs and fishing lanyards. But the fishing vest has been updated - modernized. The vest is not as popular as it once was, because there are a host of good options for carrying fishing gear these days. The humble fishing vest fell out of favor for a while, but it’s back.
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