To me, one of the most interesting challenges of fly fishing on multi-day hikes is coming up with a system that allows you to carry all of the essentials without lugging a 15 lb. vest up the trail. Although my system is constantly evolving, here’s one that I found works well. Total weight (including rod): 7.3 oz.
Contents (from top, then left to right).
1. Tenkara Iwana 12’ rod. I don’t carry a case.
2. Gossamer Gear Hip belt pocket. This can be worn on my belt, hip belt, or I can tie paracord around the loops on each end and wear it around my neck.
3. Stream Works Micro Forceps. These also have scissors built in, eliminating the need to carry nippers.
4. Cliff Day’s Worth fly box. Great organizational features and customizable.
5. Tippet spool. I change the size depending on where I’m going but it’s usually 5x or 6x.
6. Tenkara fly line and spool for storage.
7. Micro dropper bottle containing floatant. I don’t need to carry the full-size bottle.
All in all, this is a very compact system and I haven’t felt the need to add anything yet. Keep in mind, this is for small stream trout fishing only. So what does your system look like? I started a thread in the forum for you to share.
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Jason,
I am from Missouri and I usually can’t combine my trout fishing with backpacking like people in Colorado can. I have my normal 10 pound vest, ( I should weigh it ), and every once in a while I try to get it down to 1 fly box, I just can’t ever really scale it down. But when I’m on a tail water (Lake tanneycomo, White river, or Norfork river) or a spring (Bennett Springs State Park or Roaring River State Park) I am not walking that far and weight is not an issue. Any way the reason for my comment, I would be interested in a picture of your one box of flies. I just don’t have the will power to do just one fly box. One more thing, how does the tenkara rods do on big open water with 14inch fish and heaven forbid these tailwaters can easily produce larger fish. I think I will end up buying one, just wondering which one. I have a couple bamboo rods and really starting to enjoy slower rods. From a midflex to a fullflex rod, and normally we put about a one weight heavier line on most of our rods.
Thanks Ross,
Sorry, I should have stated that. It’s a medium.
What size of hip pocket? S M or L? Thanks.
Love the Website
cool site and article, can you do a start up kit for a noob to flyfishing?
low cost if poss?
thx again
P
Cheaper, smaller, lighter and much cooler than the micro dropper bottle for floatant is the tiny fish shaped soy sauce bottles that come with sushi.
You can even bore a lanyard hole in the tail.
Great article. Love your site. You will be seeing a lot of me!
I recently found a much cheaper rod that looks a lot like the tenkaras. I know very little about fishing, but wonder what those that do think. Here’s the link:
http://www.sourcingmap.com/352m-portable-telescopic-sections-travel-fishing-pole-rod-p-52826.html
For nine bucks, you can’t beat the price…
Hmmmm…looks like a similar design but I can’t believe the quality is anywhere as good as Tenkara USA rods.
the rod listed in the link above comes with over 170 gramms – not the “reel” thing for tenkara-fishing. the genuine tenklaras comes in aprox the half of weight.
myself owns a tenkarausa “ayu”, and the somewhat better quality and exclusive designed swiss tenkaras from edelweiss-fishing (e-deruwaisu). latter packs also smaller than regular tenkaras.
cheers
ralph
Hi Ralph,
What makes you think this is not a real Tenkara Rod? It is in fact a Tenkara USA Iwana. Do you have a link to the Swiss versions?
I have a Tenkara rod I bought for £3 here in the UK. It performs the job perfectly well. There is absolutely no need to pay $100+ for such a simple tool.
Also, if you’re serious about ultralight fishing then a handline is the only way to go. I can catch fish with a less than 40grams/1.5oz of equipment.
BTW Jason, it seems a little odd that you have put together such a blatantly commercial website when previously you seemed to be an advocate of the build-it-yourself-and-share-the-knowledge side of backpacking.
Shame but I guess we all have to make a living somehow.
Hi Dave,
I don’t think it’s “blatantly commercial”. I don’t have a lot of content yet because it’s been winter so it was hard for me to do any flyfishing videos. But now that spring is here, I will be adding more content. With the blog, videos, and forum being the majority of the site and only one tab dedicated to selling gear, I think the balance will be appropriate. I’m still an advocate of DIY and you will see that once the new content is up. My goal is not to make money with this site. Believe me, I spent several thousand dollars on just the website design and I’m certainly not making any money. The only reason I have a store is because I wanted a place to assemble unique gear that works well for backpacking and fly fishing that you can’t find at places like REI or Cabela’s. If it helps me recover some of the costs of the site, that would be great. But I’m doing it more for people who share the same passions I do and appreciate unique gear. I will have some cool new products that you haven’t seen before coming out soon. But if the commercial side rubs you the wrong way, feel free to ignore it and enjoy the blog and the forums. Anyway, thanks for your comments and I hope you stick around to see what the site evolves into.
Cool! Great to read that your DIY principles are still sound. I definitely will stick around to watch this (very nice looking) site progress.
Good luck Jason
Hey Dave, that’s great to hear! I just posted the first of many “How to” videos to come: http://backpackflyfishing.com/blog/2010/03/21/how-to-tie-the-go-to-midge/
I just took delivery of the Tenkara rod suggested by Justin. http://www.sourcingmap.com/352m-portable-telescopic-sections-travel-fishing-pole-rod-p-52826.html
It is amazing! Delivered to my door all the way from China for only £6.50.
I have to agree with Dave that this is intended to be a commercial site. When looking for information about poles there is none other than the ones being sold. I ordered a selection of rods from http://www.sourcingmap.com and they are awesome. I figured that if they were not of good quality I would let my kids use them. Well, they are nice and I saved enough money to get some Titanium gear to save weight on. When it breaks and they all will if used, then I will not be crying over the loss.
http://www.sourcingmap.com
Hi Firehorn,
Like I said above, the site barely has any content yet. But soon, it will be a much better resource and content driven. Check back from time to time and you’ll see. good luck with the rods. I hope they work out for you!
Hi Ross,
Well if you’re not hiking far in, I don’t think you need to restrict yourself to one fly box since weight is not really such an issue. This setup is really for people hiking miles into the backcountry and staying at least one night. Tenkara rods can handle fish over 14″ (look at the Yamame) but it might not be right for the style of tailwater fishing you’re doing. I’ll get a photo of my fly box up soon. I’m working on a lot of content to bring this site back to life so be patient and good things will come.
For a truly ultra light fishing rig that you can build for pennies, check this awesome link: http://www.walkincountry.com/fishing/mini-survival-fishing-kit
Jason, I’ve been following your websites for a long time, and I’m astounded by the string of comments here. Sure, backpackflyfishing is linked to the concept of tenkara fishing because it’s what Jason, as an expert lightweight hiker and fly fishing guide prefers to use. Sure, he recommends DIY for backpacking, but that doesn’t mean everything he does has to be the same. Conveniently, he’s created different blogs for these. The walkincountry link provided is for the kind of person who wants to randomly catch fish with a line and a gatorade bottle with no technique or challenge. If you want to do something like that, get a cat-o-matic automatic reel from bass pro or a fishing noodle from walmart. Jason is sharing a technique for getting at the fun and challenge of fly fishing with equipment light and strong enough for backpacking. Keep up the good work, Jason.
Thanks Erik. Just to clarify for everyone, I don’t push Tenkara rods because I’m trying to make a sale–I push them because I really believe they are the perfect fly rods for backpacking. For all I care, people can go buy them directly from Tenkara USA or anywhere else they’re available instead of me. I really just want to help get the message out about them. The truth is, I haven’t even touched any of my Western fly rods since the day I first cast my Tenkara USA Iwana. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever fish with a reel again. I’m just enjoying Tenkara too much right now. Anyone who has fished with one probably knows what I’m talking about. As for DIY content, I already have some fly-tying videos in the blog for those of you who tie and have some other videos and blog posts planned for DIY backpacking and flyfishing gear. I hope you enjoy them!
What a great site!
Thanks for all the great info Jason.
Cheers.