Spare Gear

[Rip Tide]

I'm getting started putting my gear together for a week long fishing trip next week.
Five rods and five reels, a total of 12 spools, extra lines, spare waders....it piles up.

Over the last 25 or so years, I don't remember breaking out the spare waders more than a few times and I've only been spooled and lost a full line once.
The rods on the other hand, my buddy and I break at least one between us every time. Once it was three. We bring a rod repair kit too.

I'd like to cut down, maybe leave the extra waders and a combo or two home... but you never know what you're going to need

What do you all bring on an extended trip ?

[ezamora]

you're kidding, right? where exactly do you fish?

eric
fresno, ca.

[Palmer Smallie]

Sounds like he is fishing in a war zone

[Rip Tide]

No, not kidding

Salt water flats, surf, and estuaries, on foot and from the kayaks

and yes when the surf is as high as you are tall, it is like going into battle

[FrankB2]

I've never gone on a fishing trip for that length of time, but have gone sailing
for up to 10 days. We always bring about twice what we'll use, and it's sometimes needed. I just bought a nice gear bag, and it could easily hold all
the reels, spools and lines you mentioned. I also bought one those snazzy
multiple rod cases, and that's a huge improvement over carrying separate
rod tubes when my wife and I go fishing.

[BigCliff]

Originally Posted by Rip Tide

No, not kidding

Salt water flats, surf, and estuaries, on foot and from the kayaks

and yes when the surf is as high as you are tall, it is like going into battle

Dood, you sure do like doing the hard sh!t huh?

There's something to be said for that mindset. I take pride bloodying myself and toiling for outdoor sport, but I tend to do it on a mtn bike.

That said, I'd love to find a stretch of river worth taking the 100oz hydro pak to and really covering an epic amount of water for the day.

[Rip Tide]

This is not my picture, but this is where we often fish
When it's snotty like this, the camera needs to stays in the truck.
You get soaked.
Makes fly fishing an 'extreme' sport
This is a 10wt with a 12wt line day

[fishosopher]

My wading gear has gotten out of hand!

My wading boots have spikes, so I also bring my old pair with felt soles in case I'm in a boat. I bring pants waders as a back up; sometimes I can get away with just pants and, yes, sometimes I put a hole in my waders. (I'd rather do the repair at home than in the field.) I often use a wading staff to help with balance. I have back up socks. I have this really neat pad from LL Bean to stand on while I'm changing. And finally, I have an extra large pair of old athletic shoes to wear over the neoprene boots for driving or if I'm in a store or restaurant.

So I don't have any room to bring a rod and reel.

[alcorn]

I guide people into the boundary waters. About 2 maybe 3 groups a year. Great way for someone in college to make money. I also outfit them. I usually take more than what I need on the fishing gear and skimp on everything else because you don't ever want to be out there and have some thing happen and not be able to fish. I know its not the same as what your talking about but my point is if past events have shown this to be necessary then take extra.

[peregrines]

Rip Tide-

I usually take 3 rods, for stripers it would be a 9 and 2 10 weights
9 weight with a floater or intermediate (10 weight line)
10 weight with floater or intermediate (11 weight line)
10 weight with fast sink on duplicate reel as above (12 weight line)

If something bad happens, there’s enough duplication to keep fishing. I guess a couple extra lines wouldn’t hurt, but I don’t usually pack them

If you plan to fish the full moon in back bays (cinder worms etc) you might want an 8 weight set up with a floater too.
Other than that:
Gazillion zillion flies to imitate a range of bait types and sizes
Hook hone
Some pre rigged droppers in zip loks
Spools of 16 and 20 lb clear Ande (for tippets)
A couple packs of 60lb Hard Mason (for shock tippet)
Spools of 40 and 30lb soft Mason or clear Ande (Material for butt and mid section)
Stripping Basket
Waders and belt
Korkers if there’s any possibility you’d be fishing rocks and jetties
Neck light and backup water proof flashlight on lanyard, (check batteries on both)
Pliers
Boca and/or tape measure if you use them
Waders and belt
Top
Polarized Sun Glasses
Lucky fishing hat
Sunscreen and bug stuff
Camera (waterproof or in heavy duty Zip locks like freezer bag)

For the truck
Heavy duty Wire cutters for cutting hooks in an emergency if one gets sunk somewhere it doesn’t belong and you can’t snatch it
Duct tape for emergency repairs
Extra Rope and extra tie down straps
Emergency first aid kit
Tide/current table and charts (laminated or in zip locks)
Cooler for drinks etc.
Plastic tub for wet waders, and dust brush to knock off sand
A box of heavy duty zip loks for putting cell phone wallet etc
Spare key to truck
Jumper cables

If you’re going to be driving on the beach:
Jack and jack board (piece of wood to rest it on so it doesn’t sink into sand if you have to change a tire)
Tire pressure gauge to air down to ½ tire psi rating for driving on soft sand
“Portable toilet” and roll of TP (can be just a 5 gallon bucket and plastic bag- may be required on some town/state beaches)
Tow rope
Folding shovel

Whatever stuff you need for super safe kayaking

Just be careful leaving ton’s of gear in your truck unattended, it’s a very tempting target for dirt bags.

I’d also spend some time memorizing tides and currents and expected heights and monitoring winds (speeds and directions) for your main fishing spots for both planning your fishing and safety (so you don’t get stranded on a sandbar on high full/new moon tides)

The way many do it is to memorize the high tide on a new or full moon for a reference point, then the differentials (+ 1 hour, -3 hours etc) for specific spots you might want to fish.

Around here, on Full Moons (June 7) and New Moons (June 22) the high tide on Ocean facing beaches (on the South Shore of LI) is roughly 8 AM and 8 PM with high slack currents in ocean inlets roughly 2 ½ hours later, and other spots I fish (Long Island Sound on the North shore of LI) 4 hours after the ocean highs. By knowing those reference points, and knowing the number of days before/after a full or new moon you can roughly calculate tide times and then the best times to be at different spots.

Example, for June 10th, high tide on the Ocean facing points around here will be roughly 11 AM and PM (+3 days = roughly +3 hours), high slack ocean inlet currents at 1:30 AM and PM (the same 2 ½ hours later off the ocean times), and the North Shore 3 AM and 3PM (the same +4 hours off the ocean times).

Once you calculate the tide or current highs, you can subtract to get the time of whatever stage of the tide you want to fish, so for example if you wanted to fish the outgoing at an inlet on June 10, you’d want to be there from around 2-7, or you can calculate the best place to fish based on tide and sunset (around 8:30 PM) and sunrise (around 5:30 AM) etc. And it sounds like you’re gong to be pulling a lot of all nighters, so it’s a way to preplan different spots.

It’s a lot of adding and subtracting and rough, but it’s just a bit easier to do when you fish new places than trying to memorize a whole tide table for a week’s fishing for a bunch of different spots.

Good luck, sounds like a great trip!

mark