The Rotation 180º Catch & Release Fly Fishing Backpack is brought to you by Mindshift, a company that has delivered some groundbreaking innovations to fishing backpacks in the past. For example, they’re the ones responsible for first creating a pack that featured a compartment that was designed to “swing around” from the back to the front. This enabled the wearer to access the contents of their pack without having to take it off. Now, the same tech is brought to the fly fishing world along with so many other features, it’ll probably make your head spin.
First, the Catch and Release is an evolution to the now famous Rotation 180. The new design is a backpack, beltpack, and chest-pack, all in one. Best of all, it was created in conjunction with life-long fishermen, casual anglers, guides, and engineers alike, each bring a unique perspective to the process. The result is a pack that is not just convenient on the outside, but on the inside too. It has dynamic compartments that can shift around as needed to store pretty much anything you can fit in them, ranging from the smallest hooks all the way up to entire reels.
As if that wasn’t enough, the pack is full of smart features that are found on the top performance gear. For instance, it has a dedicated hydration compartment that fits up to a 2L water bladder, it has water resistant zippers, a quick drying waist belt, and lots of adjustable straps to make sure any unwieldy weight is tight against your body while stepping over slippery river stones. It also has fisherman specific features like a removable tippet holder on the waistbelt and shoulder straps, attachment points to cinch gear and fly patches, and even a quick-access hemostat tool holder on the side of the belt pack.
Is your head spinning yet? If not, there are plenty of other pockets, zippers, rails, compression straps and assorted lash points that you’ll discover on this pack as well. These features all come together in a thoughtful way, making it one of the best pieces of equipment to come along for anglers in years.
Check out the Rotation 180º Catch & Release on Mindshift’s Kickstarter page. Early bird orders are being taken at $235 with an expected shipping date of October of this year. That’s a $90 savings over the retail price, which should be roughly $325.
