{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: PFD recommendations

I have two PFDs, one that self inflates and the other is a traditional zipper/clip style.  Neither one of these have impacted my single hand or two handed casting ability from on land or in a kayak.

The self inflatable one comes from my days of coaching rowing - you can also force it to inflate manually.  It is the more expensive of the two, requires minor maintenance and has no storage if you are looking for a place to keep some tippet and a fly box.  

The traditional zipper with belts came with a kayak that I won at the Trout Unlimited event at G'town Prep a few years ago.  With this option (likely from LL Bean), you don't have to worry about it not inflating if you slip and hit your head and can't activate it or if you slip with waders on and it doesn't inflate.  Also, as mentioned above, it offers the ability to store some fly boxes and attach a tippet spool for a lower all-in price.  I've been wearing this one more over the last year or so, even over the summer where in the past I had reverted to the self inflatable option.

-aks

On Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 8:29:04 PM UTC-4, Jim White wrote:

Good evening,

I've been lurking for about six months and have decided to jump in and join the party. 

Several months ago I started fly fishing again after a layoff of many (30+!) years. As you might imagine I've been upgrading from the 40-50 year old gear I used when I was last an active fly fisher (I have no excuse, I let job/wife/kids/life get between me and my fly gear). Between old and new gear I have a number of outfits ranging 3wt through 9wt (only missing 4wt in that range). 

At this point I've been fishing mostly Royal Lake and Burke Lake to regain confidence in my casting ability (came back faster than I thought it would - like riding a bike). However, I am bored with those locations and am ready to visit other locals and catch different, and bigger, fish. 

A recent purchase included a few of Steve Moore's books. This weekend I'd like to visit the Potomac area between Fletcher's Cove and Chain Bridge with, perhaps, a side trip to the C&O Canal. The Moore book recommends using a PFD even when fishing from shore (I have not yet upgraded to waders - any recommendations there?). I'm interested in recommendations from the TPFR regarding PFDs.   

I'm looking forward to exploring most, if not all, of the locations shown on the TPFR map, and will probably avail myself of guided services for what appear to be more challenging locations.

I've learned a lot from reading TPFR posts and look forward to attending the next Beer-Tie.

Cheers,

Jim

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