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

of the range model. It fits my corpulent frame and decks out with all my kit and caboodle rather well. I have used it a couple of times and love it it to bits. M y Christma s tim e searc h f o r a replacement vest brought me nose to nose with Snowbee’ s extendable boat net. Apparently, these have found favour with competitive anglers who like the fact that it comes with an interchangeable short handle for river fishing. The fact that spare net bags are available is an added bonus. I love extendable nets. I already own a Snowbee extendable collapsable net. I bought one after the competitor’s model broke and because the Snowbee net was much cheaper. I have had it for a couple of years now and it has not broken. I did not really need another net, but the added reach of this extendable net was a temptation I could not resist. You see the longer the net's handle the quicker you bring a fish to the net and the less time you spend fighting it. This makes a big difference to fish mortality in a warm climate such as you find fishing in summer in KwaZulu-Natal. I have used it fishing in conditions that were really o hot to fish and it was the reason that the 2.2kg beauty I hooked swam away strongly. I stopped fishing after that. I was not fishing for the pot and it wasn’t fair to be out there in the first place. My list of Snowbee goodies does not end there. A winter trip to Thrift Dam required that I replace any neoprene waders. I had not used my old ones for some time. They sprung a leak quite quickly. Needless to say, I was not too keen to buy that brand again. The Snowbee offering were a lot cheaper and much more sturdily built. They kept me dry and toast warm at thrift despite harsh conditions and are still waterproof despite the stress my large girth and heavy frame place on its seams. This is even when seated in a kick boat. They also match my Snowbee neoprene gloves which is very spiffy.

Which brings me to the subject of reels. I am a fan of cassette reels. I am not alone in this. SA flyfishing champion, Daniel Factor is as well although I carry around about a quarter of the line he does. When Dan changes the sink weight of the line I change the speed on my trolling motor. Only joking. The trolling motor is broken. It is a piece of Aussie made crap that leaked after a few outings. I do however use a fish finder on dams when this is permitted. But back to reels. tough on equipment? I love these reels but while the one is still going strong the drag on the other reel packed up after about 5 years. The agent does not carry spares so I replaced it with the much more expensive spectre cassette which also comes in a spiffy carry bag. I have used it a lot in the last two or so years and it still looks brand new, despite the abuse.

I originally owned some very cheap but serviceable stock Chinese cassette reels. However, I long lusted after the much nicer cassette reels offered by Snowbee. These irresistibly were sold in a pouch with three spare cassettes. I do like gear bags. They make packing so much easier and quicker. My mate had bought the top of the range Geo reel. My supplier did not have this is stock, so I bought the much cheaper Snowbee Onyx. Two for the price of one I thought. It was a mistake. Did I mention I am

Am I the only one who has difficulty in finding the perfect fly box. It is like trying to find a good hat. You think you have the one only to find after a month or two that it is not the one. I have used Snowbee’s slimline fly box kits for about three or four years now. The neat zip bag hold five boxes. Again, no fly boxes lying around and they are see through and slim so they do not bulk up your vets. and the right fly is easily found. I have two which is cool for everything but my bulkier flies. I use Xplorer’s large silicon insert boxes for them. Three of these boxes fit inside the Snowbee’s zipper bags

As you can see I own a fair chunk of Snowbee gear. I do so because it I functional, robust and reasonably priced. I highly recommend their stuff.