SectionHiker.com Backpacking Gear Reviews and FAQs 
Yonah Packs is a cottage gear manufacturer headquartered in Georgia that specializes in making pouches, fanny packs, and small packs for Tenkara fly fishing gear. I’ve been using their Simple Pack for several years to carry my fishing flies, tippet, nippers, and a hemostat, for use on mountain streams. I first learned about them from my friend Jason Klass, at Tenkara Talk, who recommended the Simple Pack, and the rest is history.
Specs at a Glance
- Size: 5.5″ x 4″ x 1.5″
- Weight: 2 oz.
- Material: XPac or Dyneema DCF
- Neck Lanyard: Yes
- Belt Loop: Yes
- Shoulder Strap Clips: Yes
The Simple Pack is a convenient pouch with a neck lanyard that you can wear while Tenkara fishing on mountain streams and keeps all the gear you need within easy reach. There is also a belt loop if you prefer carrying the pouch on your waist or clipping it to a daisy chain on the shoulder straps of a backpack.
Tenkara Fly fishing is a very active form of fly fishing and you typically move around a lot on the river as you walk upstream in search of spots where trout are likely to hover waiting for food to drift by. It’s therefore important that your tippet, nippers, hemostats, and spare flies are easily accessible and can be reached using one hand since your hand is probably holding your rod in the other. The Simple Pack excels in this respect, with several exterior daisy chains on the front that you can attach tools to and a cord loop used to hold tippet or line reels. There are also small loops that can hold a short Tenkara rod vertically, but I prefer to carry mine in a protective case when backpacking or hiking off-trail.
The interior of the Simple Pack is also large enough to hold a small fly box in addition to other odds and ends like line winders, a water thermometer, and your fishing license. Yonah Packs also sells a small fly box that fits into all of their packs, but I use a much larger one, a Yakoda Slim Tin, for backpacking because I like to carry a variety of flies in different sizes.
For me, the Yonah Simple Pack is an ideal pouch to hold all my on-stream flies and tools for Tenkara fly fishing and it’s a frequent companion on all my day hikes and backpacking trips near rivers and small streams. Made with X-Pac, it’s well made and bomber-tough both on the water and off. Highly recommended.
SectionHiker is reader-supported. We only make money if you purchase a product through our affiliate links. Help us continue to test and write unsponsored and independent gear reviews, beginner FAQs, and free hiking guides.
I’ve had one of these for a couple years and I absolutely love it. One of the things I love about Tenkara is the simplicity and the Yonah pack encourages me to bring only what I need on the stream. You can use the lanyard to wear it around your waist or diagonally over a shoulder, too. Sometimes I do that if I’m waiting a little deeper. Also, it’s got pretty good water resistance. I was exploring a series of beaver ponds this summer and lost my footing and went under, but the contents of my Yonah pack didn’t get wet (I keep my phone and car key in it in a ziplock bag as well as my fly box, hemostats, nippers, and a whistle.)
I find the zipper is sticky, and kinda uncoopertive the plastic material the zipper is sewen to doesnt allow the zipper to slide nicely.
From big to small
I have three different sizes of bags
I think a fanny pack is best
And the Tactics Pack, I think is a failed product
Three sizes of bags if the intended use is fishing
It’s a very excellent product
If it is used in cities and outdoors, I think it will not be suitable for it.
It looks like it could use a clip so you can secure it to your shirt without it flopping around when you are bending over and moving around.