I like the packs but when you're as fat as me the "chest" part rides up on the belly and sometimes almost winds up being a throat pack.  Gander has a good one that has a fanny pack of sorts that has a water bottle built in and it's pretty good.  I'll probably keep a vest though.  I'm a gear hog, and I always carry way too much stuff.  Like everyone needs to carry 10 fly boxes down to the stream. 6 spare leaders, 4 rolls of tippett, a roll of #8 fluro for steelhead tippett, flashlight, tape measure, multitool, stringer (2), snelled hooks, snapswivels, regular swivels, at least 2 pound of small split shot, flyrod lures, extra reel, rod tip repair kit, lighter, matches, towel, net, two retractors with nippers, forecepts (2), hook file, two jars of single eggs, a container of waxies or two,floats, strike indicators, tippett wrench, extra long leaders with #12 hooks already snelled on, emergency plastic poncho, and at least three diet cokes.

ORIGINAL: indsguiz

I like the packs but when you're as fat as me the "chest" part rides up on the belly and sometimes almost winds up being a throat pack.  Gander has a good one that has a fanny pack of sorts that has a water bottle built in and it's pretty good.  I'll probably keep a vest though.  I'm a gear hog, and I always carry way too much stuff.  Like everyone needs to carry 10 fly boxes down to the stream. 6 spare leaders, 4 rolls of tippett, a roll of #8 fluro for steelhead tippett, flashlight, tape measure, multitool, stringer (2), snelled hooks, snapswivels, regular swivels, at least 2 pound of small split shot, flyrod lures, extra reel, rod tip repair kit, lighter, matches, towel, net, two retractors with nippers, forecepts (2), hook file, two jars of single eggs, a container of waxies or two,floats, strike indicators, tippett wrench, extra long leaders with #12 hooks already snelled on, emergency plastic poncho, and at least three diet cokes.

yeah, that's just the stuff I keep in the smaller pocket in the back of my pack, along with the digital scale and a few other things. All the junk I use most is in the front pack, and all the junk I rarely use is in the big pocket in the back.

Haha, indsguiz, that's a quality picture you painted, to be sure.
 
 

ORIGINAL: anadromous

I could pull that off...save but the Irish whiskey, I'll take a bottle of Lagavulin Scotch (16 to 18 yr)Thank you.

 
Could?
 
I hope you do, and with regularity on certain chalk streams. 
 
 

Dang near froze my feet off.

That's what the whisky's for.

Ive been using a chest pack for the last 4 years. The only bad thing I found, but got use to, was it kind of gets in the way when you plant your rod into your chest/stomach while fight a fish. Other than that I like them!

For the last few years, I've also been using a fanny pack for my fly tackle, water bottle, and camera. For longer periods on the water, I'll add a day pack for more storage, for such things as a jacket or lunch.