Best Fly Fishing Packs
Published July 10th, 2024
The best fly fishing packs have come a long way from the old cloth vest that grandpa used to wear under the wicker creel he slung over his shoulder. Today’s fly fishing vests are lighter and more water resistant than their predecessors. Plus, today’s anglers can choose from a slew of chest packs, hip packs, sling packs, and backpacks designed specifically for fishing.
The only downside to these advancements is that it’s gotten tougher to choose the smartest set up to carry our favorite flies and gizmos. That’s why we created this post. Our Gearhead® Experts have compiled some tips on choosing a fly fishing pack and curated a list of our favorite fly fishing vests, chest packs, hip packs, sling packs, and backpacks on the market today.
Fly Fishing Vests
Fly fishing vests may be the traditional choice, but they’re as viable as ever in 2024. Like always, vests keep our essentials easily accessible and highly organized in dedicated pockets. Now that they’re made with more water-resistant materials and ventilated mesh, vests are more comfortable and quick drying than they used to be, too. Vests don’t have the storage capacity of backpacks and sling packs, so they’re not the best choice for our most gear-intensive outings. But they keep our most important gear and tackle right in front of us with a low-bulk fit that doesn’t get in the way of our fishing. That makes fly fishing vests a timeless choice for the typical angler.
Top Fly Fishing Vest
Our top pick, the Patagonia Stealth Pack Vest packs in a plethora of pockets in a ventilated mesh material that’s much more comfortable than the packs of yore. The front vertical pockets offer easy access to fly boxes, leaders, and basic tools while the fly patch, drop-in flotant pocket, and docking points keep the items you use the most right next to your hands. Patagonia also snuck in large internal pockets underneath the front pockets for jumbo fly boxes along with four more zippered compartments and a hidden rod holder. For even more storage, the back panel features zippered compartments, a D-ring for our net, and our favorite—a removable waterproof sleeve for our keys, phone, and tech toys. Sure, the Stealth Pack Vest may have the capacity of a small storage unit, but it’s not bulky, thanks to an adjustable suspension system that’s derived from running vests for an athletic fit.
Winning Features
- Quick-drying polyester mesh for comfort
- 15 pockets for organized angling
- Adjustable suspension for an athletic fit
- Includes waterproof sleeve for valuable
- 1lb 8.3oz
Best Traditional Fly Fishing Vest
With a time-tested design, the Simms Guide Vest is our Old Faithful. The pockets are perfectly sized for whatever organizational system you prefer with a symmetrical layout of chest pockets, horizontal zippered pockets, and vertical flap pockets on both sides of the vest. We’re big fans of the integrated retractors (why hasn’t anyone else thought of that?!) and can use the additional 4 D-rings to attach any other tools and accessories we need. The back panel features a water bottle pocket and deep bellowed cargo pocket for fish or extra layers. The organization may be old-school utility at its best, but the DWR-treated nylon and polyester mesh keep this vest much drier than traditional fly fishing vests. Whether we’re a guide or not, the Simms Guide Vest can carry the essentials—and non-essentials— for a full day of fishing.
Winning Features
- DWR-treated nylon sheds light moisture
- Padded collar for comfort
- 26 pockets for well-organized fishing
- D-ring on back collar for net leash
- 1lb 3oz
Best Fly Fishing Chest Packs
High and tight isn’t only smart for baseball pitchers. Wearing a chest pack high and tight keeps our fishing stuff out of the water and out of the way—yet right in front of us, where it’s easy to access. Chest packs are good picks when you’re wading deeper water and not carrying the kitchen sink. They have just enough capacity for the basics without bogging us down with extra gear and tackle that we don’t need in normal situations. We like chest packs for short, after-work outings and minimalist trips up and down blue lines to cast small bugs at natives. Here are some of our favorite fly fishing chest packs.
Best Chest Pack For $100
The Umpqua Northfork Chest Pack checks in at a nice price point with plenty of storage for a few fly boxes and basic tackle. Two adjustable shoulder straps center the pack on your chest, seating it securely in front of you for easy access to its spacious main compartment and a zippered front compartment that fits your terminal tackle well. We’re big fans of the detachable back panel, which sneaks in some extra storage while adding a net sleeve or anchor point for our net leash.
Winning Features
- Budget-friendly price point
- Net compatible
- External attachment to add accessories
Fishpond San Juan Vertical Chest Pack
Best Minimalist Chest Pack
For those who like to travel light, the Fish Pond San Juan Vertical Chest Pack keeps things simple. This minimalist pack hangs from a basic neck strap and provides just enough room for the essentials, paring things down to keep our focus on the water and the fish. A bestseller for two decades, the San Juan Vertical Chest Pack is extremely popular with anglers who are just starting out, and it packs everything we need for a few fun hours on the water.
Winning Features
- Room for 1-2 small fly boxes
- Versatile, simple, and affordable
- Drop-down fly bench to access key flies
Best Fly Fishing Sling Packs
A sling pack keeps our stuff slung behind our back until we need it—then we simply slide it to the front to dig out whatever we need. Sling packs usually offer more capacity than a vest or chest pack and easier access than a backpack. At the same time, they don’t let us get to everything as easily as a vest or chest pack. We sling it when we’ve got extra gear to lug or want to carry a water bottle comfortably.
Fishpond Thunderhead 13L Sling
Most Durable Sling Pack
With 13 liters of capacity, the Fishpond Thunderhead Sling lets you carry extra fly boxes, tools, spools, and terminal tackle in waterproof and water-resistant pockets. You can keep your flies, tech, and stashed clothes dry in the watertight main compartment, thanks to the TPU-coated fabric and fully waterproof TRU Zip seal. Plus, there’s plenty of extra storage with the water-resistant front pocket, Hypalon attachment points for accessories, integrated net slot, and two lariat gear straps to secure a rod tube for the hike in and out. The padded shoulder strap also features a convenient front workstation with easy access to a fly patch, D-rings to attach a flotant holder, and a hemostat dock.
Winning Features
- 900-denier TPU-coated material
- NewStream material made from recycled H2O bottles
- Waterproof and water-resistant compartments
- Removable waist strap
- 13 liters of storage
Simms Dry Creek Z 12L Sling
Best Minimalist Sling Pack
The Simms Dry Creek Z 12L Sling is another stellar pack for anglers with a waterproof main compartment and water-resistant front compartment for quick-access items. That main compartment opens wide to stuff away a ton of tackle, tippets, fly boxes, and accessories—maybe a sandwich or a shed layer—keeping things simple with one large pocket and two stretch mesh pockets with a key clip. The outside of the pack features an integrated net slot and attachment points for accessories. With its added water protection, this is a good walk-and-wade sling pack for saltwater or freshwater adventures.
Winning Features
- 420-denier, TPU-coated material
- Waterproof and water-resistant compartments
- Integrated net sleeve
- 12 liters of storage
- 5lb
Most Organized Sling Pack
The Simms Freestone Sling Pack is a fully featured option for organized anglers. If you like everything in its place, the Freestone features plenty of pockets to stash and separate gear. An internal key clip, integrated net slot with net leash D-ring, and externally mounted flotant holster and tippet caddy further fine-tune your organization system. The 12-liter capacity can handle a big day of fishing, and the compression-molded workstation is convenient when we’ve slid the pack to the front to re-rig our rod and reel.
Winning Features
- 330-denier nylon ripstop, PU coated
- Durable water repellent coating
- Pockets, accessory docks, and workstation
- 12 liters of storage
- 1lb 12.8oz
Patagonia Guidewater 15L Sling Pack
Fully Submersible Sling Pack
With an IPX-7 waterproof rating, the Patagonia Guidewater 15L Sling Pack is fully submersible, making it our pick for deep or wavy waters. The straps and zippers accommodate either right- or left-handed casters, making it a versatile, waterproof sling for angling adventures. We like the removable organizer, which we can mount inside or outside pack, and the net scabbard, which is integrated into the back panel where it’s easy to reach yet out of the way. The roomy main pocket holds everything you need while external lash points and a secure rod tube holder make it easy to stow your rod for long hikes in and out of the holy waters.
Winning Features
- Fully submersible
- PU- and TPU-coated recycled nylon
- Waterproof zippers and materials
- Suits right-handed and left-handed casters
- 1lb 7.6oz
- 15 liters of storage
Best Fly Fishing Hip Packs
Vests aren’t the only fly fishing packs that are back in style again. So are fanny packs—now called hip packs, lumbar packs, or utility packs. These small packs are similar in size to chest packs, but they ride down low—where it feels more natural to carry some weight on our body. Plus, many hip packs have stretch side pockets that fit our water bottles, making them much easier to carry. They’re not a smart choice for deep water. However, hip packs are minimalist solutions for carrying our essentials comfortably when we’re wading shallow streams.
Patagonia Guidewater Hip Pack
Top Fly Fishing Hip Pack
Like its sling pack cousin above, the Patagonia Guidewater Hip Pack is fully submersible, providing peace of mind that your phone, keys, and flies won’t get soaked by a misstep in the river. With 9-liter capacity, this hip pack has plenty of storage, including two stow pockets, an integrated net scabbard, a rod tube holder, external lash points for accessories, and a removable organizer pocket that you can fix to the inside or outside of the pack. Patagonia sized this waterproof hip pack for day trips with extra space for a sandwich, shed layer, and extra spools and fly boxes.
Winning Features
- PU-/TPU-coated recycled nylon
- IPX-7 waterproof
- 1lb 6oz
- 9-liter capacity
Umpqua Northfork Waist Pack
Best Fly Fishing Waist Pack
Umpqua’s Northfork Waist Pack lets you wade shallow water with easy access to our flies and accessories. The spacious main compartment fits up to four full-sized fly boxes while the secondary compartment and internal pockets accommodate more fly boxes and organize your leaders, tippets, indicators, and terminal tackle. We also enjoy how this waist belt includes an external fly patch, water bottle pocket, and integrated net slot in easy-toreach places for convenient fishing.
Winning Features
- Hauls up to six full-sized fly boxes
- Water bottle pocket fits a Nalgene bottle
- VersiLoop accessory attachments
Yakoda Convertible Utility Pack
Most Versatile Hip Pack
Not sure if you want a hip pack, sling pack, or chest pack? Try the Yakoda Convertible Utility Pack. It’s a 3-in-1 storage solution that you can wear around our waist, sling over our shoulder, or convert into a chest pack. This versatile pack features a smorgasbord of internal and external pockets to keep your fly boxes, phone, keys, and leaders in predictable places. We also appreciate the tippet holder and external tabs to attach our nippers, forceps, and other tools where they’re easily accessible.
Winning Features
- Wear as hip pack, chest pack, or sling pack
- External pockets for easy-access items
- Includes tippet holder and removable shoulder strap
- Made in Colorado
Best Fishing Backpacks
Finally, fishing backpacks are our pick when we’re hauling heaps of gear, facing changing weather conditions that require extra layers, or hiking miles to escape the crowds to fish less pressured waters. On the plus side, backpacks provide more storage and more ergonomic carrying than other families of fly fishing packs. The downside is that it’s hard to access gear when it’s behind our back. That’s why we turn to fishing backpacks for multiday trips and our most gear-intensive fishing escapes.
Top Fly Fishing Backpack
The Patagonia Stealth backpack ups your storage capacity to 30 liters with a waist belt, padded shoulder straps, and sternum strap to help carry your load. We like how the backpack-version of the Stealth features a wide range of pockets. Beyond the large, sideentry front pocket, we like the zippered top pocket to store our sunglasses, dual side pockets for our rod tubes and water bottles, the removable waterproof pocket for our keys and phone, a net holder, hydration bladder pocket, and external attachment points for our accessories. For a totally tricked out system, we pair our Patagonia Stealth backpack with the Stealth Convertible Vest to add its easy-access front packets to the backpack for easy access to our main fly boxes, tools, and terminal tackle .
Winning Features
- Durable water repellent coating
- Hydration-bladder compatible
- 1lb 12oz
- 30-liter capacity
Orvis Pro Waterproof Roll Top Backpack
Best Waterproof Fly Fishing Backpack
The Orvis PRO Waterproof Roll Top Backpack can take on the toughest fishing conditions with a waterproof ballistic nylon that’s highly abrasion- and puncture-resistant. The 20-liter size is more compact than the pack above with a roll-top that compresses our load when it’s not packed to capacity. We like that minimalist style, yet there’s still plenty of protective space for us gear hogs to freak out on our gear a bit, pack some sandwiches and a layer for bad weather, attach some accessories to the shoulder straps, and strap a rod tube to the side. We like this streamlined, waterproof pack for float trips, threatening skies, and waters where an accidental swim wouldn’t be too surprising.
Winning Features
- 840-denier, TPU coated fabric
- Fully waterproof
- 2lb
- 20-liter capacity
Choosing The Right Fly Fishing Pack
As with most gear decisions, choosing the best fly fishing pack mostly boils down to your end use, the trade-offs of different packs and vests, and your personal preferences. Vests offer a great balance between storage and accessibility, making them a safe choice for many anglers. We choose backpacks and sling packs for more gear -intensive fishing trips and choose chest packs or hip packs when we’re traveling lighter—chest packs when we’re wading waist-deep water and hip packs for knee deep water. Our picks should help you narrow down your options to some of the best fly fishing vests, chest packs, hip packs, sling packs, and backpacks for anglers.
FAQ
Q: Are sling packs good for fly fishing?
A: Sling packs are good for fly fishing if you’re carrying extra gear, prefer to keep your pack
out of the way, and don’t mind a slight delay in accessing your tools, flies, and tackle as you
swing the pack to the front, where you can reach your gear.
Q: What’s the difference between a fly fishing sling pack and hip pack?
A: Sling packs use a shoulder strap while hip packs use a belt to fit around your waist, hips,
or lumbar. Sling packs generally hold more gear than hip packs, too.
Q: What to put in your fly fishing vest?
A: We fill the pockets of our fly fishing vest with small fly boxes, tippets, leaders, split shot,
flotant, and strike indicators while attaching our nippers, hemostat, thermometer, and
other accessories to D-rings, tabs, and accessory docks on the exterior of the vest.
