Fly-vest, fly-bag or neither?

Here's a little merry-go-round: I have several fly-fishing vests but I'm not sure I like wearing them. When I started fly-fishing in the early 1990s it was de rigeur to have a vest with as many pockets and attachment points as possible. But over the years I have grown out of them, particularly as other options have come to the market.

So here was my evolution and reasons for moving on.

Stage 1 - My first vest was a Hardy.  It was super-light and quite expensive but I quickly discovered that it was too lightweight for what I thought I needed at the time.

Stage 2 - A Simms fly-vest, well made with more room. 
Simms

Stage 3 - What I wanted was a vest that I could wear over the top of a waterproof or wading jacket, so I bought a Patagonia, which was made of synthetic material that did not get water-logged in the rain. Quite functional and comfortable. After a time I started to question whether I really wanted so many things hanging off me like a christmas tree every time I went down to the river. I could never remember which pocket had what. Also, having done some military training, old habits die hard and it seemed "untactical" to have gear hanging off you.

Stage 4 - Dispensed with fly-vests. Most of my fly-fishing seems to be done in the rain or wind anyway, so I decided to use a wading jacket with the necessary pockets and attachment points in combination with a small shoulder strap bag. I bought an Orvis wading jacket.  I liked the bag because you can see into it. The jacket is well made but the design is questionable. The top pockets can only be accessed horizontally which means that it's tricky to get into a pocket using only one hand.

 Bag

Stage 5 -  Decided to invest in in a William Joseph small chest pack to go over or underneath the wading jacket. I think I might have finally cracked it (perhaps?)!