I always keep a small armory of angling equipment in the back of my compact SUV. Fishing happens on a whim nearly as much as it comes about through careful planning. There are a handful of rods, fly boxes, and miscellaneous tools that I like to have at the ready. A lot of it is normal fly fishing stuff.

But some of it isn’t. Some of it is what I’ve learned to lean on over the years of fishing, hiking, camping, and living.

Here are five things I always have in my car. They all have plenty of uses, but I’ve come to use them quite a bit as I take day- and weekend-trips to fish. Sometimes it is disaster management. Sometimes it is just about making life easier. Consequently, it always has a place squirreled away in my car among my fly fishing gear.