When getting ready to move I had to try and reign in the chaos that had spread from from one or two bins in the garage to several bins of fly fishing gear, each exploding and overflowing all over a large shelf. Something clearly had to be done.
In those bins I found… a surprising number of my daughter’s socks, a few beer bottle caps, twigs/sand/dirt, lots of bits of tippet, a few salvageable flies, a couple of lines I forgot I had (a surplus 5 wt. clear intermediate sink and a 9 wt. sink tip), a few of the indicators I like to put on my line (off the water) when tight-line nymphing for trout, a couple of broken reels and mismatched heavy socks and fingerless gloves.
Order is restored. My wife will be happy. I’ll be able to find the gear I’m looking for again and the movers didn’t break anything.
It is clear from a rod perspective, I am well covered from most anything from #2 to #9… included here… a #2, #3/4, #4, #4, #5, #5, #5, #7, #7, #8, #8/9, #9. Yes… that’s 12 rods (although, technically, the #2 is my three year old daughter’s. Cheap is clearly the theme… 5 of these rods are TFO’s. One is an Elkhorn. One is a T&T (my favorite 5 wt.). One is a custom rod raffled off for the Shasta Fly Fishers. One is an Albright. On the pricey side, one is an R.L. Winston and two are Sage.
It is fun to look at all those rods and think back to the special memories I’ve had with each. The future seems somehow brighter when you know you have the right tools for the work ahead.
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Tags: Albright Rods, Elkhorn, flyfishing, R.L. Winston, rods, Sage, TFO Rods, Thomas and Thomas
Wow! I have that many spinning outfits and 3 fly fishing rigs…..Funny thing is, I use the fly rods more than the spinning rigs.
I grew up with spinning rigs, but don’t have a single one now. I’m on the all fly fishing, all the time channel now.
I’ve been on vacation all week. The thing that sucks is it’s been “Small Craft Advisory” every day….so no days out in the yak so far….and the wind puts the snuff on fly fishing too…..
Dude, when you get home Google and buy “Taming the Wind” with Prescott Smith. It’s a fly casting DVD (I know, another one), but this one is very, very different. Casting in the wind is not only possible, but actually easy… if you have the right technique.
Last time I fished in Andros it never blew less than 15 knots (which felt like a gentle zephyr), and most of the time it blew over 20. The last day it was actually 1-2 mph short of a gale. Really. It was blowing 38mph. Ridiculous… but not as ridiculous as the fact that we caught fish in that crap. Big fish. Lots of them. Many casting directly into the breeze.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re not amazing casters or anything. I have to really work at it (and have a nice tailwind) to dump the entire fly line, for instance. My dad doesn’t even double haul. Still, with a little coaching and confidence we caught fish.
Check out that DVD; you’ll thank yourself.
That sounds like a very good DVD to check out… I’ll do just that.