November 2015 - Unaccomplished Angler

Last week after posting my review of the Anti Duffel Trout Edition by Launch Bag, I held a little contest on the Unaccomplished Angler Facebook page. It was quite simple, or so I thought. I figured people would easily follow the instructions and I would have several people vying for the prize.

Pretty simple, right?

Facebook sucks, and limits the reach of “page” posts unless the page owner is willing to spend money to “boost” the reach. I, of course, am unwilling to give Facebook my money because I am not selling anything here at the UA. In fact, in my assessment, Facebook should pay me for providing ~~rich~~ content. But I digress.

Several people copied the link to the review and pasted that to their timelines, but that was not the instructions. The instructions were to share the post from the UA FB page. Sharing the page from which the post originates promotes that page. Simply copying and pasting the link does nothing to promote the FB page. Only 3 did this correctly.

Next in the instructions, when sharing the page post people were to include the verbiage, “The Unaccomplished Angler is wise and influential. Help me win this cool wader bag by liking this.” Of the 3 that successfully completed the first step, 2 performed this second step correctly.

That left only two candidates. From those two playas I tallied the total likes on their posts and a winner was declared accordingly.

Fly Fishing Army: 0 likes. I’m not sure if that low number reflects poorly on the Unaccomplished Angler or the Fly Fishing Army.

Sandy Chin: 13 likes. 13 is an unlucky number, but in this case it was lucky enough to win you a wader bag.

Congrats, Sandy, and thanks to all who played along, even if most of you didn’t pay close attention to the details.

The Anti-Duffle Trout Edition

There’s a new kid on the wader bag block.

I was recently contacted by the folks at Launch Pack with an opportunity to review their new wader bag, which they call the Anti-Duffle™ Trout Edition. To be honest, at first I wasn’t really all that excited about another wader bag: I already have a Simm’s bag that’s perfectly functional if not a bit small for everything I like to cram into it. Suffice it to say I’ve not been overly impressed by the wader bag offerings on the market: most of them are either too small or too expensive; some are both. But since Launch Pack makes their goods in Bend, Oregon, I thought, ‘What the heck—anything made in the USA deserves a look. Anything made in the Northwest, even better.’

When the bag arrived, I was rather under-impressed. I pulled it from the shipping box and just stared at it, lying there on the floor like something deflated. It seemed too basic. Like, oh I don’t know, a 1979 Chevy Pickup trying to compete in today’s world of technologically advanced vehicles? I’m not so clever as to have made that up myself—that’s is best left for you to read on the “Our Story” page on their website, getlaunchpack.com Launch Pack equates their bags to a 1979 Chevy pickup: no cruise control, stereo, GPS, back-up camera, heated seats or other of the plethora of fancy accoutrements found in modern vehicles.

But the beauty of the Anti Duffle lies in its simplicity, and after I began looking more closely at the bag, my lack of being impressed gave way to just the opposite. It’s a flat bag that folds in half, forming a sandwich, if you will. Think of waders, boots, rods and other necessities as the fixings. There are two cavernous pockets: one for waders and boots—wet, dirty stuff. That pocket has a mesh panel to allow for drainage and breathability such that things keep from getting too ripe. The other, equally large pocket, is protected to insure that your clean and dry articles of clothing stay clean and dry. Think of these two large pockets as a means of keeping the sliced tomato (waders, boots) from getting the bread soggy. Anyone who has ever made a sandwich knows there’s nothing worse than that.

The Anti Duffle is intended as a wader bag and I would say they achieved that goal nicely. It’s quite an ingenious design—so simple that you may smack yourself upside the head and think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Well, you didn’t. Neither did I. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have one.

To get yours, simply visit the Launch Pack website and click SHOP. The regular price is $129 which is pretty darn reasonable for something made in America. Tell them you read about it here on the Unaccomplished Angler—you won’t get anything, but you’ll feel better about yourself.