- Lypsyl - ever since I was around 15 years old I used to get cracked chapped lips in the cold or heat. I then started to use lypsyl to keep them moist and…well….un cracked. This has helped me plenty of times when I have been fishing and realised I have no floatant - a little drop of the lypsyl and the fly floats all day.
- Camera - ok, some people are going to say this is not a necessity (and some people are going to say my photos are rubbish anyway) but I like taking my camera fishing and taking pictures of the fish I catch and the people I fish with. It gives me a record of the places I fish - on a winter’s night I can relive those hot summer days when I fished with friends.
- Sunglasses (Polaroid’s) - there are few things that would make me turn around and go home - I reckon sunglasses are up there with a rod and line when it comes to necessity. Other than for spotting fish they just make fishing more pleasurable, they keep the sun out of your eyes and can stop a nasty headache developing because of the glare off the water. I have fished without my hat - occasionally I forget to put it on - I never forget to put my sunglasses on. There is also the safety aspect - I had to go back to the house last week and pick them up - my wife asked why I needed sunglasses on a cloudy winter’s day - she understood after I had shown her the enormous pike hook that would be swinging past my eyes at speed.
- Water - I can honestly say I have never been truly thirsty in my life - I need to force myself to take water with me and to drink regularly. If I did not I would not fish on top form.
- My Buff - I have two buffs - a polar one and a plain material one. The polar one is great when it is cold as it can turn into a wee hat when it is not keeping my neck warm. The material one keeps the sun off my neck and covers as a midge stopper during the summer.
What can you not do without ?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Scott // Dec 20, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Visit Fly Fishing In Yellowstone and view his The Mystery Fly post from a few days ago. That will give you a good reason to always wear your sunglasses.
2 scott // Dec 21, 2007 at 12:27 am
Im becoming increasingly dependant on my camera when i go fishing, waterproof trousers aswell because i never wade on the waters i fish and i need some protection from a wet arse come lunchtime! And i know its technically essential but i need to force myself to remember my reel these days after a cursed trip last summer. I trudged for two hours on an epic mission through the campsies to get to a burn i had been desperate to fish, I quickly took my rod from its tube, found my fly box, hang on a minute…where is??? im sure i…… SHIT! no fishing that day but a nice walk (sort of) made up for it.
3 Alistair // Dec 21, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Scott 1 - a pheasant tail nymph in th eye - ouch !
Scott2
- Sounds like hell m8 - a bit like seducing a lovely women and finding out she is a bloke !
4 Steve // Dec 21, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Number one is always polaroids, I would rather forget my rod than specs!
Next on my list of must haves is a fullers earth paste and a tub of muclin. Tungsten putty also comes in handy for tweaking the weight of weighted nymphs!
Hope the comment on seduced women being blokes is not from personal experience Alistair:-)
5 scott // Dec 23, 2007 at 12:02 am
I guess a tranny encounter would be worse than leaving your reel 15 miles away from where you intend to fish!
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