Our on-the-water fly fishing reporter Jason would like to complement the sling pack review Dino submitted with a review of his current pack.
Jason:
Since Dino just did his review of the Simms Dry Creek Z pack, I though I’d give my impressions of the very similar Patagonia Stormfront, a bag I have now owned for almost 3 years.
When I purchased the Stormfront nearly 3 years ago, I had already owned a couple of waterproof packs. Like Dino, I recognized after a few “incidents” that a normal pack was was not going to cut it for serious wading. My first two waterproof packs were both Fishpond Westwater Sling packs. These were slightly smaller, but similar in style to the Dry Creek and Stormfront. They were great bags, but I had my eye on the Patagonia since I started fly fishing. At some point, I broke the zipper on the Fishpond, and that was all the excuse I needed to upgrade. I am sure many of you can relate.
Like the Westwater and Dry Creek, the Stormfront is marketed as a “waterproof” sling fishing pack, meant to be worn across the chest from the right shoulder down to the left hip (although not reversible). All 3 packs have a large main zippered compartment with an internal zippered mesh pocket, a small zippered outer pocket, and use welded TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) construction, a magic technology that means the bag has zero stitched outer seams, leaving the zippers as the only potential ingress points. To solve for this, Patagonia uses a fancy German-made TIZIP waterproof zipper, the same type used on the older generation Simms Dry Creek bags. Like the Dry Creek, only the large main compartment uses the fancy zipper, although I’ve found the outer pocket to be relatively waterproof. To be safe, I only use it to store trash like line clippings and food wrappers. As Dino mentioned, the zipper must be maintained. The Stormfront came with a small tube of TIZIP branded lube, which is just ordinary synthetic silicone grease. When I ran out of it, I started using the same Super Lube Synthetic Grease I use on my fly reels, which seems to work just fine.
Like the Dry Creek, the Stormfront is equipped with multiple lash points and D-ring, as well as two attachment points on the rear for the fly rod tube straps. The two straps that attach to these can hold a standard fly rod tube up to about 4-5 inches in diameter, but can also be used hold a landing net, a shorter two-piece whipping rod, or even a sand spike or two. The D-rings and lash points on the strap are useful for hanging a zinger, hemostats, clippers, or any other fishing-related paraphernalia you want to keep within easy reach while on the water. If you need to get something from inside the bag, you just slide it around your torso like you would for any other sling bag. This is especially handy on the water where a regular backpack can be a PITA to get stuff out of when you don’t have anything solid to put it down on.
The Dry Creek and Stormfront do have a few minor differences, spec-wise. The Stormfront does lack the fly patch, but more importantly to me, it also does not have a net holster. I usually just stuff my net between my pack and my back, which is not the most elegant of solutions, but it works, though I have to admit I do get a tinge of net holster-envy looking at that Dry Creek. The Stormfront is also a bit larger, at 20L versus 15L, but I don’t think this will be an issue for most people. My older Fishpond Westwater was even smaller, at about 13L and I never had trouble fitting several spools of leader, a spare fly line, Hydroflask, a few granola bars or spam musubis, and a couple of fly boxes in there (unlike Dino, I keep my birth control pills securely in the glovebox of my car). During the rainy months, a small packable rain jacket can also be stuffed in there, no problem.
All in all, if you’re looking for a good dry bag for whipping, fly fishing or any other activity near the water for that matter, the Stormfront will fit the bill. It’s waterproof, durable and more than large enough to store everything you would need for an entire day out on the water. On top of that, you also get Patagonia’s legendary Ironclad Guarantee, a true lifetime, no-questions-asked warranty. Will you have to pay for it? Yes. Like the Dry Creek, the Patagonia is not cheap. It retails for around $229.99 currently, although I scored mine for $219.99 back in 2017. Definitely steep, especially for a bag you may only use a few times a month. But as Dino says, “buy once, cry once.” In the modern age of disposable, planned obsolescence, there is something almost nostalgic about a product that can potentially outlive you.
