WILLIAM JOSEPH BAGS
Peter Morse gets carried away with two new fishing bags.

I seem to be on the road, in the air, or on the sea almost constantly. I have my travel systems pretty well worked out and can prepare for most trips in an afternoon, even switching from a small stream trout trip to a camping expedition somewhere on a desert beach in WA. My systems are smooth—what goes in which bag and what purpose that bag will serve at the other end is sorted out—everything I take must have a purpose. But two new bags came my way this year and have really improved the system.

There’s almost nothing I like more in fishing than heading off walking a remote beach, one rod, a few boxes of flies, and camera gear. On some days we’ve walked more than ten kilometres, fishing the entire time, sometimes wading deep or scrambling over headlands and rocks but carrying all of fly fishing’s little necessities. The bag you use is very important because if it’s not comfortable, or not functional, the walking and the fishing soon loses its appeal.

The William Joseph range is a superb collection of well thought out and brilliantly constructed bags from the U.S. Chris Dunham showed me the bags when I was in WA earlier this year and let me take my pick with instructions to thoroughly test them. I settled on the Emerger bum bag and the waterproof Gear Bag.

Since then I (and others) have used these bags extensively in the West, in Arnhem Land, on Cape York, and for two very full weeks in New Caledonia, in a wide range of conditions. I gave the Gear Bag to friends and clients to put their cameras and spare tackle into, and after months of heavy use can report that the bag has only got better with its new patina of salt encrustation and red dust stains. However, not a drop of water or a speck of dust has made it to the inside. The thing that appeals to me most about this bag is that it will still float with 50 lb of gear inside it. This is now my No.1 float-boating bag.

The Emerger bum bag is also an outstanding piece of equipment. To begin with the wide padded waist band and heavy duty clip means it’s comfortable to wear and the clip won’t pop open when you bend down to release a fish! The pockets are very roomy, I could fit a Clouser box and two boxes of bonefish flies into mine as well as spools of tippet material and a small boga grip. A water bottle fits onto either end. There’s an additional removable chest pack on the front of it. The best bit, is that it’s also reasonably water proof. Several times in New Caledonia I had to cross deep channels and the water reached the bag—everything inside remained dry.

When I test gear such as this I give it to as many people as possible to take a look at, and to use. To a man, everyone has been mighty impressed with these bags from William Joseph.

Available from Flyworld 1800 066 828 or Aussie Angler 03 9432 1501.