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.
