I’ve got a Fishpond vest that I’ve had for a few years now. It’s been a very good vest, but I went through a period where I was fishing significantly deeper water, and my fly boxes always ended up submerged for a good bit of the time. Plus when you’re fishing tailwaters, you have a pretty limited number of possibilities for patterns - and you can fit a lot of size 18 - 22 flies in a single box. And when I wasn’t fishing the tailwaters, I was doing a bit of hiking to get to my fishing. The vest was problematic there, as well.
I started with a Filson fanny pack. While that bag is very well made, it still left me with some issues. My fly boxes were even lower than in my vest, and getting wet more often. Also, the heavy brass zipper was chewing up leaders if I wasn’t very careful.
I then got a deal on a Sage chest pack, and I’ve been very happy with that. Just enough space for one medium sized fly box or two small ones, a bunch of leaders, spare indicators, half dozen spools of tippet, nippers, forceps, split shot, a flashlight, and some fly floatant.
If I need to haul other stuff (water, clothes, food), I’ve got a hydration backpack that works great. I also am always wearing a fishing shirt or a wading jacket, so I have a couple more pockets for a camera, gloves, and sunflower seeds.
If your are new to this thing, buy a vest with plenty of pockets.
There are enough things to struggle with besides trying to figure out where to put the 10,000 different things you will feel compelled to carry with you. Later as you evolve and refine your techniques, you may discover you can get by with a lot less in which case the options are limitless.
Have a vest and one of those Fish Pond fanny packs. I’m really attuned to my vest, it’s nothing special, but it fits me right, 100% cotton, just the right number of pockets and compartments for all my bric-a-brac and doo-dads. Always wear it with the waders and especially if I’m going to be fishing all morning or afternoon and going to be aways from camp or the truck.
When fishing some of the mountain small streams and creeks, wearing just the hip boots or even just shorts and wading sneakers, I’ll opt for the fanny pack to travel light.
Wore a vest for the first few years and always felt encumbered and often had neck, shoulder or back pain after a long day(s) on the water and in the summer it was way to hot. Tried on a couple of chest packs and came to the same conclusions that many others here have - thank you, no. For the past couple of decades I’ve gone with fanny packs, for fresh and saltwater.
One knock on F.P’s is that if you wade deep the contents may get wet. I’ve never owned a fanny pack that couldn’t be worn as a Bandoleer when needed and as for wading deep, while we’re all humans, we’re not all built alike. Wet vest pockets, chest packs and fanny packs is as often a function of inseam length as it is water depth.
If one’s contemplating changing camps from vests to fanny packs, they’ll probably have to make some decisions about the amount of gear they really need to be successful. In a way, that’s an excellent exercise, " sizing down and reevaluating ". But by far the best thing I can say about going with fanny packs is that my neck, shoulders and back aren’t screaming at me at days end.
