By the time you read this, Christmas will be over, making it likely that your wallet has shrunk while your waistline has done the opposite. But perhaps a nice little envelope from Mom or Aunt Gladys, or, for the grownups in California Fly Fisher’s readership, an end-of-the-year dividend or capital-gains distribution, has provided you with a few surprise bucks. Summon up, then, some New Year’s cheer: the fly-fishing industry can satisfy your needs and desires with all sorts of new toys.
Staying Dry
How about some new waders or wading boots? Patagonia has improved their aluminum-grid-soled wading boot for 2015. The new Foot Tractor’s sticky rubber lugged sole with multidirectional gripping aluminum bars has been reconfigured for increased traction, and the uppers are lighter, with improved drainage, more comfort, and more durability. Everybody I know who tried the old version likes them a lot. The new ones are $279.
Orvis’s new entry-level Encounter waders are notable not simply for being reasonably priced and having features generally found on more expensive waders, but also for having women’s and kids’ models. Made from a four-ply laminate with the same fit and sizing as Orvis’s Silver Sonic waders, Encounters come with a wading belt, have a kangaroo-style handwarmer pocket behind a mesh chest storage pocket, and convert easily to waist-highs. They’re $169 for men’s and women’s stockingfoots, $139 for kids’ stockingfoots, and $259 for men’s Thinsulate-lined, felt-soled, boot-foot waders. Not surprisingly, Orvis has added Encounter wading boots for women to their offerings: $98 with felt soles, $119 with sticky rubber.
Adamsbuilt has a couple of good looking new wading boots in their Smith River and Gunnison River offerings. Both are of synthetic leather with polymesh uppers for support and durability. Heels and toe boxes are reinforced and rubberized for added protection, there’s a padded insole for comfort, and the web lacing system makes for easy on-off. The Smith River boot has a felt sole with stud receptacles at $109.95, and the Gunnison River boot has a sticky rubber sole with stud receptacles for $129.95.
Chota Outdoors’s innovative new DUCS Suspender System, available on their Bob Clouser Series South Fork waders, fastens the shoulder straps primarily at waist level and only secondarily at the top of the wader. Unclip the buckles at the top of the wader, and you can roll them down to make waist-highs. Unclip the waist-level buckles next, and you can drop the waders low enough to answer nature’s call without removing your vest or wading jacket — a neat idea. They’re $279.95.
Simms has continued to upgrade their top-of-the-line wading jacket. The company modestly bills their new G4 Pro model as “the baddest, most weatherproof jacket the world has ever seen.” The updated Gore-Tex shell fabric results in a garment that’s 15 percent lighter than previous versions while increasing abrasion resistance and tear strength. There are nine storage pockets, including flybox-sized bellows and zippered chest pockets, two tippet pockets, an on-sleeve stash, internal woven stretch storage, and one large back compartment. A highly water-resistant Dry Cuff system keeps inner sleeves dry. I suspect the G4 Pro is every bit as good as Simms says and worth the $549.95 price for folks who fish in the worst weather. Fair-weather angler that I am, I won’t be testing how much more weatherproof it is than other jackets. When things get really miserable, the fishing mostly does, too, and I head back to camp.
The Eddie Bauer brand used to be synonymous with high-quality outdoor gear. Over the past 40 years, however, the company, like its East Coast equivalent, Abercrombie and Fitch, morphed into a trendy mass-market sportswear outfit. For those of us who used the company’s sleeping bags and down jackets or bought rods and other fishing, hunting, and camping gear from them, it was a sad decline. Recently, EB has made an attempt to go back to its roots with a Sport Shop division that offers EB-branded premium hunting, fishing, and shooting soft goods. For the angler, this amounts to a collection of decent-looking angling shirts and pants, a boat bag, lumbar and chest packs, and a couple of waterproof/breathable wading jackets. The Immersion jacket at $299 looks like a winner. It’s a full-featured garment with zippered self-draining chest pockets, interior mesh pockets, neoprene cuff gaskets, and an adjustable fold-away hood. The Harbor Rain shell is a minimalist packable model at $199 and is also available in a tall version at $219 for the long-waisted among us. And since EB can’t seem to get entirely away from the mass-market mentality, their top-line stuff goes on sale now and then. I’m betting that’s the case for the post-Christmas season. Worth a look.
Staying Warm
This next paragraph isn’t about a new product, though it will lead into that. Consider it a shout-out for something really good and widely available. The most useful garment I’ve bought over the past decade is a lightweight nylon pullover insulated with PrimaLoft, a synthetic that retains most of its warmth even when wet. Patagonia was the innovator here, and its Nano Puff (now $169) was a lightweight, quilted nylon shell with 60-gram PrimaLoft insulation. It slid on and off faster than a hooker’s shorts, packed down to the size of a grapefruit, though a quarter as heavy, was warm, but not too warm, as an outer garment, even when wet, and was even warmer when layered under something like a wading jacket. It’s an invaluable part of my kit just about anywhere. Patagonia also has a Nano Puff zip-front vest ($149), jacket ($199), and hoody ($249) that are just as neat. A couple of years ago, L. L. Bean came up with their own version that they now call the PrimaLoft Packaway Pullover. Not as nicely fitted as the Nano Puffs or available in those cool Patagonia colors, they were just as functional and were offered in tall sizes, as well as regular sizes. Bean has since discontinued the pullover in favor of Packaway jackets and hoodies at a very reasonable $99 to $129. Simms now also makes a nice-looking PrimaLoft insulated jacket and vest called Fall Run at $149 and $199. From where I sit, one of these should be in every angler’s traveling kit.
But that’s old news. For 2015, Patagonia has come up with a couple of notable additions to its Nano lineup. Nano Puff pants ($179) combine quilted PrimaLoft in front and legs with 3.4-ounce nylon Taslan reinforcement in the seat. They’ve got a button closure, a stretch waist with belt loops and front zipper, two front pockets, and a rear secure zipper-closure pocket. I’ve not yet tried them, but I’m guessing they’ll ultimately replace the fleece versions I use in cold weather. The Nano Air Jacket ($249) and Hoody ($299) are multi-fabric jackets that the company says may be the perfect outer garment. Sixty grams of full-range insulation is sandwiched between a light, durable, 100-percent nylon ripstop shell with Nano Puff quilting in the side panels and a plain weave lining. There’s stretch binding at cuffs and an adjustable drawcord hem to seal in warmth. The Nano Air has four-way mechanical stretch, exceptional breathability, and a DWR (durable water repellant) finish. The result, according to Patagonia, is a line of garments that breathe exceptionally well, but still block wind and shed water. Very cool. Or rather, warm.
Stowing It
On the gear-bag front, Umpqua Feather Merchants introduced four new waterproof packs and bags, including a waist pack, backpack, gear bag, and dry bags. The Umpqua Tongass lineup includes the Tongass 650 Waist Pack ($169.99), the Tongass 1800 Backpack ($229.99), the Tongass 5500 Gear Bag ($169.99), and four sizes of Tongass Dry Bags (2-liter, 10-liter, 20-liter, and 35-liter capacities — $24.99 to $54.99). They’re constructed with welded 420D polyurethane nylon waterproof fabric and a thermo polyurethane coating on their interiors. Zippers are weatherproof, and the roll-top closures are dual-banded. The 650 Waist Pack and the 1100 Backpack have fully padded back panels and waist belts with water bottle holders and large pockets that serve as a backup rod carrier. The 1800 Backpack has both primary and secondary roll-top sections, plus an interior hanging bag for things such as keys or cell phones. The 5500 Gear Bag (90-liter capacity) has fully padded shoulder straps that can Velcro together to create a single handle/strap, as well as an extension on the dual-banded roll top to provide extra water resistance. The dry bags feature oval bases to allow for easy stuffing and prevent rolling.
Umpqua also has a new nonwaterproof sling pack for 2015. The Steamboat Sling rides like a fully supported backpack, leaving your chest unencumbered, giving you a clear line of sight for rock hopping and no snags for Spey or switch casting. The large primary pocket readily holds a light rain jacket, lunch, and water bottle, a medium second pocket holds up to four large fly boxes, and the front accessories pocket provides smart storage for everything else. A thumb loop allows smooth and easy shifting of the pack from back to front for accessing the pockets. There are hemostat sheaths on the shoulder strap and bag, a detachable foam fly patch, an integrated/stowable tippet cord system and a net attachment point. It’s available in slate gray or moss green: $119.99.
Orvis has revamped its collection of Safe Passage soft goods with new fabric, new colors, and some tweaks to make them better. It’s the expected collection of well-made, useful sling, hip, and chest packs, gear bags, rod and reel carriers, and day packs, now in olive-and-gray 400-denier nylon, instead of last year’s very un– New England “digital camo” (which I have to say I thought was pretty cool).
Fishpond has expanded the use of its Cyclepond fabric, made from recycled commercial fishing nets, throughout more of their luggage, gear bags, and packs. The new Westwater Roll Top Backpack ($149.95) with Cyclepond is a completely submersible pack that combines the functionality of a roll-top dry-bag design with the convenience of a backpack with fully adjustable straps. The Westwater Pouch with Cyclepond ($29.95) is sized to hold a cell phone or camera and, by virtue of the fabric and a roll top, is waterproof. It fits on your belt, too, if that’s your style. The Delta Sling Pack ($149.95), with a magnetic front pocket for fly boxes, rain jacket, and lunch, is a new design that allows users to switch easily between shoulders for comfort. The structured mesh panel on the back helps comfortably carry heavy loads in hot weather. Both the Westwater and Delta packs won awards at the fall dealer show, so I suspect you’ll be seeing them at local fly shops.
Since I’m talking about Fishpond, let me mention their Sushi Roll ($29.95), a clever fabric-and-foam roll-up carrier for streamers and saltwater flies. When not rolled, it lies flat as a 10-by-16-inch working platform, but when rolled to a cylinder about 3 inches in diameter, a spacer between layers gives flies the necessary room to breathe. It should take up no more space in a boat bag than a hard-sided fly box, and probably less, and it looks very easy to use.
By the way, Steve Abel, the founder of the reel company that still bears his name, is back in the game, though not with fly reels. What he has done is resurrect and update the excellent soft nylon angling luggage that the Abel company dropped after Steve and his wife, Gina, sold the business. Most of the old favorites are back, made in the United States: the Hold Everything gear bag, the 10-Day and 15-Day gear bags, the Wader Wet/ Dry gear bag, and a couple of reel carriers. The excellent square, nylon-covered PVC rod carriers are in the works, though not for the near future. You can get most of Steve’s products in five different nylon colors, and while none of it’s inexpensive, it’s exceptionally functional and attractive. If my almost 30-year-old Hold Everything bag is any indicator, they’re all durable as hell. They’re available only direct from the manufacturer at www.steveabel.com.
Crimping, Nipping, & Carrying It
Now for new tools and accessories. Dr. Slick’s new 6.5-inch, 4.5-ounce Typhoon Pliers are individually machined, extremely well-balanced, and (ahem) slick-looking. Their replaceable jaws are made from heat-treated SUS420 J2–coated stainless steel with a Rockwell hardness of 52 and have a half-smooth and half-striated design for gripping hooks securely. The frame is 6061-T6 aircraft-quality aluminum anodized to withstand salt water, and the pliers are equipped with nonslip rubber grips and a self-opening spring. Anodized gold and green (and thus sure to be a hit with the University of Oregon alumni), the pliers come with a coiled bungee lanyard, dual-pocket nylon holster, and replacement cutters, jaws, and a hex key, the latter packaged separately to be used as needed. Retail is a rather modest $60. Now, if they only made them in blue and gold. . . .
Abel, the fly-reel manufacturer that now also bills itself as a “creative machine shop,” perplexed the fly-fishing world a handful of years back by introducing a $50 set of nippers. You know nippers: the little fingernail clipper look-alikes you find in the impulse-sale box near the cash register for $3.99? The ones you hang from your vest until they break or disappear? The scoffers among us figured that no matter how good the Abel nippers were, nobody would be foolish enough to drop $50 on a pair, much less $60 for specially anodized ones or $100 for a pair anodized to look like a redfish flank. So of course the little buggers sold like hotcakes. And didn’t break. And because they cost more than $3.99, owners were careful not to lose them. Well, campers, for 2015, Abel has come up with a pricey matching device from which to hang your spendy nippers. Say hello to the $50 Abel Zinger. It is made from stainless steel and 6061-T651 cold-finished aerospace-grade aluminum and can be attached to a vest using a screw mechanism or by an included S carabineer to clip it to a D ring somewhere. It has a 36-inch retracting cord made from 40-pound-test Spectra/nylon blend solidly attached to the nipper body and is available in black, matte black, olive, and platinum finishes for, as I mentioned earlier, half a hundred dollars. Not surprisingly, it can be custom engraved, (“If found, call xxx-yyy-zzzz for reward.”) I’m betting it won’t be long before these are available with the fish-scale finish of your choice. For another fifty bucks or so, of course.
Ferris Sporting has an interesting line of around-the-neck equipment lanyards — “bolos” in Ferrisspeak — featuring leather concho attachment points that slide up and down the lanyard to suit your idea of where things should sit. Ferris’s product line ranges from simple cords with just a couple of places to fasten accessories to more elaborate models with padded neck straps, multiple attachment points and, tippet spool holders. For women anglers, the company’s two top-line models are available with the spool keeper set high, so spools rest on, not below the chest. All Ferris bolos utilize 750 Type IV commercial paracord, black Hermann Oak leather, black nickel brass hardware, and matte black ABS fittings: $15.99 to $34.99.
