As our fishing season heats up, we find ourselves eking out more and more time to hit the water, and sometimes that means keeping gear in your car so you're always ready for a spur-of-the-moment trip. So we've gathered a quick list of essentials to keep in your fishing mobile any time you head out on the water so you are as prepared as possible the next time you head out fishing.
First Aid Kit
First Aid should always be a concern when your fishing, even if it's just enough to stop bleeding in a cut or a fall while wading. While you should probably keep one in your car anyhow, it is never a bad idea to always be prepared for a worst-case scenario and be ready when something happens.
The kit above is what I keep in my car and stuff into my daypack when I head out to the water and has come in handy a few times after getting cut up on brush while hiking and a few hooks that found themselves buried in my arm.
Wader Repair Kit
Nothing is worse than midway through a fishing day realizing that there is a hole somewhere in your waders. Even on warm days, this can just get uncomfortable and if you don't have the right gear on underneath you can quickly end up in a chilly, wet situation that is just no fun. So we recommend keeping
this Gear Aid FD Repair kit in your car at all times to make wader repairs in the field quick and easy! For those of you who are
Guide Series subscribers, you may remember getting a kit just like this a few months ago.
Towel and Change of Clothes
It only takes one fall into the water to fill your waders up and that is the quickest way to sometimes ruin a fishing trip, however by keeping a spare change of dry clothes and a towel or 2 in your car, you can quickly right your mistake, get dry again and head back out to the water! I also keep a hand towel in my waders while I'm fishing. It's a quick way to dry your hands off especially if the days are still chilly in your neck of the woods!
Fishing Log
Now this one is less about preparedness and more about starting to fish smarter. Keeping a
fishing log of your days on the water is the best way to identify patterns in your fish's behavior and help you out every time on the water by keeping track or the conditions, what flies you fished and what fish you caught. Plus you have hard evidence to show fishing buddies when they doubt your latest fishing reports!
Spare Fly Rod Set Up
The second worst way to have a fishing day end is with a snapped rod or malfunctioning reel. The easiest way to remedy this is to keep a backup set in your car when you head out. Even if its a lighter or heavier setup than you need for your current situation because trust me you don't want to be the odd angler out having to watch your friends fish after you snapped your rod on a bad cast (Trust me, this has happened to me a time or 2). So keep a spare in your trunk so you don't have to worry about the damaged rod until you get home and can call in the repair!
https://postflybox.com/blog/2019/04/19/tribe-travel-journal-ben-bechter-heads-to-argentina/
https://postflybox.com/blog/2019/04/17/how-to-set-up-pike-and-muskie-leaders/
https://postflybox.com/blog/2019/04/15/fly-fishing-for-smallmouth-bass-gear-essentials/