I have been fishing since I could carry a pole, but wouldn’t consider myself an expert by any means. Living in Alaska, fishing has many forms, but when fishing the rivers for salmon and trout, I need gear – lures, pliers, knife, so forth and I need easy access to my gear while fishing. This fishing vest provides me that easy access.
What a Catch!
Back of vest
One of the first things I look for in any gear is fit, because if it doesn’t fit me well I won’t use it. I am 5’6”, 180 lbs, and the size large vest fits me fine, not too loose and not too small. The vest has a nice neoprene collar around the neck which is comfortable to wear. It also features a mesh back with a nylon flap that can be unrolled from a pocket at the waist and zipped into place in cooler weather. The mesh and nylon fabric are both soft and comfortable to wear.
The next thing I look for is usefulness – does the vest have plenty of places for me to store my fishing equipment and with 26 pockets it certainly does! I won’t give a detailed pocket by pocket detail but suffice to say there are plenty of places for me to store my tackle! I have used the vest on one fishing trip to Pillar Creek and I found that four large front pockets were the ones that I used the most. These easily hold my knife, cell phone and other miscellaneous equipment that I had with me. The bottom front pockets are large enough to hold my plastic six compartment tackle box. There is also a foam block for storing flies and hooks on. Fishing for salmon, I use orange yarn to make a synthetic salmon egg that I tie on to a hook. I was able to pre tie a bunch of hooks and then stick them, into the foam for easy retrieval.
Fishing Lessons
I have used it on a couple of trips so far and it has performed well. On my first trip it was pouring rain and I wore the vest under my rain jacket. My rain jacket for fishing is cut large and the vest fit nicely underneath the jacket with no restrictions. The only negative I can find right now is the rolled up back flap. I wore the vest in the truck on the way to the Pillar Creek and the bulky roll wasn’t comfortable in the truck. Not a big deal I can toss the vest in the back and put it on when I get to my fishing spots. I will continue to update on my usage and how the vest performs.
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