We get a lot of questions about what we bring on alpine fishing trips. So, we thought we would share what we use and why.
Let’s take a minute to define what an “Alpine” fly fishing kit is. For us, Alpine fishing is anytime we hike, ride or backpack into fishing. That means we have to carry all of our gear and we need to be concerned about what we bring - as we are going more than four miles round trip. Alpine fly fishing usually targets high alpine lakes, creeks, steams and beaver ponds. The water is not very big and the fish tend to be smaller (but a ton of fun).
The key to Alpine fly fishing kits is being light, functional, and compact.
Over the past ten years, we have refined this kit as our go-to Alpine fly fishing kit (excluding the rod and reel):
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Fly box – the fly box is simple and dedicated just to this task. The fly box is loaded with flies for Alpine trips. The key for the fly box - it needs to fit into a pocket as we don’t bring a vest or chest pack.
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Nippers – a lightweight nipper on a pin-on retractor. We like the pin-on retractor as an easy way to keep the nippers handy regardless of what we wear. A lanyard is another viable option.
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Dry Shake – dry shake is the most critical item in the kit. In an Alpine setting, we don’t take hundreds of flies. If the fish are hitting, you need to reuse a fly five to ten times. Dry shake gives you the longevity you need when carrying a limited number of flies.
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Float – in most Alpine environments, dry fly fishing is the name of the game. A bottle of float is light and gets your flies on top of the water. We have considered not bringing float and just relying on the Dry Shake. But float is light and small, so it always seems to make the trip.
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Tippet – we usually carry just one spool of tippet in 5X. Alpine fish tend not to be that picky, so 5x usually works great. At times, we will add a roll of 6x, but you increase your risk of losing flies with 6x. Not the best option when you carry a limited number of flies.
You will notice a few things missing from this list. Items we intentionally leave out:
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Net - nets add a bit packing complication/ weight on most trips and they are not needed on smaller fish. A net almost never makes the trip with us.
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Pilers or forceps - if you de-barb your flies before your bring them it is very easy to get most flies out.
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Strike indicators - if we use nymphs we go to a dry dropper rig and just rely on that.
Obviously, we will change up our alpine fly fishing kit a bit for specific destinations.
Do we wish we had a few different flies or other things from time to time – yep. But, this Alpine kit tips the scales at 167 grams or 5.9 ounces and is very compact. This is a great size to slip into a five day backpacking trip and not break your back.
More importantly, this Alpine kit does the trick day in and day out and has caught thousands of fish over the years.