William Joseph Confluence Pack Review
William Joseph Confluence Pack Review "The Confluence literally renders all things before it obsolete"
We have talked about this before, but I am so passionate about this product, I thought we should revisit the topic. I have used this pack exclusively for the past year, and love it so much that yesterday I bought a second one. I am worried it might disappear, since it appears that WJ has completely shifted their focus to new smaller packs. There are many on-line reviews, and one of them says it best "The Confluence literally renders all things before it obsolete." It's true!
Many of the newer packs are simply too small to be practical, or so large they are better suited to a weekend fishing/hiking trip rather than day to day fishing. The best feature of the Confluence is its fit and suspension system. It fits you like a T-shirt with generous padded ventilated straps, thicker than most backpacks but very light. There are no silly straps pulling on your neck or in need of complicated adjustment, you just drop this thing on and go-it's that easy. It is cut shorter than any "shorty" vest so you can wade to the top of your waders. On me, it sits just above the bulk of the interior pocket on my Simms waders.
The detailed pocket arrangements are beautifully engineered. The fabric in the pockets is a rigid rubberized cloth, so you can zip and unzip with one hand. In the front, there is a small pocket for tippets that contains their "tippet control system." The control system is just a small cord to stack your spools on. That pocket can hold about 6 tippet spools. The main compartment in the front comes with a big foam insert that flips down to reveal a work surface/fly storage area. Inside the same pocket, there is room for two large C&F fly boxes. There are mesh dividers in the main pocket that are really functional.
The very front of the vest has two built-in zingers of good quality.
The back of the pack contains three pockets, a large, medium and small. The large pocket can easily hold a Paclite rain jacket, bottle of water and a camera. The medium pocket can hold a medium C&F fly box and/or a dozen tippet spools. The small pocket is perfect for storage of your fishing licenses in a waterproof bag and other flat items. The large pocket has a nice clip to hold on to your key ring.
The pack has other technical features related to a hydration storage bladder (40 oz capacity). It is not included, and I have not used that feature, but I will say that these technical features provide other small storage areas for little accessories. In these small areas I keep ice off paste, sinkets, floatants and so on.
Give this pack a try and I doubt you will ever use a conventional vest again. It is also priced at about half of a high end vest. If you like this review, you might consider getting one fast, as they are becoming harder to find.
Re: William Joseph Confluence Pack Review
Thanks to Kyle I tried out my Confluence Chest Pack last night for the first time. Only had it on for a couple hours but it was obvious that I could wear it for an entire day without getting hot and sweaty or feel at all weighted down...it's very comfortable. There is plenty of space for everything as well, if your running out of room with this your probably carrying too much equipment. Right now I'm carrying three medium sized boxes up front, with plenty of room to carry extras in the rear. I think once I get used to using it after a few more outings I'm going to grow to love it.
Re: William Joseph Confluence Pack Review
I'm glad to hear you like it sabo, at least it's being put to use and not just hanging in my closet. By the way did you get new fly foam for the front, because if you didn't I have a really cool idea for you. A friend of mine had the same pack and he lost his fly foam too, so he bought some C&F foam and super glued velcro strips to the back of it and stuck it in the pack. It looked great and kept all his flies tidy. Just a suggestion, hope the pack does you well!
-kyle
Re: William Joseph Confluence Pack Review
Kyle, I was thinking the same thing about using velcro and a C & F insert, for now I just pinned a foam fly patch in and that is working fine.
