Heading down to Florida in a week for vacation and I intend to do as much fishing as possible. I’m looking for a suggestion on a good daypack that will allow me to strap my rod tube (2”dia x 36”L) to it and pack in some drinks, food, small tackle binder, towel, emergency clothing etc.

I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to 20 liters or so and that’s possibly a bit larger than I need.

The biggest problem I have is finding something that is able to strap down the tube for when I’m poking about looking for spots.

Best bets I’ve found so far are

Mystery Ranch D Route -

this thing looks perfect in size and I’m eyeballing that ski loop for a pretty easy way to strap the tube diagonally. Plus it’s mystery ranch and I want it dammit. Only issue is possibly comfort, it’s an winter pack and I bet ventilation is non-existent. But I live in Ohio so it’ll work for later in the year.

Outdoor Research Dry Payload -

This looks decent and I’m leaning this way. Bigger than I need and I’m a bit concerned about how that TPU material is going to warm up in the sun and basically feel like I’m carrying an oven.

Element Duffle

This duffel could work and it’s obviously cheap so that’s nice. But something just screams “this will be horrifyingly uncomfortable and awkward to lug around with a tube strapped to the side of it.

What I really need is a nice light pack with just a few rows of Molle I can strap the tube too but I’m really over the whole heavy Cordura and “tactical drab” look. Can’t seem to find anything minimalist with Molle out there.

Ortlieb’s Atrack pack looks great but the price tag is a bit higher than I’d like to get into right now.

Any thoughts or suggestions or experience with these packs?