In Praise of Snowbee by Ian Cox
This is not a sponsored piece. Save for a fly line I was given to review five or so years ago, all the gear mentioned in this piece was bought by me at normal retail prices for my own personal use. It is not for trying that I have not got free gear to review. I have asked, more than once. I have even asked to borrow gear for this purpose. But to no avail. While lawyers are good pleaders this one is no good at begging. I am writing about Snowbee gear because I think they make good stuff at exceptionally competitive prices. I did not think that way originally. I started off thinking that their gear was cheap and nasty. That changed in about 2012 when I bought what was a very cheap Snowbee backpack thinking I could always throw it away if I did not like it. I liked it a lot, so much so that I still use it to this day. I am hard on gear, so it is with some surprise that I tell you that it is still as good as new.
I never reviewed my backpack , probably because I was only contributing to the Bobbin rather than editing it at that time. However, I did talk about it which must have prompted the agent who is Durban based to give me a line to try out. It was a 3wt Snowbee XS. This line was world flyfishing champion Pascal Cognard’s floating line of choice. It is still my 3wt floating line of choice and is in near perfect nick despite hard use over some five years or so. It has lasted and fishes much better than other lines that cost twice its price. A meeting with said Pascal Cognard in 2012 persuaded me that I needed a new fly vest that could carry a lot of gear.
I searched high and low but eventually settled on the Snowbee Geo which was then retailing for about a quarter of its Simms equivalent. I loved that vest even though I abused it mercilessly. It finally gave up the ghost at the end of last year. I wanted to buy another one, but I have grown beyond the size range of on offer, so I was forced to find an alternative. My mate Jay Smit of Jvice fame swears by these new-fangled sling packs. Snowbee sells one at about a third of the price of Jays top www.saflyfishingmag.co.za
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