I recently noticed that one of the pockets on my old fly fishing vest was coming apart and after around 10 years of hard fly fishing, the vest in general was looking a little shabby.

In order to perpetuate the illusion of professionalism, I decided to finally ‘invest’ in a new one. Even though the makers of my old vest had discontinued it some years ago, I was able to find a brand new one online.

After transferring all my stuff across to the new one, I decided to make my old fly vest my designated Small Stream Vest. This shall henceforth be referred to as my SSV.

 

Small, urban streams can be tough on your equipment as you’re often required to scramble over rocks or hack your way through bushes so it’s advisable avoid using your Sunday best gear.

Looking through my drawer full of ‘spare’ accessories, I was surprised to see that I’d amassed enough stuff to kit out a second (and possibly even a third) vest.

There were of course some regrettable, gimmicky purchases but this would give me a chance to “use ‘em or lose ‘em”!

 

When guiding, I try to carry spares of just about everything which results is a rather heavy, bulky vest.

But to fish alone on a familiar small stream or river, what gear would I actually NEED?
Also, newcomers often ask me “what items should I purchase to get started?”

 

What follows is a list of what I consider to be essential equipment for a days fly fishing.

Front of Vest

 

Have the things that you use most on the front of your vest and preferably on zingers so that they’re always to hand. Snips, forceps, floatant and driers will probably be used most frequently.

1. Fly patch…. To dry your used flies before putting them back in the box.

2. Rod holder… This gives you a much needed third hand when you’re waist deep in the river

3. Snips… Those nail clippers from your Xmas cracker are fine to start with but pretty soon you’re going to need something less reflective and more durable. Don’t scrimp on your snips.

4. Waste tippet holder……Help keep wildlife safe from hazardous nylon. Take it home!

5. Lip salve/Vaseline …. This can also be used to help float the first foot of fly line.

6. Fly box

7. Polarised sunglasses… These are a must for any serious fly fisher. They help cancel out the glare from the surface of the water and allow you to see what lies beneath.

8. Mud…. This stuff takes the shine off the tippet and helps it to sink, thus making it less visible to the fish.

9. Float dough…. Useful for those times when you want to float a nymph with a visible indicator. I also use self adhesive floats.

10. Forceps…. These help to quickly remove flies with minimal damage to fly or fish.

11. Floatant …. This is applied directly to dry flies to make them water resistant and keep them floating.

12. Assorted tippet reels…. A small selection of different diameters and strengths to match the conditions and quarry.

13. Debarbing pliers….. Essential to mash down those harmful hook barbs.

14. Dessicant fly drier. This literally sucks the moisture out of bedraggled flies and gets them floating high again.

Back of Vest

The back of the vest is best used for storage as it’s not easy to access on your own. Here you can store…

1. Gloves

2. Wooley Hat

3. Unhooking mat. Don’t damage that fish of a lifetime on stones and bankside rubble when taking your trophy shot.

4. Towel

5. Ring for hanging net

6. Back pocket for items 3 & 4

I also carry a small wallet with spare leaders, tippet rings, indicators, etc

Other essentials include…

Net with magnetic release
Collapsable Wading staff
Peaked cap for eye/head protection.
Kitchen roll sheet to replace amadou

I carried an Amadou patch for years to help dry out waterlogged flies but they’re not cheap and they eventually get clogged with floatant etc. A piece of Kitchen roll is cheaper, kinder to cdc and much more absorbent than Amadou…unless you drop it in the water!

 

So, how did my pared down SSV perform on its inaugural outing?

Well, there’ll be a couple of gear upgrades but generally, it did the job.