Choosing the right fly fishing slings – Things you should consider!

Back in days, when fly fishing wasn’t yet as popular and there were few specific fly fishing gears, anglers needed to rely on the storage capacity of their vests to carry different equipment and essentials of the sport.

As you can very well judge that there wasn’t much storage capacity; even in the most intelligently designed vests. 

Well, times have changed for good and today we have some really amazing, versatile fly fishing gears readily available at our disposal.

Today, we have these amazingly designed fly fishing slings, which not only comes with great aesthetics but possess some mind-wobblingly extra storage space to store all relevant gears and essentials. Over the years, the market has been inundated with all different types of slings, varying size, make-up, built and other aspects. 

So, how to choose the best fly fishing slings?

Well, we have come up with a unique description of choosing the best fly fishing slings that will surely help you make the right choice. But before we move on, let’s just have a brief look at the advantages of owning a fly fishing sling.

Benefits of a Fly Fishing Sling:

Before you commit yourself to buy anything, it’s only natural to ask if that thing is going to help me with my purpose and what would I gain out of my investment. So, here are some strategic benefits of committing your money to buy a fly fishing sling:

• First thing first. When you are out in waters across hostile terrains, you need equipment that helps you in your movement. While sling bags hang on your back, the unique rotational system integrated into them helps you easily swing it to the front; thus enabling you to access all essential tools at a moment’s notice.
• Another strategic benefit of these sling packs is their tactical built-up that allows you free movement. The single-strap of the sling packs are made to help anglers ease of movement across all motion angles and at all times. This certainly gives an added advantage to anglers as they can easily make the movement and commit themselves fully to make the kill.
• Lastly, how can we forget about the excessive storage space that comes with the sling packs? The tactical design of the fly fishing slings is made to enable anglers store as man gears and essential as they may deem necessary for the expedition.

Choosing the right Fly fishing sling pack:

Ok, now that we know few strategic benefits of the sling packs, let’s just move forward and look into many considerations that can help you choose the best sling pack for your trip.

1.    Fabric

It makes all the sense to start-off your search by choosing the right fabric material of the pack.

Why?

Simply because you are looking for outdoor equipment that is to be used in a harsh wet environment and you can’t compromise on the durability and reliability of its material. Thereby, you need to check out on multiple aspects of the fabric material used for the manufacturing of the sling pack, including:

• Strength and Denier

Few of the more common fabrics that are widely used for the manufacturing of sling packs include canvas, nylon, and polyester. 

Now, when you are into determining the strength of the material, you should consider the “denier” of the fabric; which is the unit used to quantify the durability and strength of material. However, keep in regards that two different material that comes with same “denier” will inherent same durability. Rather, among the same denier measurement, the nylon fabric holds the title as the most durable and strong material, followed by polyester, while canvas stands at last. 

• Water Resistant Vs Water-Proof

Going with a water-proof material is a natural choice when we are talking about a trip where you most definitely will come in contact for water for a long period of time. However, what you need to differentiate is the fact that most water-proof elements vs water-resistant. 

For instance, nylon, polyester, and canvas (three of the most commonly used fabric for sling pack manufacturing) aren’t waterproof fabrics and have to be coated with a special water-resistant outer coating to be able to become water-resistant. This also means that while you can trust the coating to protect water seeping into your sling, it won’t last indefinitely and water will eventually seep through the weak points like zips and elsewhere.

That’s where a water-proof sling pack comes into play, which takes the water-proofing to a whole new level. The water-proof packs come with solid seals that are also made to internal seams and zippers, which give them the highest level of water-proofing even when submerged. 

2.    Storage Capacity

Now, once you get your hands around a high durability material, it’s time to move on to another major consideration; the storage capacity and features of the sling pack. 

Now, what’s the best size for a sling pack?

To be honest, there is no one size fit all when it comes to the size of the sling pack and it mostly depends on your needs and preferences.

To generalize the statement, largest isn’t necessarily the best in this case. That’s because even though a large sling might seem ideal to store everything you will ever want, it will most definitely hinder with your movements.

Thereby, the ideal size is just big enough to carry all required gears and essentials.

Few considerations with storage capacity include:

• Compartments

Having to rummage through messily arranged items is frustrating, even more, when you are on outdoor adventures. When you are fishing out in the waters, you will need to access each and every item cleanly, without having to fight through other items. That’s why it’s a good idea to go with a sling with different compartments to store gears.

• Attachment system

This is an important aspect which is often overlooked by many anglers. Fly fishing sling packs come with various attachment systems including lashings, D-rings etc. that help anglers to conveniently attach larger equipment like hoist rod tubes to the sling pack.

• Water Bottle Holder

Ok, this might not be the most pressing consideration, it’s always great to have as much utility at your disposal as possible and a water bottle holder is a good utility to look out for.

3.    The Strap

Undoubtedly, the unique one strap of sling pack comes with its own advantages, however, it isn’t void of disadvantages.

Now, with all the versatility and ease of use for one strap, the biggest downside is the load sharing mechanism, which in this case lies on one shoulder. So, while you will certainly leverage the one strap design, make sure you choose a wide strap, in a bet to even out the load evenly.

4.    Comfort

Lastly, another important aspect to consider is the comfortability of carrying the fly fishing sling pack. Just consider having to carry all the excessive load for long hours and you’ll very-well realize why you need to pay extra attention to the comfortability of the pack. 

Few comfort aspects to look out for include a broad and well-padded shoulder strap for even weight distribution and back mesh for air circulation.