Gierach It

If you ever become interested in going minimalist with regard to the gear you take to the stream, start with leaving the sling pack (or fishing vest) at home. That's the first step, and it requires you to rethink what is considered "required gear" for a day of fishing. 

A few years ago, I read a John Gierach book about him looking for a fishing shirt with enough pockets so he could forgo a fishing vest and pack, it peaked my interest. Once he found the perfect shirt, he only took the minimum tools, a small fly box, and would leave the water bottle in the truck to keep as light as possible. He found he could fully hydrate at the truck and not have to pack the weight of a water bottle, returning to the truck hours later for lunch and rehydrating. I didn't fully appreciate why he did this when I first read his story. However, now that I'm his age when he began this 'go as light as possible approach' to stream fishing, I surely understand now.

The reason I'm bringing the subject up is that I need to haul as little weight as possible until I'm fully recovered for high altitude hikes. Yup, I'm going to "Gierach It" for a while. At first, I thought I would just put all my tools on a lanyard, and lose the sling pack. Then I decided to not even do that. I've also stopped taking nippers because I have forceps with built-in scissors. I just clip the forceps to my shirt pocket, drop a bottle of floatent into my front pant's pocket, and slide a small Wheatley fly box into my shirt pocket. That's it, all I need for some fun fly fishing. The freedom of stuff not hanging from all over me is so nice!

While Gierach would often go fishing without a landing net, that's something I'm not willing to leave in the truck. Only because I do believe it's better (safer) for the trout if I don't handle them if at all possible. So, I will be taking a net with me when going light. I have a couple of ways to haul a net: attach a magnetic net rig on my shirt's back loop, or simply slide the net handle between my belt and pants at my back side.

I put the "Gierach It" approach to the test last week and found I didn't miss having all my contingent accessories stuffed in and hanging from my sling pack. One thing you don't see in the attached photos is my concealed G29 on my right hip. We have active bear warnings everywhere in the state, so I'm carrying 10mm bear loads just in case. Nope, I don't care about the bear spray vs. gun debates. I'm doing what I believe is best for me and whoever is with me (especially my wife) while in the outdoors with active bears in the area.