Tenkara Tuesday – The 2012 Vedavoo Chest Pack

I thought I’d take the opportunity today to highlight a piece of equipment that I’ve recently added to my tenkara arsenal.  I’m a bit of a fishing bag junkie, so it’s probably not going to be a surprise that it is a bag (of sorts).  

Ever since Vedavoo‘s fly fishing product line first caught my eye thanks to a Facebook post from Cam at The Fiberglass Manifesto last summer, I couldn’t help but think the small chest pack in their offering would be perfect for tenkara, noting my excitement in a Wednesday Nibbles post.  Although I didn’t act on the impulse to buy right away, I stored Vedavoo and its “Made in the America” products in the back of my head – and when they recently launched the 2012 version of their chest pack, I just had to pull the trigger.  Willpower is not my strength.

Bag in hand, and now taken out for a spin on the water a few times, I have to admit that this mini chest pack is pretty slick.  Efficiently streamlined, it crams a ton of bells and whistles into a very compact 8 inch by 10 inch package.

Starting with the front, you’ll find a “not quite” neoprene pouch that has a little bit of give in it.  I don’t know what the fabric is…  I toss a small camera in there and it stays put without worry.  A small fly box or cell phone would probably fit too.

Also loops at bottom, I tossed my fishing license on one.

There’s vertical daisy chain webbing to clip widgets and gizmos to – hemostats and nippers are clipped in this pic, but I didn’t even use half of the available loops.  You’ll also find a drawstring with a plastic toggle at the top to conveniently hold some tippet spools, in this case streamside “lost and found.”

Flip it over and there’s a large compartment for a fly box (or even better, a flask), as well as a smaller zippered pocket to hold valuables, like car keys or Starburst.  I happen to keep my extra tenkara spools in there.  No nonsense, very clean.

The chest pack can be worn several ways – around your neck, with included removable neck strap…or on your belt, by replacing the neck strap with included removable belt loops…or as part of an interchangeable system with the larger Tightlines shoulder pack.  The only thing I wish is that the neck strap was either adjustable to be longer, or that it came with an extra section of “add on length” so the pack could also be worn as a man purse satchel.

In short, the Vedavoo chest pack provides a great alternative to fishing out of your pockets for light fishing trips, making for in my opinion, a great tenkara companion.

While this really wasn’t supposed to be a gear review, I realize a lot of it does border on such, so to keep things above board I will state that I purchased this chest pack from Vedavoo at full $49 retail, less a 15% off discount code.  Heck, if you want to do the same, just enter T! as a coupon code at checkout and watch the savings pile up.

I’m getting nothing for writing this post other than the satisfaction of passing along a suggestion about something I think is cool.  (Although Scott Hunter, if you’re out there reading this, one of your Sakasa Kebari tee shirts would be rad – hint, hint).

Are you a Western tenkara angler? Do you have a story, pictures, video, fly recipe, or simply a fishing report from one of your recent tenkara adventures? If so, Troutrageous! wants to hear from you for a future Tenkara Tuesday post! Feel free to send an email HERE, or check out this previous post for more information.