What’s In Your Hiking Pack?

Written by Chuck Fitzgerald


Every time I leaverepparttar pavement, I take along my trusty hiking pack – even if I have no intention of hiking. Doing this has become a habit rather than a conscious decision. My pack goes with me when a hike, camp, hunt, fish, bird watch and even when I drive out of town. I’ve been a boy scout and a United States Marine so I suppose I have learned to be prepared for almost anything. My pack is full of items I hope I will never need.

What’s In Your Hiking Pack? As an outdoor enthusiast, you have complete control over what you carry or what stays inrepparttar 133013 car – such as a cell phone, do you carry one? I wouldn’t dare go inrepparttar 133014 backcountry without all ofrepparttar 133015 items listed below as “Highly Recommend.” What’s In My Hiking Pack? Here is my list split into two categories withrepparttar 133016 weight of each item in ounces:

Highly Recommend: Cell Phone (5 ounces), First-Aid Kit (9), Flashlight (4), Food - Beef Jerky (4), Insect Repellent (3), Map & Compass (4), Multi-Tool (9), Pack (24), Signal Mirror (1), Spare Vehicle Key (1), Sunglasses & Sunscreen (2), Water, Waterproof matches (1), Waterproof windbreaker (24), Whistle (1). Total weight: 5 pounds 12 ounces, not including water.

Nice to Have: Bandana (1), Binoculars (12), Cash & ID (1), Disposable Camera (4), Emergency Blanket (1), Extra Batteries (4), GPS Unit (10), Hand warmers (1), Hunting knife (8), Lighter (1), Lip Balm (1), Mini-Umbrella (10), Paper & Pen (1), Rangefinder (8), Road Flare (4), 12 feet of rope (2), Saw (7), Toilet Paper (1), Two-Way Radio (7), Work Gloves (2). Total weight: 5 pounds 2 ounces.

Choosing The Proper Fly Fishing Leader and Tippet

Written by Cameron Larsen


Selectingrepparttar correct tapered leader and tippet forrepparttar 133012 type of fishing you are about to do is crucial. Nothing can spook fish quicker than an oversized tippet forrepparttar 133013 particular situation. Onrepparttar 133014 other hand, and undersized tippet can result inrepparttar 133015 fly fisher losing their trophy before they even get a photo opportunity. We will start atrepparttar 133016 very basic of leader and tippet selection and then get more specific, and hopefully conclude with enough information so we’ll always haverepparttar 133017 proper leader and tippet for all upcoming fishing scenarios.

What is leader and tippet

Leader and tippet isrepparttar 133018 final connection betweenrepparttar 133019 fly fisher and their fly. It isrepparttar 133020 section of line afterrepparttar 133021 fly line and beforerepparttar 133022 fly. It’s purpose is to transfer energy fromrepparttar 133023 fly line down torepparttar 133024 fly, allow for natural presentation ofrepparttar 133025 fly, and then be strong enough forrepparttar 133026 fly fisher to retrieve any fish that might strike atrepparttar 133027 naturally presented fly. Sounds simple enough, but this is fly fishing, and fly fishers have been around a long time. And as a group we seem to think about everything related to our sport a lot, and therefore probably have over complicated things a tad.

The leader in fly fishing is tapered. It is thicker atrepparttar 133028 butt section, then atrepparttar 133029 tippet section. It is usually divided into three sections,repparttar 133030 butt is tied directly torepparttar 133031 fly line, and isrepparttar 133032 longest portion ofrepparttar 133033 leader, about 60%. The mid-section is next and its purpose is to taper down torepparttar 133034 tippet without losing a lot of strength. The final section isrepparttar 133035 tippet, it isrepparttar 133036 actual section that is tied torepparttar 133037 fly. It isrepparttar 133038 thinnest section, it needs to be strong, yet allow for a natural drift, without alarmingrepparttar 133039 fish that your offering is connected to a person that will pull back.

Commercial leaders by and large achieve all this in one smooth product. Although there are still knotted leaders out there, by and large knotless leaders arerepparttar 133040 choice. It is possible to construct you own leaders and many people do. But that isrepparttar 133041 topic of another article. A fly fisher does, however need to know how to attach new tippet portion torepparttar 133042 fly line, I preferrepparttar 133043 double surgeon’s knot, butrepparttar 133044 blood knot is also popular. Learn how to tie these knots before fighting that monster! A poorly tied knot will reveal itself atrepparttar 133045 most opportune times.

X factor

Now comesrepparttar 133046 fun part. A new set of numbers to learn. Different numbers then choosing flies or fly rods. Fly fishing is overwrought with numbering systems, and unfortunately leaders and tippets you are just going to need to learn. They are sized onrepparttar 133047 X numbering system. So when you hear someone say they are switching to a 6X, you now know they are talking about their tippet. X measuresrepparttar 133048 diameter ofrepparttar 133049 leader minus .011. So a 6X would measure .005. A 0X would actually measure .011. One really only needs to rememberrepparttar 133050 HIGERrepparttar 133051 X,repparttar 133052 smallerrepparttar 133053 diameter. The other number worth notingrepparttar 133054 test, or breaking factor, a 4lb test leader will break when more than 4lbs pressure are applied. This is worth noting, and many a trophy are lost when violating that #.

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