I have a cheap telescopic rod from Cabela's that I've been using for about 3 years now. It's really light, and although cheap, it's held up fairly well. I also bring a small "tin" with 3 lucky lures and a couple extra swivels, weights, and hooks. I haven't really figured out the best reel yet. I've broken one already. I think something small, light, and closed face would be best. As far as cooking the fish, I keep it super simple. Instead of packing in a pan, I just use tin foil. I'll cook it with salt, pepper, and butter... The benefits of using tin foil is that the clean-up is very minimal. For the butter I'll just go to McDonalds for breakfast and jack a handful of butters. Anyway, I just recently posted a blog with some cool backcountry fishing photos, if anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.writerinthewild.com/2012/11/backcountry-fishing.html

Beautiful pics, nice fish!

I backpack to fly fish, mostly in the Golden Trout Wilderness. I try to carry the minimum of gear so as not to weigh down my old body. My fishing gear currently weighs in at 16 oz and consists of

1) One small foam fly box and Trico fishing pack to hold it and some nippers, hemastats, floatant and tippet spool



2) fly rod in protective plastic tube (light weight fluorescent light tube) and fly reel (Lamson Lightspeed) loaded with line to match the rod (Winston BIIt 8ft 3wt). The rod and case are tucked away securely inside my pack while hiking to help protect it.



So far my system is working well for me.

Good topic. Thanks for sharing your experience, guys.! If someone likes ice fishing (the season has already started), I've recently bought a Shappell sled (here is a review link). It is capacious and stable when cornering. And I like its camo color. By the way, it can be used for hunting.

Although Flyfishing is not for everyone, I would recommend a flyrod because you only need a small box with flies and a small net to start with. If you can't manage to get your fly on the water, buy a regular fishing reel and go on with that.It is very hard to find worms in Sweden:-D
There are flyrods in 6 pieces or more, resulting in a small cordura sleeve you can attach to your backpack