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Quite simply, this is a check list of all those things that I regard as important, and that I need to be sure to do, in order to get the most out of every fishing competition or practice session and in my case even to social fishing outings.

I go through this check list before heading of to an event or a social outing and where possible go through relevant sections again before each competition or social fishing session.

My check list it broken into three sections.

The first part of the check list relates to getting organised well before the trip and then getting dressed etc before the outing.

This routine is the same for every outing.

The second part on my check list covers those items not stowed in my "trout outing bag". Again, I like to organise these well before an outing and I put these items in my "day bag" which is generally one of those big cheap bags with a top zipper from the $2 shop.

Fly reels:

In about 2000 I was lucky enough to stumble onto BFR75 Modular reels and have been using them ever since. I now have 9 separate reels in service. Each came with three modular spools and on top of that I have purchased a further 20 modular spools (they were as cheap as chips). Currently I have 32 different lines loaded on these modular spools and each is interchangeable on all 9 reels giving me fantastic flexibility. Each modular spool has an indented 10mm flat spots at each of the cardinal points where, using permanent marker, I identify the line weight (eg. #6 or #3 weight etc) and line type (eg "V" for type five sink or "F" for floating etc) and manufactures (eg. "SA" for Scientific Anglers or "R" for Rio) and finally a spool number (eg. 1 through to 32 currently so that I can account for all my lines)... avoids heaps of confusion. I am still using my first English manufactured reels and the spools included in that first purchase. The subsequent 7 additional reels and extra spools that I have progressively purchased over the years with the last two in 2014 (that's right these reels and spools are still available unchanged from those I purchased in 2000) have been manufactured in China but are equal in quality and of course, not just the modular spools, all components of the English and Chinese manufactured reels reels are interchangeable. These reels have all stood up to the wear and tear of more fresh and salt water fly fishing than most reels ever have the luck to endure. I have used them in my guiding business and they have been bumped, dropped and immersed repeatedly in saltwater and fresh water and still are a pleasure to use. As the name implies ie "BFR75" are designed for lines from #7 weight down to #5 weight. I use these reels for all my fly fishing from #8 weight down to #3 weight and in every case they are more than up to the task. They are ideal for my #3 weight 11 foot river fly rods as they balance out the weight of the longer rods making fishing "French" leader or "Czech" styles much easier and at the other end of the scale they still have arbors with a large circumference to carry #8 weight lines and over a 100 meters of backing and have reasonable drag systems. Given this wrap it not surprising that I have decided to put two of those reels in my travel kit.

Lines:

I do like to have some fly line options when fishing and have included floating, intermediate and type V in both #6 weight and #8 weight together with a #6 weight sink tip and a T14 shooting head line to suite the #8 weight outfit in my travel / backup kit.

Leader and tippet material:

Since I first started fly fishing Maxima Ultra Green has been regarded in the industry as one of the most useful and reliable leader and tippet materials. It is still my monofiliment of choice and I have included 40lb, 25lb, 20lb, 15, 10lb, 8lb and 6lb as the leader and tippet materials to carry in my travel / backup kit. I buy my Maxima on "one shot" spools of around 200 meters of line on each spool and rather than carry those large spools I have spooled of 30 meters or so of each weight of Maxima onto smaller spools. I use Riverge Grand Max fluorocarbon for my competition fishing and have included 18lb, 14.5lb, 9lb and 7.5lb in the travel / backup kit just in case I find myself using my kit in a competition or fishing in very clear water.

Flies

My travel / backup kit includes what I regard as my “default to” or "bread and butter flies":

I have carefully narrowed my fly selection down into just six "default" fly boxes appropriate for land or boat based fishing of inland or coastal river or impoundment. These fly boxes give me a selection of flies that provide me with appropriate flies to catch fish in almost any fly fishing situation or location.

Other than the "bass and salt water fly boxes the other boxes all will fit in the pockets of my fly vest. That doesn't mean that I carry them all at once. If I am lake fishing I normally only take my"trout lake" box and if its the right part of the season my "trout dry fly" box and if fishing a river I take my "nymph" box and sometimes my "trout dry fly" box.

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Fly rods:

I don't regard my fly rods as part of my travel / backup kit per say but when I am travelling I do carry two fly rods with me that suit the gear in my travel / backup kit. The criteria I set for the rods is that they have to be able to perform in a range of fishing situations and that have to be 4 piece rods so that they are easy to stow in either of my boats, my car or my van. The two rods I have chosen on that basis are:

1. One of my two #8 Redington Predator fly rods. This rod is ideal for both light and reasonably heavier estuary fly fishing and is perfect for teasing big bass, sarratoga, mangrove jacks and other hard fighting fish from structure. The rod itself is 8 foot 3 inches long and fits neatly into a 2 foot 2 inch rod tube.
2. I am lucky to have quite a few #6 weight fly rods amongst my fishing gear so I am a bit spoilt for choice there. The rod I finally chose is my of #6 weight fly rods for my backup / travel kit is my #6 weight Redington 7 foot 6 inch Predator fly rod. I have 4 Predator fly rods that over the last few years I have purchased from AvidMax. They retail at just US$245 which when the Australian dollar is up I recon is pretty good value. This is a great little stick and ideal across a range of fisheries and of course has the benefit of coming in a rod tube that is less than 2 feet long and and therefore is easy to store. The logic behind this choice was that I expect that when travelling I am more likely to be walking the bank of a river, lake or estuary and fishing just one or two flies and this little rod is ideal for that and also much easier to use in amongst overhanging trees than my longer #6 weight fly rods. The down side, of the choice of the shorter fly rod, is of course that it's not well suited to loch style fly fishing. I don't see that as a problem as I can't realistically see a loch style fishing outing presenting itself when travelling.
3. This kit has significantly reduced the gear I have to pack for individual outings and competition sessions. The reasons for that is that, for planned trips, I always carry back up gear of most components in my fishing kit yet almost never have to revert to using the back-up gear. When the back up gear was previously in the same bag as my primary fishing gear it added to the difficulty of finding a particular item in my fly fishing bag because of the extra clutter. Further, in the past, if all the gear in my fly fishing bag got wet I had to dry everything out including my reserve gear.

The third section of my check list relates to my organising my My "trout outing bag".

My "trout outing bag" is a waterproof “Carabee” bag made of quite heavy vinyl that I purchased 10 or 11 years ago. I purchased that bag after competing in a session on Arthurs Lake in Tasmania where it poured throughout the session and every bit of gear I had with me got absolutely soaked. This back has a thick zipper which has stood the test of time, is very water proof and has straps that can be lengthened or shortened so that it can be carried like a duffle back, can be carried with the straps over the shoulder or can be carried like aback pack.

In this Carabee "trout outing bag" I carry all those items below that I will need sessions whether it be competition or social and regardless of the session being in a river, off the bank of a lake or being a boat based session and also items that I may need in sessions.

In my early days of attending a competition on Little Pine I can remembers that it was a long walk to my beat wearing my hat and sun glasses, my waders and wading boots and with my landing net tethered to the back of my waders ready for use. I had my "trout outing bag" on my back as a back pack.

The angler from the beat next was more comfortable walking over with his waders boots etc in various bags but when setting up found he had left one fly boxes that he needed for the session in his car on the opposite side of the lake. He set off to get it at least 10 minutes before the session start time but still lost the first 10 minutes or so of the session getting that fly box from his car. It took him another 10 minutes to get his breath back and settle down and pretty well left him in bad shape for the whole session. Surprisingly in competition fishing you see these sorts of thing happen not irregularly ... I don't want them to happen to me, hence the details lists.

In my "trout outing bag" I carry:

My fly vest or fly pack

It's a personal preference as to weather you carry a fly vest or a fly pack when walking a river or walking the bank of a lake and I have tried both. My preference is a fly pack that has a chest pack and back pack that is joined by comfortable shoulder straps.

After careful consideration of the waters I am likely to have the opportunity of fishing in during my foreseeable travels I have narrowed down fly line classes that I should include in the travel / back up kit to just #6 weight to #weight gear. That allows me to fish for trout, bass, barramundi, jacks, native species including golden perch and cod and of course a wide range of estuary and inshore species.

HAT & SPARE HAT
RODS
FLYREELS
SPARE LINES
FLY BOXES
LEADERS
EMERGENCY KIT
SPARE GLASSES

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