I went to Cabela's to buy a new fly vest and left with a pack. The guy at the flyfishing area said that flyfishermen today use packs more than vests. I took it home and fit all my tools and fly boxes in with plenty of space left over. Here is the link to the Pack What does everyone use for the BWCA, a pack or vest?

I have never taken a vest to the BWCA. I use an LL Bean day pack. In it goes my rain gear, lunch/snacks, water bottles,first aid kit and a couple of fly boxes, a couple of zip lock bags with my nippers, forceps, tippet, etc. I usually have two fly rods (a 6 wgt and a 9 wgt). I also take line cleaner (very small bottle - from Orvis - and a small cloth).

I take packs when in a canoe. Actually, its a plano tackle bag that I rigged to function as a thwart bag that can hold my gear. I have some pics of my in-boat set up that I will post if I can find them.

Moonman.

Hi SV,

Here is a picture of my set up as mentioned.



I added some webbing and clips to attach the Plano tackle bag to the thwart. This fits all the gear I generally take. Keeps everything up and out of the bilge water, also its nice for a hike in to a smaller back lake. It just slips into my main pack when portaging etc.I also have part of a Berkley wall-mount rod holder that I velcro around the thwart to act as a lightweight, rod organizer. Works well. My rod holder is a titelock. Seems like its not that much used in the BW, but in Ontario lots of guys use them. All aluminum, super light and strong, completely adjustable etc. I screwed down the base to the thwart and the holder can be removed easily. You can also get the reg version that just uses a clamp system to attach to the side of teh hull. My finder is the new Garmin Echo 100. Works great, much better than I thought it would, for detail etc., but really I only use finders to show depth, reefs and drop-offs etc. I re-wired it to run off AA batteries - super easy. I have since gotten rid of the tranducer suction cup. I rigged up a foam cut out, shaped like the transducer puck and siliconed it to the bottom of the hull. The puck just sits in there and with a few drops of water, reads through the hull no probs. Some people have mentioned they didn't think you could get a reading through a cedar strip canoe but it works like a charm. Also, I used the same set of batteries the whole trip (reg. alkalines 5 days). Next up is to get rid of/shorten some of the seemingly 1000 feet of transducer cable!

Moonman.

Thanks all for your help. I really like your stripper moonman. I will take a BDB and tie up my pack to keep it out of the water on the bottom of the canoe.

I don't use either in BWCA. I think they are too heavy. I have a pfd with pockets which hold pliers, forceps, nippers, whistle, floatant, wire tippet, tippet, spare leader, knife.

For the rest of it, including fly boxes, a Boga Grip, sometimes rain gear, is use an ultralight soil nylon stuff sack with shoulder straps. It is completely waterproof, almost weightless, and is perfect for day trip fishing from a base camp. I can use it for other activities also so it is versatile. This is what I use:

Day pack

I am gearing up for this year's trip and I am changing my approach.

I used to use multiple fly boxes, labeled, to organize flies. This works best for satisfying my tendency for obsession, but in the canoe it results in a jumbled mess after changing out a bunch of flies. So this year I am taking a single box, Cliff's Bugger Beast. It is very large, mostly waterproof, holds large flies. I will put an adhesive patch of slit foam on the outside for temporary parking of wet flies.

The box is too large for a waste pack, but fits easily in my day pack. It has a large handle and could be lashed to the outside of a portage pack if need be. It latches shut so it won't accidentally open. The foam is slit and securely holds the flies - much better with large hooks than conventional foam.

Bugger Beast

That is a nice fly box Jerold, When I get a few more of the Bass bugs flies I would like one.

They make an adhesive foam patch that can be affixed the the outer surface for holding wet flies in the boat. It is no pig, but I like that it is substantial enough that it won't blow away, or blow out of my hand like some of the foam fly boxes. However, I don't think it floats...