A couple of weeks ago one of our readers, Bill Lenehan, sent in a great idea for a discussion on our blog. He wants to know what cool pieces of gear you bring along on fishing trips!
Here’s Bill’s background on the idea.
“The post from your experts on the one odd ball thing they keep in their bags was interesting. I thought it would also be interesting to reverse the question a bit: amongst your regular guests [or our readers], many of whom probably travel to fish all over the world, what ‘odd ball’ things do they bring that make their trip more enjoyable? It might be a piece of fishing equipment (i.e. some folks travel with large hard plastic fly line stripping baskets no matter where they go) or it might be a tool (i.e. corkscrew or a HAD neck sleeve [Buff]) or maybe something to make the non-fishing bits better (I would never go to Christmas Island again without a bottle of Tabasco; a beer koozie is great in the Bahamas). I have travelled to fish a bit and it always seems that there is someone at the lodge who has some great idea that clicks in a ‘why didn’t I think of bringing that’ sort of way.”
We couldn’t agree with Bill more. So let us know – what unusual pieces of gear do you bring along that make your destination trip more enjoyable?
Just use the comment form below and leave us all a note to let us know!
And by the way, if you’ve got an idea for a post, do like Bill and send us an email at info@denekistaging.wpengine.com. We’d love to hear from you!
You know, if I'm going for more than a day or an afternoon, I always bring a Bible. I stick it in a ziploc bag and then into my pack.
Many years ago now, I climbed down into a canyon in the Cascade Mountains of Washington for a weekend of wilderness seclusion and plenty of fishing.
I got both.
Sunday morning I woke up, having slept on a ledge over the river. I made a camp breakfast over fire and then got out my Bible for a time of worship. I think it was one of the most powerful, emotional, connected-to-God moments I'd ever had in nature, if not ever had.
Since then, I look for these chances to pray and be with Father out in the Great Outdoors, and it always seems to pay off in meaningful ways for me.
No doubt, there's more to this fishing thing than catching fish.
Teeg Stouffer
For years I've carried a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) whenever I'm going to be far from immediate help. The same technology in a boat is called an EPIRB, in a plane it's an ELT.
A key component of the Cospas-Sarsat system, essentially it's a beacon that will transmit your GPS coordinates in a distress signal that is monitored by satellite and received in various mission control centers around the world operated by the US, Russia, France, and Australia.
The U.S. Mission Control Center is located in Suitland, MD and operated by NOAA. It is co-located with their Satellite Operations Center. Check the system out at http://sarsat.noaa.gov
If you find yourself in deep doo doo, it's a way to call in the cavalry 24×7. Once a distress call is received, the Mission Control Center dispatches a rescue mission to either the US Coast Guard or the US Air Force through the Rescue Coordination Centers operated by these services.
The two leading manufacturers of personal locator beacons are ACR Electronics and McMurdo. They have come down in price dramatically over the last 10 years. PLB units cost roughly $300 and are about the size of a large cell phone.
Mike
I carried a bottle opener that played the WSU fight song to Mexico. Every bottle we opened made you almost stand up and cheer. GO COUGS!
Bryan Whiting gave us this input:
An extra camera
…which we give to our guide each day and tell them to take lots of pictures. The fishing is so good it is hard to stop and take pictures. In addition, the guide takes a lot of pictures besides us holding fish, which we really appreciate. In 2004 we came home with 40 pictures. In 2006 and 2008 we came home with over 300. With digital cameras it is obviously easy to eliminate those we don't wish to save at no cost.