I’m a fickle old thing. One minute I want to travel light and the next I worry I don’t have enough gear for that “emergency” situation or enough flies for that spinner fall when only a size 18 will do.
As a result I go from wearing just a lanyard or a fully loaded fishing vest. I have tried packs too. One I bought, although excellent, got in the way when I was casting and the other just seemed to be a magnet for any line that was hanging down in the water. It meant every cast was always 2 feet short of its target!
I am again at the travel light stage of my life. I don’t know exactly how long this phase will last but I think I have found a nice little compromise: the Simms Headwaters Chest Pack.
It has storage of up to 5 litres which is enough for 3 slim fly boxes, plenty of tippet, a few leaders, sinkant and floatants. The nice thing is it is all in a neat, tidy little set up measuring 10”x6”x5”
It is a rough, tough little pack that is waterproof and has a really hard wearing material and is moulded so there will be no issues with either wear or the pack losing its shape.
I find it comfortable to wear and hugely practical, although I did fail the initial fitting. When it first arrived I put the pack around my neck and it slid down and settled where it would be best served as a cricket box, or for those reading in the US, a baseball cup and no matter how much I tucked back in it slid down again. Thankfully my wife, who is much cleverer than I, realised, after about 5 seconds that if you pull the straps that you use to attach the pack to your waist it adjusts and tightens the loose straps around your neck. This is really clever and means it will fit just about anyone who wants to wear it. Simms describe it as an “easy pull adjustment system – pull, click and fish”
Would I change anything? No, not really. The only thing that would make it just about perfect is if it had a small fly patch somewhere but that is about it.
I’ve been using it a couple of months now and love it. I bought it with my day job – guiding, in mind but have kept it for my own fishing but will be buying another for work too.
Simms are synonymous with quality fly fishing products and this is another.
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