Product Review: Umpqua ZS2 Traveler Fly Tying Kit Bag

The Umpqua Traveler tying kit bag helps you organize your fly tying materials and tools. The bag can be customized to suit your needs and includes a vise pouch, a removable pop-up tool caddy, and zippered pouch storage.

[@kenb4685]

Gidday Katie & John. Great review. Thanks.

[@demuthflyfishing]

Thank you so much for the feedback Ken! We are happy with our first review, but we still have some things we are working on to get it right. We appreciate your support!!

[@freddysflyz]

I have a competitors tying bag and like it a lot. These types of bags like mine and this Umpqua bag you reviewed are just awesome! for "less is more" as you've shared. Thanks for sharing this. If I know someone in the market, I'm sending them to watch this video. 😃

[@demuthflyfishing]

Thanks Freddy! I packed all my materials for the Edison show in this bag! Lots of options out there and I've tried a lot of them. I've even used a cardboard box!!

[@jrrj1100]

I use an old briefcase right now, but seeing this makes me want to upgrade! Thanks for the review.

[@demuthflyfishing]

I've used boxes, bags, backpacks...just about everything I could think of. My travel tying process is ever evolving, but I will be using this bag for the foreseeable future. The organization that this bag has is great and the fact that it's not very big, buy you can expand it is great. Thank you for the comment Jimmie, hopefully we will see you hop on tomorrow night live!

[@UmpquaFeatherMerchants]

Nice!! Way to load it up!

[@demuthflyfishing]

Thank you so much guys! Tying on the road can be challenging, but being organized leads to a much more productive tying experience. This bag rocks!!

[@trumannicholson]

Nice breakdown on the tying bag!

[@demuthflyfishing]

Thank you Truman! It is a super versatile bag that we will be using for quite some time!! Hopefully we did a decent job showing all the details of this bag.

[@esjovold6572]

Great review. I have the small Fishpond bag. Seeing how you pack it gives me some better ideas on how to pack mine for a trip.

[@demuthflyfishing]

Thank you! We are so happy you picked up a few ideas to help you travel more efficiently! What was the most important idea you saw?

[@esjovold6572]

@@demuthflyfishing I liked the idea of the glue in the tube, hopefully it will prevent a mess. Putting the beads in them was a good idea as well. I would have to find some bead containers that fit. What are you using?

[@demuthflyfishing]

Those tubes really help when you start putting things other than thread in them. The bead containers are from Hareline. They have a pop top storage tray that has a bunch of those containers in it. Let us know if you have trouble finding it and I'll look it up.

[@esjovold6572]

@@demuthflyfishing Thanks for the offer. Your video gave me another idea. I have a lot of small pill bottles that are empty and fit in the thread tubes. I’m going to organize my bead inventory into them. As time goes on and I get more bottles I can keep sorting them out. I just have to figure out something to store them in. I’m going to use my label maker to label them and do slotted beads one colour label, tungsten another etc.

[@demuthflyfishing]

The label maker is our friend! I like your idea of color coding to keep slotted vs. countersunk separate. Nice!!

[@bartmroberts]

Great review! What do you use to store beads?

[@demuthflyfishing]

These are the individual pop top containers that come in the Hareline Pop Top Stash Box. It works really well for beads, dumbells and other small materials we use often. Thanks for the question! Let us know if you have any other questions.

[@bartmroberts]

Thank you

[@_.-._.-._.-._.-]

What are the internal dimensions (having a hard time finding this out)? Looking to buy at least one plastic organizer tray of the largest size that will comfortably fit in the bag.

[@demuthflyfishing]

I am guessing that you should be good with a box that is 14" x 8" x 1" since that is the size of the tool caddy that is removable. What are you looking to store in the tray?

[@_.-._.-._.-._.-]

@@demuthflyfishing Thanks - very helpful. I have a lot of smaller odds and ends that I'd be more comfortable with being at least marginally protected being inside a plastic caddy since it's a soft case. Things like small bottles (for ex. Water Shed) and permanent markers... which I wouldn't want squished/crushed/broken. Plus I tend to be obsessive about conveniently organizing small things like bead heads and hooks. And last, I tend to tie more dry flies than I need at one point in time and just store them in a container compartment instead trying to fit every fly inside a fly box (I only maintain one fly box).

[@demuthflyfishing]

@_.-._.-._.-._.- I totally understand your want to protect your materials. I put my resin and head cement in the tubes that are designed for thread spools. I also bring a few fly cups to keep finished flies in. I typically just bring Sharpies, so I'm not worried about crushing them. I used to be obsessed with protecting hackle, but now I just throw it in. No issues so far. I brought my craft mates containers of hooks out west and as usual, I brought way too much stuff! I do so much better if I have a plan of a few patterns to tie and just pack for that. Depending on the trip, I can get some "production" tying in. That is a couple dozen of one pattern for me! Lol

[@_.-._.-._.-._.-]

@@demuthflyfishingI'm somewhat of a minimalist in general: Planning on keeping *everything* for tying in the bag (I don't have a dedicated tying table/bench - just set up usually on the porch temporarily on a nice day or something). That it'll be convenient to grab and take with me on (non-fishing business/travel) trips is icing on the cake... and is when I actually have the most time for tying in since otherwise I'm out fishing the streams near my house (I'm fortunate enough to live on the border of a national park in the mountains).

[@demuthflyfishing]

@_.-._.-._.-._.- You are fortunate indeed! We are deciding now if we are going to fish in the Smokies this weekend or the SoHo, Watauga this weekend. However, the crowds are going to be big so we might just stick with smaller streams. If you have time, hop on live with us tomorrow night on KZbin. I will probably have my bag next to me and can answer any questions while I'm tying.

[@michaelpruitt9176]

Can I ask what travel light do you use

[@demuthflyfishing]

I use a light we bought off Amazon. It is a SmallRig selection. It's white and shaped like a hockey puck and is roughly twice that size. It fits nicely in the side pouch of this bag with my vise. Please let me know if you need help finding the light on Amazon! Thanks for the question!!

[@bouhunter6176]

@@demuthflyfishing Is there a model # and what do you use for a stand. Thanks

[@demuthflyfishing]

Will you be on live Wednesday night? I'll have it in front of me then and can show you. SmallRig is the brand.

[@demuthflyfishing]

You don't need a stand for this one