Fly Fishing Chest Packs

What a chest pack does well

A chest pack is the simplest way to carry your fly-fishing essentials. It hangs in front of you, so you can open it with both hands without twisting around, rig a new fly on the lid or inside flap, and close it again without taking anything off. It also rides high. When you wade up to your thighs or waist, a pack on your chest stays out of the water that a hip pack would be sitting in. One retailer blog makes the same point, and also notes that the smaller models are a good discipline, because they force you to carry only what you need.

The trade-off is size. A chest pack is not the place for a rain jacket, a lunch and a thermos. If you need those, a sling pack or a backpack is a better fit, and the fly fishing packs hub compares all the styles. Anglers who want many small pockets rather than one bag should look at fly fishing vests.

What is in the table

The 18 chest packs in the table come from ten brands, led by fishpond with five. The rest are single or paired entries from AC Allen, Aventik, frogg toggs, Goture, Kylebooker, Maxcatch, Orvis, Simms and Umpqua. Capacity runs from the 1.5-liter AC Allen Bear Creek Micro up to the 9.8-liter Umpqua SWIFTLINK Overlook. Weight, where the maker states it, runs from 7.7 ounces for the Kylebooker KFCB001 to 27.2 ounces for the fishpond Cross-Current.

The selection rule is strict: only packs that the maker or the listing describes as a chest pack. Combination packs (a chest pack that doubles as a hip pack, or a vest with a removable pack) are not in this table, and neither are sling packs. Those sit on the parent packs page.

How to read the columns

Style is chest for all of these, so use it to confirm the pack is what the listing says. Where the style comes from the listing alone, the mark under it says listing.

Capacity is in liters and tells you how much will fit. The jump from 2 liters to 5 liters is large: it is the difference between one fly box and several. A very large chest pack gets bulky. The same retailer blog says larger models can feel unwieldy and get in the way. If you find yourself wanting more than about 5 liters, I'd consider a sling pack instead.

Water protection shows the word the maker or listing uses: water resistant, waterproof or submersible. These are claims, and the data does not name a lab test or standard for any of them. A waterproof or submersible label tells you what the maker intends, and the weak points on any bag are the zippers and seams. Look at how the pack closes. A pack that is water resistant is fine for rain and splashes and would not be my choice if you expect to dunk it.

Fabric is the material. The table includes 420D and 210D nylon, 900D TPU-coated fabric, recycled polyester with a TPU coating, and CORDURA. A higher denier number points to thicker yarn, but coatings and weaves vary, so I would not rank packs by denier alone. TPU is a plastic coating that makes the fabric more resistant to water.

Weight is in ounces, so you can compare what a given amount of space costs you. The fishpond Thunderhead Submersible Chest Pack lists 5 liters at 16.8 ounces per its maker, while the fishpond Stormshadow lists 3 liters at 22.4 ounces. The Orvis Chest Pack lists 4 liters at 14.1 ounces. Different construction and features explain the gap, and the table puts these side by side so you can decide what matters.

Under each model name, the More specs toggle shows the other known values, such as the net slot and the size label.

What the marks under the values mean

• maker means stated on the manufacturer's own page.
• claimed means a manufacturer's claim with no independent lab or standard named.
• listing means taken from the Amazon listing and not confirmed by the maker.
• — means we could not confirm it, and we do not guess.

Several packs here have listing marks, such as the Goture Fly Fishing Chest Pack, the Maxcatch V-Comp Chest Pack, and some of the Kylebooker values. That is common for smaller sellers. Where the data is thin, I would rely on the listing's photos and description and keep the return window in mind.

How to choose

Start with the load. Write down what you carried on your last outing, or think of a typical day. If it is one or two fly boxes, a spool or two of tippet, nippers and floatant, you need 2 to 4 liters. If you also carry a spare reel spool, a thermometer, a few leaders and a rain shell, you need more, and a chest pack may not be the right style.

Check the closure and the layout. A pack that opens like a clamshell lets you work on the flap. A pack with a single big pocket and a zipper is simpler. Look at the maker's photos to see how the lid opens. Some designs, such as the fishpond San Juan Vertical Chest Pack, are laid out vertically, so look at the maker's photos to see how a box would sit in it.

Think about the net. Eight of the 18 list a net slot, which is useful if you carry a landing net on your back or want it clipped in front. If it matters to you, filter for it and check the maker's description for how it works.

Weigh the water rating against your habits. If you wade deep, or fish from a float tube or boat, a waterproof or submersible rating gives you more margin. If you fish shallow streams and carry a dry bag for the rest, water resistant is likely enough. I'd still check how each pack closes.

Mind the budget. The table spans our lowest price tier up to the middle of the range. A lower-tier chest pack is a sensible first pack if you are not sure you will like wearing one, and a more expensive one makes sense if you want a particular fabric, closure or net slot. Check price on Amazon for the current figure, since it changes.

Common mistakes

Overfilling it. A chest pack stuffed to capacity is awkward to reach into and sits away from your body. If it will not close easily, you are carrying too much for this style. The Wet Sock Index measures how far you have gone wrong with a pair of waders, from damp suspicion to being part of the river, and a chest pack has an equivalent: zipper surrender, the moment the lid will not meet the base. It is a joke scale and nobody has measured these packs against it.

Wearing it too low. A pack that hangs at the stomach swings forward when you bend over, gets in the way of your casting arm and bumps into your wading belt. Shorten the neck strap until the pack sits on your chest.

Ignoring the neck. The neck strap carries part of the load, so a loaded pack can pull on your neck by the end of a long day. If you carry more than a few fly boxes, a wider strap or a back strap that spreads the weight helps. If that sounds familiar, the weight may belong on a sling.

Treating the rating as a promise. Waterproof on a listing is a claim by the maker or the seller. It is still worth checking that the zipper is described as waterproof and that the pack closes fully.

Safety on the water

A chest pack does not make wading safer, and a loaded pack adds weight if you fall. Wade within your limits, keep a snug wading belt on over chest waders, and carry a wading staff in current. If you wade deep or from a boat, wear a life jacket and read the maker's guidance for your waders. Do not rely on a pack for flotation.

Brands in the table

fishpond has five chest packs here, from the 2-liter San Juan Vertical to the 8-liter Cross-Current, plus the waterproof Stormshadow and the submersible Thunderhead. Umpqua has three: the NorthFork and the SWIFTLINK ThunderCreek and Overlook, all with net slots listed. Orvis has its Chest Pack at 4 liters, and Simms has the Tributary Chest Pack at 3.5 liters with a net slot. frogg toggs has the Catchall Chest Pack and the Hightide Fishing Chest Pouch, both described by the maker as water resistant.

At the lighter end are the Kylebooker KFCB001, Aventik Chest Bag B and Maxcatch V-Comp, as well as the AC Allen Bear Creek Micro and Fall River. See the full brand catalog for every maker we cover.

Where to go next

If you are still deciding between ways to carry your kit, read the fly fishing pack vs vest guide. For more carrying capacity, look at the sling packs. Once you have a pack, you will want something to put in it, and the fly lines page covers the part that does the casting.