Shedding Weight, Part 1: The Ultra-Light Revolution Hits Fly Fishing

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Introducing our "Shedding Weight" content series, all about the latest lightest fly-fishing gear to help you get into the backcountry. It has been organized into multiple parts, published over the coming days. In this first installment, we introduce the topic, followed by in-depth coverage of waders, boots, packs, and other backcountry essentials. 

Find links to the entire series below.

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There was a time when putting in big hours and big vertical with a 60-pound pack seemed OK. Or perhaps time has erased the pain? In the nick of time for my broken body, the backpacking industry figured out the complexities of working with gossamer fabrics that lightened the load. It has gotten to the point where it is not “lightweight backpacking gear”; it is just “backpacking gear”. Fortunately, that paradigm shift seems to be having an impact on the fly-fishing market.

While the fly-fishing world is not quite into fast packing mode, some strides have been made. That makes accessing those remote waters just a bit more efficient. In this review we look at wader, boot and bag kits from Orvis, Patagonia, and Simms.

Every product that comes to market generally starts with a design brief. That is the product line manager’s vision of where the product will fit into their assortment’s feature set, and price point structure. Along the way they also likely did an analysis of the competitive landscape. Word of mouth conversations with customers and retailers also plays a part. Whether lighter gear is signaling a strategic shift based on consumer demand, or brands attempting to sell more gear to the same people, is irrelevant. Lighter weight when you are putting miles in is a good thing.

In this series I set my sights on lightweight use for backcountry use. My 4-day pack is at 20 pounds, and I give up nothing in the way of user experience compared to 60-pound loads. I expected that same level of comfort and functionality from the tested gear. My use may be a 10- to 12-hour day trip with several thousand feet of elevation gain, or stuffing the kit into a backpack for a multi-day trip.

The Ultra-Light Fly-Fishing Gear Testing Environment

For most of May I fished the upper reaches of Colorado’s Rio Grande basin. Base elevation was 9,000 feet, and I frequently went into lakes at 11,000 feet (snowline). Air temps ranged from supporting snow squalls to pleasantly warm. Most water was ice just a bit ago and hovered either side of 40 degrees.

While no overnight trips were taken into the backcountry, there were all-day epics that served as my training runs for multiday trips to come. In the summer I am typically in the backcountry for a night or two, so relating how this gear would work on a several-day backpacking trip was not a stretch.

While testing waders I wore Prana Stretch Zion Pants which are my go-to field pants, and my go-to for socks, Point6’s Extra Light 3/4 Crews. I usually rock the ugliest colors for my socks, so my lovely spouse does not “acquire” them.

See Marty’s complete deep-dive Shedding Weight reviews:

• Part 1: Introduction (this article)
• Part 2: Waders
• Part 3: Boots
• Part 4: Packs
• Part 5: Other Backcountry Essentials

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