Fishpond Blue River Pack Review

I recently came into possession of a piece of angling gear that I feel many would find most helpful. The Blue River pack from Fishpond. I sought to replace the traditional fishing vest with something more compact and I believe this fits the bill. This pack is the perfect choice for anyone who appreciates a minimalist approach to sport fishing. Despite the compact size and lightweight it is still rugged enough to take anywhere and still hold all of the essentials.



The main compartment of the Blue River is easily accessible and, in this case, holds three small to medium fly boxes containing all of the necessary patterns for catching bass, trout, striper, and a host of others. It also easily accommodates pachages for various leaders, license, split shot, indicators, etc. The second compartment opens in the same way and incorporates a fold down fly bench. I removed the fly bench here to make room for a fourth fly box holding larger streamers and deer hair poppers.



On the very front of the Blue River is a flap closure with two buckles that incorporates a zippered compartment in the flap intself and an inner pocket with a second zippered pocket as well. For the time being I use these to hold a small LED light, finger guards, a length of paracord, and a pocket-size copy of the New Testament (very handy during a mid-day break from fishing)The outside of the pack has web attachments for anything from a clip-on water bottle on one side to a special pocket on the other specifically for your hemos and line clippers.



The Blue River can be worn as a waist, chest, or lumbar pack which gives it a superb level of adaptability to any situation encountered. I've replaced the original neck strap with a wider strap from my Fishpond Cloudburst tackle bag. This helps the pack ride even more comfortably on the shoulder while being worn on the waist. However, I suggest using the original strap when wearing it as a chest pack because the padding and reduced width are more conducive to such use than the strap from the Cloudburst.









Overall, this is a perfect replacement for the traditional fishing vest. Due to its compact size, light weight, and numerous pockets it is more than capable of holding everything for a days worth of fishing with room to spare. It will certainly hold more than I have in it at the moment. Fishpond has a solid reputation for quality and dependability and this pack really shows it. I would characterize it as water-resistant instead of waterproof. Fishpond does not claim it is waterproof but nothing short of full submersion is going to hurt it. All in all a great product with many applications at a great price.