In the olden days, we had the straw-creel which they used to carry gear as well as dead fish. Then arrived the canvas shoulder bag. Back then, they were accompanied by a splitcane rod and worn by men in tweed. This slowly evolved into the fishing vest and we've had then for only the Man upstairs knows how long.

A century later, after flyrods, lines and reels have evolved tremendously, William Joseph has taken gear-carrying into the 21st Century with their 2004 Edition Coastal Pack.

The Coastal is difficult to describe to say the least. If you imagine a small backpack with large pouches on each strap you'll have the basic picture. Add a pocket in every conceivable place and you have the Coastal Pack. I've decided to let the pictures do most of the talking regarding the features of this 21st Century wonder.

A feature I’d like to stress is the Willy J. "TCS" pocket. This means Tippet Control System and the picture says it all really. Fill 5 spools of leadermaterial into the pocket, and let it pass through the 5 small slits that are marked with X's. This is a brilliant feature that I just love. Easy, simple and fast access to leadermaterial.

As you may have guessed, the Coastal is equipped with some serious storage-facility. Raincoat, thermo, extra spools, lunch, camera, water-bladder and so on, is easily stored in the back. A D-ring allows you to attach your net.

The two front pouches carry your every-needs in flyboxes and apparel. Each pocket will easily hold a large flybox and the front of each drops down to form a convenient workstation. Add the special pockets for hemostats, flashlight, retractors and you're short of nothing.

The front pouches also feature a very comfortable rod-holder that gives you freedom of movement when changing flies or tippet.

The pack features fully breathable backside panels and is completely adjustable. In adjusting the pack, you once again see Willy J's commitment to create totally thought-through gear – excess straps are rolled up and fixed with a small velcro retainer so they don't flap around.

If there's one thing I'd change, it would be the placement of the zingers – they tend to get in the way when unzipping the pockets, especially when there something in them (the zingers, that is). [Viking speak - Paul]

William Joseph says: “With all the features this William Joseph pack has, fish will be swimming up to you just to check it out”. I’m not entirely sure that this is true thought. What I am sure about is that this is the most hardcore carry-system of all...

William Joseph's commitment to creating bullet-proof gear is reflected in their warranty:
“Our commitment is an unconditional lifetime warranty. We don’t care if you have a receipt or not, if you got it as a gift, or if you bought it at a garage sale. It doesn’t matter if you backed over it with your car, as long as it's repairable, we will fix it for free, forever, no matter who's at fault and it's no questions asked.”

Now that's called backing your products!

Visit William Joseph's website to see their entire line-up - some good stuff there :-) The UK importers are Lyttle's of Dunchurch

Viking Lars