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I have been cleaning out and cleaning up my gear in anticipation of the spring season. I use a San Juan pack from Fishpond and was flabbergasted by the amount of stuff I accumulated in there. Most of my jaunts are a couple of hours at most and there is no way I can use half of what was in there.
besides flies, tippet, floatant and nippers...is there anything else that is really necessary to carry?
Bourbon, rod and reel. Those are just a couple suggestions.
Since taking to "tenkara" all that I need is in a small pouch carried on my landing net scabard belt. There are a couple of dozen kabari flies in a small box, a spool of fluro tippet, a small tube of floatant, half a dozen BB split shot, a spare line, line cutter and hemostats. With bag that is approx. 200g; the rod is 75 g and the landing net a whopping 1000g. In the good old days of fly rod and reel I took a 35 litre rucksac pretty much filled to the brim. Amazing to say I now catch more fish per trip with just a fraction of the gear. If this catches on the tackle dealers will be in dire straights!
Mostly, I carry "questions".
I use the "Dry Shake" dry fly powder a lot. When you have caught a few fish on your dry fly, it gets slimed. Of course, you can replace it, but I would rather give it the treatment to keep it floating high. The next fly may not be as effective. Also, If you don't always fish with barbless, I think hemostats are indespensable.
Ed
I always take my lanyard with nippers, a tie-rite (best invention ever), Gerke's Gunk, and a Sampao drying pad. Hemostats are clipped on as well.
That and a tippet spool and some small boxes of flies and nymphs is just about it.
besides flies, tippet, floatant and nippers...is there anything else that is really necessary to carry?[/QUOTE]
Besides rod and reel, I always carry two small fly boxes; one each for dries & nymphs/wets, a couple of tippet spools, nippers, some DIY floatant (Bergman's recipe), Tie-Fast tool to compensate for my tired eyes and ten thumbs, forceps, thermometer, and net in/on a Fishpond Deep Creek Chest Pack, and a collapsible Black Diamond Trail pole for a wading staff on a chest lanyard, and my Canon D10 waterproof camera. If fishing for a short time near a road, I just use the chest pack but on a typical Curtis Creek outing I frequently spend over 8 hours out, from mid morning to dusk, hiking more than two miles from my car at the nearest road access. So I carry a kit in the companion Fishpond Tundra Tech Pack with enough food for the day plus a little extra, a water filter bottle, a Leatherman Wave multi-tool, small first aid kit, flint and steel, and knowing that waders make a decent bivvy bag, enough clothing that I could survive an uncomfortable night out. I also carry my Android phone to use an offline GPS program that I make custom USGS maps for, and a GPS fishing log app. If the road isn't bordering the stream somewhere, I carry map and compass.
As I get older, I carry less fishing stuff and a few more items of convenience.
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A little stove, pot (not ganja), a Nata and a Al Mar knife. Stuffed in my little backpack is a bivy, a water bottle some Udon noodles and some nut bars. If I am filming, a GoPro.
But when I'm just fishing, nippers, a couple of flys, hemostat and a tenkara rod.
My fishing kit is down to nothing yet I am catching more fish than ever.
With only one single simple pattern.
I only use one fly pattern everywhere and my fish count is way up.
now that the year is coming to a close...still carrying too much stuff, but thinning it down even more.
still not sure on the san juan..when steelheading I don't carry anything, rely on my wading jacket pockets...
small streams..still slinging the san juan with me.