Of all the reviews featured in PADDLING Magazine that lean more towards one discipline of paddling, whitewater, fishing, touring, or canoeing, this piece of gear may be the most applicable to them all. fishpond USA has become known for high quality products that are smartly designed and made with materials that help preserve our precious fisheries, like recycled fishing nets. fishpond USA says their Drifty Caddy, $99.95, is said to be born on the river, and after even just one day on the way you can tell each feature was born from a specific need of a paddler and paddle fisherman.
When you’re looking for the next tongue, the next portage trail or the next rise form, the last thing you want to do is start looking for the right tool.
The Drifty Caddy keeps all of you essentials close at hand and can provide a work station for every paddle angler. Attach the gear bag to a raft frame or canoe gunwales or thwarts with the built in gunwale hooks. In a fishing kayak? Attachment points on each corner allow you to secure the Drifty Caddy to your favorite cooler.
Speaking of coolers, what’s better than having a spot for your cold one right in front of you for a lazy afternoon of fishing from your boat? Not only is the molded beverage holder durable, it can also keep your drinks snug and safe so you’ll never spill a drop when you don’t see that hidden rock. Again.
Gear attachment points have been strategically placed throughout the Drifty Caddy, so many that it’d be hard to count. Keep your tools on lanyards or zingers, mount essentials with fishpond’s Velcro accessories or attach items with a carabineer to a gear loop.
If that weren’t enough, there is even more storage inside the main zippered compartment of the Drifty Caddy.
Filled with neat dividers and a mix of mesh and zippered pockets, you can keep your gear tidy so you can find what you need fast. The main compartment is big enough for one large fly or tackle box, or a handful of smaller ones.
The molded fly box on the front of the bag lets you dry flies in the sun and keeps your precious spun deer hair flies or dry flies from being crushed. The zippered fly box becomes a fold out work-station for swapping flies and even features another pocket inside, great for floatant or tippet.
Like the right hand of a pro golfer, the Drifty Caddy will quickly give you what you need before you have time to think about it, becoming an extension of the river angler. For every trip I plan this season, I can’t think of a single trip that I won’t take fishpond USA’s Drifty Caddy, always there to give me exactly what I need as I search for the next deep green tongue, the next welcoming trailhead and the next beautiful rising fish.
This article originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of PADDLING Magazine. Click here to read the original article.
