FLY: March 2012

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

First Look: Patagonia Stealth Atom Sling Pack

While I've yet to put it to the test on the water I figured I'd go ahead and offer up my initial impressions of the Patagonia Stealth Atom Sling Pack. First off I've used every piece of gear meant to carry flies (and some that weren't) on the market, and at the present I'd say I consider myself a fanny pack man. I realize the fanny died in the 90's along with Vanilla Ice, but there is something magical about a fanny pack filled with flies and PBR's. Alright now that I got that bit out of the way, when I first got the Stealth Atom Sling I was wow'd with all of the features. There are tons of places to attach gadgets -n- gizmos, and I feel like Patagonia maximized all of the space this little pack has to offer. The water bottle pocket on the bottom is big enough to accommodate a rather large bottle (as seen in the pictures) and the ability to access your gear without taking the pack off by simply releasing a buckle and spinning the pack to the front is a nice feature. The molded fly box pocket in the front also folds down to create a nice little work area, when it comes time to change flies or add some shot. My only gripe so far is that every sling pack I've seen, including this one is made for a lefty. I assume the fly fishing companies are under the impression that there are only lefty's on the water these days.
So there you have it folks, an inside look at Patagonia's Stealth Atom Sling Pack. On side note FLY will be assembling it's first gathering of the year the first weekend of April, only this time we're going all out with the five star cabin and enough 100 year old scotch to kill a small village. With any luck and plenty of bloody mary's for breakfast I plan on getting in some serious time on the water and hopefully returning with a camera full of fish porn and a full review of the Stealth Atom.

J