Fishing Vest weight discussion

The subject of vest weight has come up before and again just recently,
and I thought I'd offer up my Boy Scout "Be Prepared" fishing vest for
discussion. On the few occasions I hit the rivers, I'm planning to
make a day of it. I'm usually an inconvenient distance from my car,
and anything I want for 8 hours, I need to take with me.

I'm all for a light vest, and I really don't take too much extra
fishing gear. Then again, what do a few leaders or spools of tippet
weigh anyway. No, fishing supplies add virtually nothing to my vest,
yet the last time I was up on the Salmon River, I think my vest must
have weighed ten pounds. Why? It's the other stuff.

It's no fun getting hungry when the catching is good, so I stuff a few
granola bars in the back pocket. Getting dehydrated is worse, so a
couple bottles of water go in there too. Now the vest is a load.
Stuff a stuffable rain jacket back there too, and now it's bulky *and*
heavy. Then there's the flask of single malt (optional, I suppose,
for some), a few good cigars, and a small supply of TP, and a small
camera. In the end, my vest ends up more a backpack than a fishing
aid.

I don't really have a question, except, does everyone else take all
this **** when they go out for a day? Or, do you plan to be closer to
your vehicle and leave more stuff behind?

Joe F.

rb608 wrote:
The subject of vest weight has come up before and again just recently,
and I thought I'd offer up my Boy Scout "Be Prepared" fishing vest for
discussion. On the few occasions I hit the rivers, I'm planning to
make a day of it. I'm usually an inconvenient distance from my car,
and anything I want for 8 hours, I need to take with me.

I'm all for a light vest, and I really don't take too much extra
fishing gear. Then again, what do a few leaders or spools of tippet
weigh anyway. No, fishing supplies add virtually nothing to my vest,
yet the last time I was up on the Salmon River, I think my vest must
have weighed ten pounds. Why? It's the other stuff.

It's no fun getting hungry when the catching is good, so I stuff a few
granola bars in the back pocket. Getting dehydrated is worse, so a
couple bottles of water go in there too. Now the vest is a load.
Stuff a stuffable rain jacket back there too, and now it's bulky *and*
heavy. Then there's the flask of single malt (optional, I suppose,
for some), a few good cigars, and a small supply of TP, and a small
camera. In the end, my vest ends up more a backpack than a fishing
aid.

I don't really have a question, except, does everyone else take all
this **** when they go out for a day? Or, do you plan to be closer to
your vehicle and leave more stuff behind?

Joe F.

I skip the food and most of the water. I feed and hydrate myself before
setting off. If water is a problem you can take a water filter or iodine
tablets.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rb608" wrote in message
...
The subject of vest weight has come up before and again just recently,
and I thought I'd offer up my Boy Scout "Be Prepared" fishing vest for
discussion. On the few occasions I hit the rivers, I'm planning to
make a day of it. I'm usually an inconvenient distance from my car,
and anything I want for 8 hours, I need to take with me.

I'm all for a light vest, and I really don't take too much extra
fishing gear. Then again, what do a few leaders or spools of tippet
weigh anyway. No, fishing supplies add virtually nothing to my vest,
yet the last time I was up on the Salmon River, I think my vest must
have weighed ten pounds. Why? It's the other stuff.

It's no fun getting hungry when the catching is good, so I stuff a few
granola bars in the back pocket. Getting dehydrated is worse, so a
couple bottles of water go in there too. Now the vest is a load.
Stuff a stuffable rain jacket back there too, and now it's bulky *and*
heavy. Then there's the flask of single malt (optional, I suppose,
for some), a few good cigars, and a small supply of TP, and a small
camera. In the end, my vest ends up more a backpack than a fishing
aid.

I don't really have a question, except, does everyone else take all
this **** when they go out for a day? Or, do you plan to be closer to
your vehicle and leave more stuff behind?

Joe F.

Hey Joe,

I found that the single heaviest item in my vest, and in your list, was the
water. Especially enough water for an all day trip here in the west. I have
been using one of those squeeze bottles with a filter in the lid for a
couplethree years now. Its a good way to reduce the weight. Assuming that
you are in or near water, you'll not run out of the stuff. Just remember to
change the filter every 50 or so gallons (see the instructions that come
with the bottle) and (this is VERY important) change the filter, without
failure, at least every year. I bought mine from Camp-Mor, but there are
many other purveyors of these devices.

Danl

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:37:59 -0800 (PST), rb608
wrote:

The subject of vest weight has come up before and again just recently,
and I thought I'd offer up my Boy Scout "Be Prepared" fishing vest for
discussion. On the few occasions I hit the rivers, I'm planning to
make a day of it. I'm usually an inconvenient distance from my car,
and anything I want for 8 hours, I need to take with me.

I'm all for a light vest, and I really don't take too much extra
fishing gear. Then again, what do a few leaders or spools of tippet
weigh anyway. No, fishing supplies add virtually nothing to my vest,
yet the last time I was up on the Salmon River, I think my vest must
have weighed ten pounds. Why? It's the other stuff.

It's no fun getting hungry when the catching is good, so I stuff a few
granola bars in the back pocket. Getting dehydrated is worse, so a
couple bottles of water go in there too. Now the vest is a load.
Stuff a stuffable rain jacket back there too, and now it's bulky *and*
heavy. Then there's the flask of single malt (optional, I suppose,
for some), a few good cigars, and a small supply of TP, and a small
camera. In the end, my vest ends up more a backpack than a fishing
aid.

I don't really have a question, except, does everyone else take all
this **** when they go out for a day? Or, do you plan to be closer to
your vehicle and leave more stuff behind?

Joe F.

As I similarly tend to prepare for a day on the river with the goal of not
needing to return to the vehicle what brung me - except to leave...aside from
the single malt, the second bottle of water, the camera, and the cigars, I
suspect the contents of my vest are very similar to yours :-)...and after I
add an extra reel and a few spools to those two back pockets, probably end up
with a similar weight problem :-(

My shorty vest of the last 15 years has something like 50 pockets. I'm not
sure I've yet found them all, but none of the ones I've found are ever empty
on the stream - the classic "problem growing to the bounds of its domain"
syndrome ;-)

Typical vest inventory for salmonid: four of the large black Wheatley boxes
(dries, streamers, mayfly/stonefly nymphs & wets, and caddis/dragon/damsel
"nymphs"), 2 of the small silver Wheatleys for microminutiae drys and wets, a
wool-lined streamer wallet, 6 spools of Orvis SuperStrong (2x through 8x), 5
spools of Mirage (2x to 6x), a few extra leaders, hemostat & nippers on
separate zingers, bottle of fly-shake, bottle of flotant, small collection of
lead-free split-shot, couple of line cleaner pads, a few drift indicators, a
stream thermometer, small gooseneck flashlight, a slip-on bug seine bag,
breathable shorty hooded rain jacket tucked in the big back pocket with a
ziplock baggie of TP, a back-up flyreel w/mounted spool, a spare spool for the
back-up reel, and a spare spool for the primary reel, pair of glasses in their
case, a TU pin and a few plastic license holders festooning the front, and
often a landing net french-clipped to the back...

I think I've covered everything. Woof.

I don't know how much that vest ends up weighing at the start of a day but I
can say by the end of that day it weighs a *lot* more.
And it feels so good taking it off!
And it has always been thus....

/daytripper (it's a love/hate thing ;-)

On Feb 19, 10:54*am, "Danl" danlfinn@*remove this*intergate.com
wrote:
I have
been using one of those squeeze bottles with a filter in the lid for a
couplethree years now. Its a good way to reduce the weight. Assuming that
you are in or near water, you'll not run out of the stuff. Just remember to
change the filter every 50 or so gallons (see the instructions that come
with the bottle) and (this is VERY important) change the filter, without
failure, at least every year.


It's good to know that's working for you. I like that the first
feature listed is their capacity to filter giardia (never had the
pleasure; from all accounts, don't want to.)

I've shied away from the filter devices out of paranoia about them as
bacteria factories. How often do you use yours? I suppose this is a
maintenence/operation question for the manufacturer, but do long
periods on non-use contribute to bacteria growth in the filter, or is
that a non-issue?

Joe F.

"rb608" wrote in message
...
On Feb 19, 10:54 am, "Danl" danlfinn@*remove this*intergate.com
wrote:
I have
been using one of those squeeze bottles with a filter in the lid for a
couplethree years now. Its a good way to reduce the weight. Assuming that
you are in or near water, you'll not run out of the stuff. Just remember
to
change the filter every 50 or so gallons (see the instructions that come
with the bottle) and (this is VERY important) change the filter, without
failure, at least every year.


It's good to know that's working for you. I like that the first
feature listed is their capacity to filter giardia (never had the
pleasure; from all accounts, don't want to.)

I've shied away from the filter devices out of paranoia about them as
bacteria factories. How often do you use yours? I suppose this is a
maintenence/operation question for the manufacturer, but do long
periods on non-use contribute to bacteria growth in the filter, or is
that a non-issue?

Don't know about the setup Danl uses, but I've had a couple of different
water filters over the years and have used them both repeatedly over fairly
extended periods (thus, never letting them dry completely) and also
intermittently over long periods (thus ensuring that they DID dry completely
between uses). I can't say no bacteria grew on them, but they always worked
flawlessly under both sets of conditions without any ill effects.

For whatever it may be worth, both of my units used ceramic filters.

Wolfgang

"rb608" wrote in message
...
On Feb 19, 10:54 am, "Danl" danlfinn@*remove this*intergate.com
wrote:

I've shied away from the filter devices out of paranoia about them as
bacteria factories. How often do you use yours? I suppose this is a
maintenence/operation question for the manufacturer, but do long
periods on non-use contribute to bacteria growth in the filter, or is
that a non-issue?

Joe F.

I use mine a couple of days a month in the winter; a couple of days a week
in spring and summer, except when I'm on an extended outing, like a clave or
other gathering, when I probably use it every day for a week or two. If I'm
not going to use it for a week or more, I rinse the bottle, filter and top,
and let dry until I need it again. I haven't had any trouble with mine, but
I know of one instance of folks who have been hit by giardia when the filter
wasn't maintained, so be sure to replace the thing every year or every 50
gallons or so (see mfg instructions), whichever comes first. The replacement
filters are cheap (about $3), so order severalfew when you order your
bottle. When you get your bottle get a good feel for how much pressure
(squeeze) it takes to force water though the filter. It takes a pretty fair
squeeze to filter the water. If, while using the bottle in the field, the
ammount of pressure required to filter water decreases significantly, change
the filter as this may indicate that the water is going "around" rather than
through the filter. I have had no trouble with mine and recommend these
gizmos.

Danl

On Feb 19, 1:41*pm, "Danl" danlfinn@*remove this*intergate.com
wrote:
I have had no trouble with mine and recommend these gizmos.

I checked Campmor & REI, & they both carry the Katadyn brand. Is that
what you have?

Joe F.

rb608 wrote:
On Feb 19, 1:41 pm, "Danl" danlfinn@*remove this*intergate.com
wrote:

I have had no trouble with mine and recommend these gizmos.


I checked Campmor & REI, & they both carry the Katadyn brand. Is that
what you have?

Joe F.

If you're very concerned/paranoid about bacteria/giardia, then the
Katadyn one is probably the way to go. I have one that uses a filter,
AND iodine, to purify water. I don't use it, because of the taste of the
water, and it's hard to squeeze a decent flow of water out of it. I use
the cheaper, single filter style bottles now. This is one brand i've tried.

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/9...n-System-.html

After multiple uses, with absolutely no maintenance, I haven't been sick
drinking from the cheaper bottles. They also flow water a lot easier.
During the summer, I will drink a lot of water through a filter bottle.
So far, no case of the "squirts".

brians

No, but those are probably very similar. I looked for the exact one I have
at the Campmor site. The item number is still valid, but they no longer sell
them..

Here's a link to what I have. Apparently they are no longer made as these
are "closeouts". I think any similar product from REI, CampMor, Cabelas,
Bass Pro, or any other respectable purveyor will be as good.

http://www.outdoorhall.com/eddie-bau...le-id98006.php

Danl



"rb608" wrote in message
...
On Feb 19, 1:41 pm, "Danl" danlfinn@*remove this*intergate.com
wrote:
I have had no trouble with mine and recommend these gizmos.

I checked Campmor & REI, & they both carry the Katadyn brand. Is that
what you have?

Joe F.