I am hoping that somebody has some opinions on this issue that may help make my decision a little more clear.
I've never used a fishing vest before, but I figure that its about time I begin. I've been looking around at some of the vests on the market and I've found several very nice ones that I think will work out well for me. While looking around though, I stumbled upon something that threw a wrench into the works. I've seen that Orvis sells a backpack/vest combination sort of thing that has a hydration pack in it. The backpack I'm referring to has a waist belt which has several storage compartments. Has anybody on the list tried the backpack or something similar? Since I'm not accustomed to wearing a vest, I figure that I could probably go either way without noticing too much difference, but since I havent seen the backpack loaded up with fly boxes and tools, I'm not familiar with how they load, how they wear, whether or not they're reasonably well balanced or how straightforward they are as far as organization. I love the idea of the hydration pack being incorporated into the design, and thats what really gained my interest the most. Has anybody on the list got any experience using the backpack? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all! John Roth
