Our fly fishing gear takes a lot of abuse, and eventually all waders leak, boots fall apart and pack zippers fail. But how long can it hold up? How well is it built? The 100 Day Gear Review Series on Troutbitten takes a look at how gear is performing after the century...
Today's article is a good one from the archives. You can find it here. You stink -- It's the wader funk | A letter to a lonely friend Enjoy the day. Domenick Swentosky T R O U T B I T T E N; domenick@troutbitten.com;
The 100 Day Gear Review Series on Troutbitten takes a look at how gear is performing after the century benchmark. Should our fly fishing gear last longer than 100 days? You bet. And after many months of heavy use, we can have an excellent understanding of what we...
**NOTE** This is an update to the Troutbitten article I published in 2018. Five years later, I’m still wading with Grip Studs every day. The most important thing we bring to the river isn’t the flies we carry. It’s not the leader, fly line, rod or reel. It’s good...
How can we keep our stuff with us, make it easily accessible and not be slowed down or fatigued by extra weight? Answer: Carry the heavy things on your hips.
Most anglers focus on whether to choose a chest pack, vest, sling pack, hip pack, lanyard or something else. We think of carrying fly boxes, tippet, leaders and other incidentals. But what about the net? What about water, a wading staff, a camera or anything else with extra weight? Carrying these items should not be a secondary consideration. As the heaviest things among your gear, how you carry them is of primary importance.
The heavy stuff is best carried on your hips, so the most critical part of your carrying system is probably the wading belt. And most wading belts are not up to the task.
In the short term, reeling with the casting hand might lose fish. But in the long term, it encourages poor line maintenance principles.
In this article I give a lot of thought to the various inefficiencies and handicaps that hurt when reeling with the casting hand . . .
I’ve revamped the Troutbitten Recommended Gear Pages to reflect not only my current favorites, but the preferences of the guys whom you’ve also come to know through the podcast: Austin, Matt, Bill, Trevor and Josh.
So here are our favorite rods, reels, boots, waders, packs, vests, lines, leaders, tools, jackets, layers, vises, books and more . . .
Skwala takes the minimalist approach seriously. The Carbons are high-end waders, built from the ground-up with mobility, comfort and toughness at the forefront.
The Skwala Carbon waders are a workhorse for the die hard angler.
Here’s a closer look at the best (and worst) features of the Carbons, as I see them, from bottom to top . . .
Who among us cleans our waders with enough frequency to maximize the long term durability that we believe we’ve paid for? Very few. So I asked my friends from every prominent wader building company. How should we care for them? Here are their replies . . .
Fly fishing gear breaks down. Waders leak, boots fall apart and pack zippers fail. The stitching at the seams of all this stuff takes a lot of abuse, so how long can it hold up? How well is it built?
The 100 Day Gear Review Series on Troutbitten takes a look at how gear is performing after the century benchmark. The Orvis Pro Wading Boots have outperformed my expectations. They are light but extra-solid. They are durable, comfortable and have excellent support in all the right ways. These are great boots . . .