Fly Fishing Best of 2024: The "Creature Comforts" - Favorites From a Year of Testing

I put a lot of fly fishing gear through its paces every year, and this list highlights the standouts. The "Creature Comforts" are those things that aren't necessarily needed in fly fishing, but they sure are welcomed.

Ken Baldwin | Jan 2, 2025

A Creature indulging in Comfort / photo by Ken Baldwin

This is my favorite list to do because it's the easiest and most fun. I call these the "creature comforts" of fly fishing. The reality is most of these are creature comforts of a fly fishing camp. Think of this list as a remedy for a long day on the water, leaky waders, heavy boots and soggy clothes. This is gear that makes camp life the experience you think about when you are thinking about camp.

Pamper Your Legs After Standing in a Cold River All Day

The KUIU Super Down LT Pant are as warm and comfortable as they look. / photo provided by KUIU

I call these my "camp pants." The KUIU Super Down LT Pant come with me on every fly fishing/camping trip I go on. After a long day of wading a river, I'm cold, my gear and waders are heavy, and I just want to get out of my damp clothes and into these extra light, down filled pants. I still have to do camp maintenance, get a fire going, some coffee on, and dinner, but it feels so much better because the pants feel like luxury in the middle of roughing it. And when the day is done and I get to kick back next to the fire, as my friends in Brooklyn say, Forgetaboutit!

My Answer to All Day Fly Fishing in Heavy, Wet, Wading Boots

Here's something I learned from guiding week long raft trips in Alaska. Bring a pair of shoes for when your day is done and you are hanging out in camp. Make them light weight, warm, and easy to pack.

Greys Indoor Outdoor Slipper Boots on a hardwood floor.

Indoor/Outdoor slipper boots are a perfect fit for camplife. / photo provided by Huckberry

Greys Wool Outdoor Slipper Boot

Your feet take abuse from wearing heavy wading boots, being banged up by rocks, and feeling damp and clammy all day. After a full day of waving a long stick in the air, I slip on a pair of Greys natural wool outdoor boots that are more slipper than boot, and my attitude adjusts for the better. It's like angels have wrapped my feet in cotton balls. The Greys are easy to slip on and off, come with a rubber sole for traction, and the body is wool for warmth and comfort. Camp life doesn't have to be a hard life.

Camp Coffee Just Got an Upgrade

Coffee is one of those things that is a creature comfort and a necessity. A good cup of coffee is like Duct tape and WD-40 for the psyche. You are not catching any fish? Take a break and have a cup of coffee. You are wet and miserable? Take a break and have a cup of coffee.

A Better Way to Make That Cup of Coffee

The VSSL Nest Pour Over Coffee Kit is a high-quality, double-walled, stainless-steel, portable pour-over coffee brewing system. Put another way, it's a kick-ass coffee maker for the outdoors. In this kit is everything you need to make great coffee. You provide the ground coffee and hot water, and that's it. In the kit is the filter, brewing system, and two cups. If you are a purist and want to grind your own coffee beans, VSSL sells a coffee grinder that will fit inside the kit for easy transportation.

The VSSL Coffee system. A creature comfort for fly fishing camps.

The VSSL Coffee system. / photo provided by VSSL

The VSSL coffee system is one of those things where it's simple in concept, but of extremely high quality in it's build, design, and materials.

- "Life's too short to drink bad coffee." - Unknown
- "Without my morning coffee, I'm just like a dried-up piece of roast goat." - Johann Sebastian Bach

The Ritual as Old as Fly Fishing

The Torch Flask, a bottle of Smooth Ambler Scotch Rye, and a Lamson Fly Reel, resting on a bed of moss.

I like a good scotch or bourbon, I like quality gear, and I like being able to enjoy a sip on the side of a river. / photo by Ken Baldwin

Sipping bourbon from a flask stream side can enhance the enjoyment of the day, especially when shared with friends. The ritual of making a toast at the water's edge to celebrate a great catch, or ease the sting of losing that great catch. The simple act of sharing a bourbon from a flask encourages connections, and sharing a story allows you to have the experience twice.

A Torch Pocket Flask

The Torch Pocket Flask is the best flask I've used to date. From its superior design and ease of use to the materials and its overall appearance, it's clearly obvious that a lot of thought went into the making of this product. Fill it up, throw it into your pack, and cheers when the occasion arises.

Robert Traver put it best in his 200 word essay Testament of a Fisherman, "because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there."

Have a great 2025. Cheers to a lot of fish being caught. KB

“The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span the hours spent in fishing.” - Herbert Hoover