PFD recommendations

[Jim White]

Good evening,

I've been lurking for about six months and have decided to jump in and join the party. 

Several months ago I started fly fishing again after a layoff of many (30+!) years. As you might imagine I've been upgrading from the 40-50 year old gear I used when I was last an active fly fisher (I have no excuse, I let job/wife/kids/life get between me and my fly gear). Between old and new gear I have a number of outfits ranging 3wt through 9wt (only missing 4wt in that range). 

At this point I've been fishing mostly Royal Lake and Burke Lake to regain confidence in my casting ability (came back faster than I thought it would - like riding a bike). However, I am bored with those locations and am ready to visit other locals and catch different, and bigger, fish. 

A recent purchase included a few of Steve Moore's books. This weekend I'd like to visit the Potomac area between Fletcher's Cove and Chain Bridge with, perhaps, a side trip to the C&O Canal. The Moore book recommends using a PFD even when fishing from shore (I have not yet upgraded to waders - any recommendations there?). I'm interested in recommendations from the TPFR regarding PFDs.   

I'm looking forward to exploring most, if not all, of the locations shown on the TPFR map, and will probably avail myself of guided services for what appear to be more challenging locations.

I've learned a lot from reading TPFR posts and look forward to attending the next Beer-Tie.

Cheers,

Jim

[Rob Snowhite]

This is what I use. Barely noticeable. You have to manually pull to inflate. One has to this be conscious when entering water. 

Also how has Royal been for you? We moved close to it. I fished it once with not much to report on. Sent from my iPhone

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/37f7afcb-5a32-4dce-85b1-8043a061cf22%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Jim White]

Rob,

Thank you for the PFD recommendation.

Regarding Royal Lake, I too live near there and fished it this morning with one of my 3wt rigs. Besides the many small bluegills (2"-4"), I pulled out a 9" crappie (on a generic #12 olive nymph with a gold bead head - lots of fun on 3wt) and a few bigger 5"-6" bluegills. Besides the dam area there are only a few other locations where you can easily get down to the water. A kayak/canoe would open up a lot more water.

Cheers,

Jim

[Adam Soller]

I have two PFDs, one that self inflates and the other is a traditional zipper/clip style.  Neither one of these have impacted my single hand or two handed casting ability from on land or in a kayak.

The self inflatable one comes from my days of coaching rowing - you can also force it to inflate manually.  It is the more expensive of the two, requires minor maintenance and has no storage if you are looking for a place to keep some tippet and a fly box.  

The traditional zipper with belts came with a kayak that I won at the Trout Unlimited event at G'town Prep a few years ago.  With this option (likely from LL Bean), you don't have to worry about it not inflating if you slip and hit your head and can't activate it or if you slip with waders on and it doesn't inflate.  Also, as mentioned above, it offers the ability to store some fly boxes and attach a tippet spool for a lower all-in price.  I've been wearing this one more over the last year or so, even over the summer where in the past I had reverted to the self inflatable option.

-aks

[namfos]

If you're looking for non-inflating PFD, the traditional one for kayaking or canoeing, hustle over to Hudson Trail Outfitters, they are going out of business.  I live in Md. but I think they have 2 Va stores - all their kayak/canoe accessories are 40% off, including PFDs by Stohlquist, and others. 

Mark

[Derek Douglas]

Hey Jim,

While the inflatable PFDs are certainly comfortable, I would recommend getting a traditional zipper-style life jacket. Inflatables miss on several key safety factors that could save your life. Now, I grew up sailing, so some of these don't apply as much to the fishing environment, but all scenarios are still possible.

1. If you hit your head on the way down/become stunned, you are not going to be able to deploy your jacket. Some models auto-inflate, but that's probably not a feature you'll want if in a wading environment.
2. Any other situation you may become partially disabled and go into the water.
3. Traditional PFDs are puncture proof.
4. You will not have to worry about a CO2 cartridge failing and having to self-inflate via air hose.

Wearing a life jacket is about your personal safety. Keep these in mind when making your purchase!

[Jim White]

Thank you for the replies and recommendations. I'll be visiting BassPro this week and will try the many options you recommended. Cheers, Jim