A small Personal Flotation Device (PFD) that would fit around your neck and could be used in a float tube or for wading . . . BUT cost less than $100.  The current models are good but way overpriced.

My first post here, but I'll throw in my 2 cents:

1) Combining both of the above posts- affordable and truly waterproof hip packs and backpacks for fishing would be good.  The Simm's waterproof hip pack is nice, but not well designed and can let in water.  For surf fishing (or more gear on the stream), waterproof backpacks are nice, but very pricey for any model with a decent layout.  Think William Joseph or Fish Pond design, but with waterproof seams and zippers.
2) Felt-like traction with rubber.  I still don't think this has been accomplished to a satisfactory degree.
3) There is still lots of room to improve sit on top kayaks for fly fishers (e.g. under deck fly rod storage, better layout to stand and fish).
4) While there are more and more custom rod builders, it seems like with all the mail ordering of off the rack fly rods, you ought to be able to customize them a bit more from the manufacturer (e.g. if I want a Sage 4wt with saltwater components, I need to have it custom made- why can't Sage just build one after I place an online order specifying the components and blank?).


Jason

Zach Matthews wrote on 06/16/10 at 9:32am:


Waders that don't leak, floating lines that float...

Better products for kids -- darn near impossible to find waders sized right for children, especially young ladies.  Rod grips are too big, as well.

1.  Modular, clip in, clip out poling platform.
2.  A good stripping bucket (for boats) that won't run you a hundo.  (I'm working on this.
3.  True 4, 5 and 6 weight rods, paired to RIO GRAND lines in the same class, at 7'11" with fighting butts.
4.  This doesn't really count, but outcast should resume production on the backpack 'toon, Discovery Trekker - they are awesome and I can't for the life of me figure out why they discontinued them.
5.  A fits-over-the-standard butt fighting butt.
6.  A hand-cart that fits into a truck bed for portaging pontoons.
7.  A no frills, bunkhouse-level accommodation destination club with access to good water.
8.  A better worm fly for bass.

Aaron Christensen wrote on 06/16/10 at 5:24pm:


Take a look at the Tiemco Euflex Infante series Aaron they are really great and have a small grip.

Some kind of crossover between my G3 vest and Lowepro Dryzone would be nice.

There are some very good ideas here.  I've talked to a lot of my friends in tackle design (a surprising number of our board members are working for tackle companies, by the way).  I'm sure they're watching posts like this.

Most of them say that anglers primarily report durability complaints (i.e. the line that won't float, waders that won't leak type post).  This is where cost/benefit intersects.  Just as Ford could make a car that would never cause you injury, but would cost a fortune, so could the wader manufacturers make a wader that wouldn't leak.  You just couldn't afford it.  

For what it's worth, I think you pretty much get what you pay for with waders.  I fish in Simms Guides, which are 5-layer Gore-Tex.  I literally will slide on my butt down slopes, kick through brambles and blackberries, scale fences and rocks.  I've shredded my gravel guards.  My waders still don't leak.  You get what you pay for.

Lines are a different matter.  I think the line companies are pushing technology all the way to the cutting edge already.  Line is just such a weird thing; it needs to be supple but stiff, slick but tough, soft enough not to damage rods but durable enough to last.  We're getting a lot of performance already from lines, but of course they always are working on higher flotation.

I like the butt-over concept but I think I've seen that marketed.  Big EVA clown-nose looking things, like those foam fit-over grips for reel handles that came out a while back.

Rio's Cranky was a great concept but the product just missed being perfect.  The stabilizer handle is a little too short to really bear down on it.  I talked to them and apparently the cost of developing a different mold didn't justify revamping such a low-profit product.

Aaron, I don't think you'd get much additional flotation out of filling the rod with foam.  It's already air-tight when the pieces are well-seated and it still sinks.  I think you'd have to attach some kind of buoy to the butt.

Steve I agree on the camo.  Simms quit making their duck camo Guide wader right before I got smart enough to want a pair.  I've talked to them too, and it just wasn't profitable.  The duck market didn't get it - they are 100% neoprene, or were back in 2005. If I could fish in full camo using the same gear I have now, on a lot of days, I would.

JT, I definitely agree on the handcart.  I saw a great version the other day at a Sam's Club for $70.  The Rubbermaid-style bucket bolted on and off; you could easily work up a sweet pontoon travois with that.  I was looking at it to convert to a trail cart a la the Hazel Creek carts.

Keep them coming guys.  What about waders, reels, lines or rods annoys you?  Surely you've had a lightbulb go off one day and said, "If only I could get them to do this..."

Zach

Hemostats and clippers that float.  I dropped a pair of hemo's (the Dr. Slick ones that are scissors and hemos) overboard on my pontoon boat just last week.  I sat there and watched them sink as I realized I didn't have them attached to a zinger.  oops.

I second the felt replacement that does not foster the spread of invasives that will perform as well as felt.

Jeff Sluder

I second the vote for a good camo fishing shirt.  I remember that I spoke up on the last thread of this topic to the fact that there are a couple of camo shirts on the market, but the only really decent one I've found is the patagonia one.  It comes with a price tag of $120, and doesn't even appear to be available anymore.  Not really an option in my book.  I'd love to see someone else come out with a decent camo fishing shirt.

$120 is too much for a shirt, I don't care how technical it is.  I suspect that shirt is no longer available because everyone else felt the same way.

Zach

A clone that can go to work everyday for you while you fish....AND completely water proof digital SLRs without the cumbersome underwater housings...

I have a Columbia Bonehead Camo shirt, even found it in XL-Tall